INTEGRATING EXPERIENTIAL AND REFLECTIVE LEARNING FOR PROFESSIONAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Keywords:
Experiential Learning, Reflective Learning, Professional Skills, Professional Development, Reflective Practice, Lifelong LearningAbstract
This research investigates how experiential learning integrated with guided reflective practices makes a contribution to early‐career professional‐skill development. This kind of training traditionally focuses on the acquisition of knowledge and process skills but less frequently on the relationships between experienced life, reflection, and continuous professional development. Through using an intervention of experiential tasks with reflective guidance across a six‐week programme with 150 early‐career professionals within a service sector company, this study tests the impact on professional-skill self-evaluation (communication, teamwork, problem-solving), reflective ability, and perceived professional identity. With quasi-experimental design (treatment vs control), findings show that the experiential + reflective group made significantly more improvement in skill self-evaluation and in reflection ability than the control group. Qualitative return also shows how reflection allowed them to interpret experience and intend next actions. Organisational training, higher education staff development, and lifelong learning implications are examined.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Dr. Saira , Moneeza Aslam, Irsa Tayyab (Author)

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