Professional Services - Guidance for writing your reflective statement
The following is intended to provide some guidance on writing your 1000 word reflective statement
for the support or the learning experience of students.
Your nomination will be assessed using the criteria below and will be applied according to the stage
in career/experience/specific role and opportunities. It is therefore important that you address these
carefully. The first criterion is mandatory and either the second or the third criterion should be met:
• Individual excellence: evidence of enhancing and transforming the student learning
experience commensurate with the individual’s context and the opportunities afforded by it.
• Raising the profile of excellence: evidence of supporting colleagues and influencing support
for student learning; demonstrating impact and engagement beyond the nominee’s
immediate academic or professional role.
• Developing excellence: evidence of the nominee’s commitment to her/his on-going
professional development with regard to teaching and learning and/or learning support.
You will be assisted with evidence gathering by your professional services line manager who will use
a standard email to request feedback from students and colleagues on your behalf to encourage
those who wish to support your application to provide evidence for you to incorporate into your
submission. Consequently, it is a good idea to meet with them to ensure the relevant people who will
provide strong evidence are included - for example, if you work with colleagues who have
responsibility for working with you and/or your students in professional placements or settings, in
Social Work, medical or teaching placements.
Remember the award is for ‘excellence’ in your role to support the learning experience of students
so don’t be modest in addressing these criteria – this is the time to blow your own trumpet!
However, you will need to be succinct – 1000 words is very limited and so the use of bullets for key
points is encouraged. As you write, try to ensure that your statement is accessible to those who may
not know your role or any particular complexities.
Select evidence that supports your nomination and the impact of your work from appropriate
sources. Appendices are not permitted so all the evidence needs to be included within the 1000 word
statement itself. Evidence from colleagues is welcome but student feedback is important to include
in the statement – these could be anonymised extracts from emails, formal or informal feedback and
can include data from course and module evaluations if relevant. You may also wish to incorporate
peer/manager feedback of your work and/or evidence of innovative work.
In preparing to write your statement, reflect on your recent professional practice – in what way is it
innovative or supportive to students? How might it have changed practice and/or developed student
learning beyond what is expected? You may wish to talk to a colleague about identifying something
exceptional and specific that they have noticed about your work. How you know that your work is
innovative or excellent – what evidence do you have already for this, or who could provide it?
Your statement might also include reference to (but not be limited to) the following:
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How you support members of Faculty in their work
Problem solving in relation to specific student issues
Ideas for how to improve the student experience (with proven success) e.g. access to
facilities, support, environment.
Where appropriate, how you work with outside agencies to improve the student experience
– perhaps through arrangements for professional placements or liaison with staff in those
placements.
You should also endeavour to show evidence of your reflective skills to promote continued
improvement and self-development.
Finally, check through your work to ensure that you have evidence for all the statements you make.