To strengthen students’ professional identity (PI), it is vital to givereflection a central place in higher education. The aim of this studyis to determine the extent to which students reflect on five componentsof PI (self-image, self-esteem, task perception, job motivationand future perspective) and at what reflection level. Twenty-fivereflection narratives from Spanish and Dutch students from fivedifferent study programmes were qualitatively analysed and quantitativelyevaluated to find out about students’ identifying and selfassessingPI components. The results indicate that PI componentswere clearly recognizable in the reflection reports and could beclassified using one of the four levels of reflection with high interraterreliability. About 40% of the students achieved the criticalreflection level on one or more PI components. Reflecting on thefive components of PI, with the aim of achieving the level of criticalreflection, can be a useful guide for students. What do you want to do ?New mail