Essay 1: Critical Reflection on Practice (5000 words; 40%)
A 5,000 word essay presenting an evaluation of the student’s development as an advanced reflective practitioner. This piece of work offers an opportunity for students to consider how their participation on a programme of practice-based research has influenced their professional and intellectual development.

As well as critically drawing on relevant scholarship on reflection and reflective practice, the essay will, where appropriate, draw on the student’s research notes or learning journal that they have been keeping from the outset of the programme, although candidates are at liberty to disclose only those elements they find appropriate.

Learning outcomes assessed: 1, 2
Students will be assessed on their ability to

Show how evidence compiled from practice – both within the conduct of research and professional experience, as represented in their research log and learning journal – has contributed to their learning and development as doctoral candidates.

Offer a critical account, derived from their own professional experience and research activity, of their development as a ‘reflective practitioner’ and ‘researching professional’, in dialogue with relevant literature.