Reflective Practice in Food and Beverage Education

Abstract

Food and beverage (F&B) management education is essential to hospitality, and arguably tourism and event, management students. Higher educators are challenged in resourcing various approaches. As many students have experiences as F&B workers and/or consumers, reflective assessment leveraging these experiences may be an effective learning tool. Using student reflective journals from an Australian institution's undergraduate F&B management cohort, this article reports the process, effectiveness, and challenges associated with reflective learning. Using Nvivoanalysis identified three key themes: students demonstrated comprehension for a theoretical topic by effectively interpreting a past experience; they applied this greater level of theoretical comprehension to further evaluate that past experience and challenge assumptions; and they leveraged increased theoretical comprehension and the application and evaluative processes of past experiences to effect reflective thinking. Findings suggest students from Confucian heritage backgrounds require additional tutelage in attempting reflective tasks. Implications for educators are discussed.