Reflection is a prerequisite for much learning today, within contexts as diverse as research assignments in schools and workplace activities leading to professional qualifications, such as Chartership, where a portfolio of evidence may be assembled over a prolonged period. In the EPQ, 20% of the overall marks are allocated to reflection. The skills that the process encompasses are diverse. Meta-cognition is again important and the scope of the thinking demanded of the learner may vary from broad self-analysis to the ability to construct meaning from specific personal experiences. Reflection necessitates that the individual takes a critical perspective in terms of their own thoughts, actions and behaviour, with a view to ensuring their continual selfdevelopment. These processes do not always come entirely naturally to many young people, however, and, in any programme of education in which reflection is intended to be an important component, much depends on the skill of the educator in providing appropriate opportunities and putting in place effective frameworks for promoting it. This final chapter presents a series of options that are available. The educator may also look for ways of enabling students to record their reflections through methods that are driven by – or at least intuitive to – them. These may range from informal, handwritten notes to more structured observations recorded electronically, via tools such as Microsoft Forms or Google Forms.

Placement

It may be said that, when someone is about to embark on a programme designed to improve their information literacy, reflection should start even before there has been any instruction, with the individual making some attempt to gauge their existing knowledge and skills in order to ascertain where they will need to invest extra time and effort in order to raise their standards in key areas. If a selfassessment tool of the type proposed in Chapter 3 is offered, the individual should return to this at intervals so as to monitor their progress throughout the duration of the programme and reach some overall judgements at the end of the work. With respect to a particular independent learning project, reflection should take place from start to finish, ideally beginning at the point where the young person is doing their earliest thinking about their choice of topic. The educator should build in scope, at each of the major stages, for the learner to reflect on the work currently being tackled.