Designing Reflective Assessment for Workplace Learning in Legal Education

Abstract

The capacity to reflect on one’s own strengths and weaknesses, to learn from constructive criticism and to practice critical reflection by monitoring one’s own work performance and interpersonal interactions is essential to the ability to learn from experience and is the cornerstone of the journey to becoming a life long learner. While reflective practice is a desired attribute of law graduates, it is currently not widely adopted in legal education. This article considers the potential for achieving effective ‘real world’ (workplace) learning for students of law through the use of reflective assessment. First, we discuss the relationship between reflective practice and effective workplace learning. Second, we consider the nature and importance of reflective assessment design in legal education. Third, we explore a practical example of the use of reflection in the assessment of workplace learning, focussing on an internship unit offered in the QUT Law School. We conclude that reflective practice is an effective way of enabling students to be involved in a genuine learning experience during internships in legal education