Using Evidence in Reflective Practice
Three sources of evidence
| Source | What it gives |
|---|---|
| Own students | Formal and informal feedback, work, behaviour |
| Own practice | Records, video, lesson plans, observation notes |
| Others’ research | Published studies, professional literature |
Beliefs of strong evidence users
- Inquiry as a habit of mind
- Evidence treated as information, not labels
- Enough understanding to act on what evidence shows
Inquiry questions about students
- What do students already know?
- How adequate are the sources of evidence?
- What do students need to learn and do?
- How do we build on what they know?
Inquiry questions about own practice
- How have I contributed to current outcomes?
- What do I already know that promotes better outcomes?
- What do I need to learn and do?
- What sources of evidence and knowledge can I use?
A reflective practitioner who builds personal theory needs evidence to ground it. Three sources of evidence, used together, give the practitioner a fuller picture than any one alone. Strong evidence use also depends on a few specific habits and on a set of inquiry questions that keep the focus on students and on the teacher’s own practice.
Three sources of evidence
Three kinds of evidence support reflective practice.
Evidence from students
The first source is the practitioner’s own students. This is evidence the teacher has direct access to and that no outside researcher could match.
The evidence comes in formal and informal forms. Formal evidence includes test scores, written work, project outputs, and survey responses. Informal evidence includes how students answer questions in class, what they ask, where their attention drifts, how they describe their own learning, and what they choose to do when given a choice.
Both forms matter. A teacher who only looks at formal evidence misses most of what is happening. A teacher who only relies on informal impressions misses patterns that formal data reveals. The combination is more useful than either alone.
Evidence of own practice
The second source is evidence of the practitioner’s own practice. This is what the teacher actually did, captured in some form.
Sources include lesson plans (showing what the teacher intended), lesson evaluations written shortly after the lesson (showing what the teacher noticed at the time), recordings or videos of lessons (showing what actually happened), peer observation notes (showing what someone else saw), and assessment design records (showing how the teacher tried to measure learning).
The connection back to evidence from students matters. Evidence of practice should be linked to evidence from students. What the teacher did and what students did need to be considered together. A lesson plan with no connection to student outcomes is incomplete data.
Evidence from others’ research
The third source is published research and professional literature. This is the broader knowledge of the field.
Research can serve several functions. It can provide concepts the teacher does not have. It can suggest hypotheses the teacher has not considered. It can give comparison points for what the teacher is seeing in their own setting. It can challenge what the teacher already believes.
The reflective practitioner uses research as one input among several, not as the final authority. Research from one context may not apply directly to another. Research that contradicts what the teacher sees in their classroom requires careful examination of both sides.
Beliefs, knowledge, and skills of reflective practitioners
Several attitudes and capabilities make a teacher better at using evidence well.
Inquiry habit of mind
The first is an inquiry habit of mind. The reflective practitioner approaches their work with questions, not just routines. They ask what is happening, why, and what could be different.
Inquiry is a habit because it has to operate by default. A teacher who only inquires when something goes wrong misses the patterns in normal practice. A teacher whose inquiry runs continuously notices things others would miss.
Evidence as information, not labels
The second is treating evidence as a source of information for teaching and learning, not as a way to label students.
A test result is information about what a student knew on that test, in that moment. It is not a label for the student. A teacher who reads the result as “this student is weak in mathematics” has labelled them. A teacher who reads it as “this student did not yet know the multiplication of fractions on this Tuesday” has used it as information.
The distinction matters because labels close off responses while information opens them. The labelled student is dismissed. The student whose specific gap has been identified can be helped.
Sufficient understanding to adjust practice
The third is enough understanding to make relevant adjustments to practice. Evidence is only useful if the teacher can act on it.
This requires that the teacher knows their subject and their pedagogy well enough to interpret evidence correctly. A teacher who does not understand why a student is making a particular kind of error cannot use the error as useful evidence.
A teacher’s professional development supports this. The more the teacher knows about how learning works in their subject, the better they can read evidence and respond to it.
Inquiry questions about students
A useful set of questions for using evidence from students.
What do the students already know? Evidence answers this. Without an honest answer, planning starts from the wrong place.
How adequate are the sources of evidence we have used? Some sources are better than others for different questions. The teacher checks whether the evidence they have actually addresses the question being asked.
What do the students need to learn and do? Evidence about current state, plus the curriculum’s destination, defines the gap.
How do we build on what they know? The strongest teaching builds on existing understanding rather than ignoring it. Evidence about what students know is the starting point for this kind of teaching.
Inquiry questions about own practice
A parallel set for the teacher’s own practice.
How have I contributed to current student outcomes? Honest accounting helps. The teacher’s role in the outcomes is not all of the cause, but it is part of it.
What do I already know that I can use to promote improved outcomes? Existing competence is the starting point.
What do I need to learn and do to promote these outcomes? The gap in the teacher’s own knowledge or practice has to be identified.
What sources of evidence and knowledge can I use? Other teachers’ practice, published research, the teacher’s own past work.
These two sets of questions, about students and about practice, can be run continuously. They support what is sometimes called the teacher inquiry and knowledge-building cycle: identifying what students know and need, identifying what teachers know and need, deciding what might be most effective, and checking the impact of changes.
The use of evidence for professional learning cannot be a single event. It pervades all aspects of the cycle.
Own students, own practice, others’ research; held together by an inquiry habit of mind
Evidence from students includes formal and informal data. Evidence of practice includes plans, recordings, and peer observation. Evidence from research is the broader literature. The inquiry habit runs continuously rather than only when something goes wrong.
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