The reflective practice at university: how to enhance students’ competencies awareness by using ‘reflective breaks’

ABSTRACT One of the aims of university is to prepare students to meet and behave in a professional field after bachelor or master studies, and to develop professional competencies. Nonetheless, it is observed that after university, students do not have the competencies required to thrive in an economic field. Furthermore, students often cannot name the competencies they acquired or developed at the university. This study aims to understand the use of ‘reflective practice’ and ‘reflective breaks’ in a standard course. We implemented this practice on a ‘professional didactic’ course. Students’ competencies awareness was tracked by collecting their reflective text, and a semantic analysis was performed. Results showed that students gradually develop their competencies awareness especially for the ones targeted by the course, and leave behind their ‘generic’, or academic, competencies.