Impact of Culture on Reflective Writing in Masters Level Students

Abstract

Abstract The objective of the postgraduate module, ‘International Management Competencies’, is to give students the opportunity to understand and develop for themselves employability skills and competencies required in international management. Reflective practice, as advocated by Bolton [1], Hedberg [2] and Francis and Cowan [3], is the main tool of self- development offered to students. They maintain a Learning Log, compose a self- evaluation of the development of their international management skills and competencies and engage in SMART development planning. Tutors were concerned that for many international students, who are the majority on this module, this form of reflective assessment is outside their educational and cultural norms and experience, putting them at a disadvantage. The authors’ research project was to investigate whether culture has an impact on ability to engage with and succeed in reflective writing.