Assessing Reflection Skills in Law Using Criterion-referenced Assessment

Reflective practice is an important skill for law students to develop because it will assist them to become independent, lifelong learners and also to cope with the stressors of professional practice. Despite this, law academics may be deterred from embedding and summatively assessing reflective practice because of its perceived subjectivity. This article tackles the challenges of assessing reflective practice by gaining a greater insight into the construct of reflection and its benefits in a legal context. It will propose a criterion-referenced assessment rubric for reflective practice that is grounded in the literature and which assesses reflective practice in a manner similar to critical thinking.