Objective Measurement for Assessing Students’ Reflective Abilities During the Social Work Practicum

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study aims to develop and validate an objective scale to assess abilities for reflective process and reflective practice outcomes within social work practicums. The study analyzed supervisors’ evaluations of 85 students and estimated the relationships between students’ and instructors’ objective ratings on competency. The results indicate that a total of 38 items could be used to measure abilities of reflective process and reflective practice outcome, respectively. The items were positively relevant for teachers’ evaluations of students’ competencies and partially related to students’ self-evaluations on performance as well as to supervisor’s support. The results also indicate that teachers and students might hold different perspectives with regard to performance, as suggested in the literature. This article includes several suggestions for improving social work practicums.