Conflicting values in reflection on professional practice

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of reflection as a tool of enquiry within the context of higher education work based learning. The aim of the study is to investigate how reflection on professional practice brings about a review of the values underpinning that practice. Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected from a group of undergraduate students undertaking their studies by work based learning in the area of management in a Scottish University. An open-ended questionnaire was designed to learn about the participants’ views on their perceived freedom to reflect on their workplace practice in the university, their ability to challenge the organizational values and established practices in the workplace, and on their relationship with the workplace mentor. Findings – Students on work based learning programmes are subjected to demands from at least three directions: first, their own expectations, in terms of both what they want to achieve by way of their own development, second, the needs of their organization; and third, expectations of the university in ensuring that the work produced meets the standard for an academic award. These interests can sometimes coincide, but they can also conflict, and such a conflict can reveal tensions that run deeper into the culture of the organization. Research limitations/implications – This study is based on a relatively small sample of learners in one university, hence the findings are of preliminary nature. Despite the small sample size, the conclusions are indicative of a potential problem in the design of work based learning, and a larger cross-institutional study would allow the validity of these results to be verified. Practical implications – The findings emerging from this study have implications for the facilitators of work based learning in higher education. Although university work based learning programmes differ significantly from corporate learning and development efforts, this paper suggests that work based learning providers should co-operate more closely with the learners’ employing organizations towards creating an environment for learning at work. More co-operation between the university and the employer might be more beneficial for all stakeholders. Originality/value – The literature on work based learning focuses in the main on the use of reflection as a tool of enquiry into workplace practice. Drawing on the study of contemporary work organizations, this paper explores the tensions arising from reflection on the learners’ practice, and possible conflict of values that reflection exposes. Keywords Professional practice, Reflection, Work based learning, Organizational practices, Corporate learning, HE management programmes, Employees, Personal and professional development

Piloting PIVOT: The Professional Identity and Values Organisation Tool

PIVOT was piloted between March and September 2008 with a small number of tutors and students on the social work programme in one region in England. The project involved the creation and trialling of a suite of reflective activities based upon Personal Construct Psychology. The project and activities had a number of aims: 1. to help students to access their own constructs of learning 2. to facilitate an individual enquiry into personal and professional values 3. to offer an opportunity to identify and envision a desired future of specific learning aims arising from these explorations 4. to develop a scale of movement and action plan to realise these learning aims 5. to explore the potential for enhancement of the programme tutor role The PIVOT activities were successfully piloted and evaluated and are being developed in different forms to be further available to students and tutors. </br

Science, Politics, and Values: The Politicization of Professional Practice Guidelines

The Connecticut Attorney General’s recent allegations that the Infectious Disease Society of America violated antitrust law through its treatment guidelines for Lyme disease were neither based in sound science or appropriate legal judgment. Strong scientific evidence favors IDSA’s position that chronic infection with the etiologic agent of Lyme disease does not occur in the absence of objective signs of ongoing infection and that long-term antibiotic use to treat dubious infection, recommended in the quasi-scientific guidelines put forth by the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), are of no benefit. In siding with ILADS and other chronic Lyme disease advocates, ultimately forcing IDSA to settle lest it expend exorbitant legal costs, the attorney general abused science and his public trust. This case exemplifies the politicization of health policy and confuses the relative spheres inhabited by normative discourse and scientific inquiry. Science should provide the evidentiary base for normative discussions, and values and politics will always be important in deciding how science is applied for human benefit. But a wall of separation is needed between science, values, and politics, as medical science, and the patients who depend on it, is too important for political distortion

Defining teaching for a global educational world: the development of professional standards

In August 2013 the General Teaching Council for Scotland launched a revised suite of standards for the teaching profession (GTCS 2012a,b,c). These sets of standards cover initial teacher education, full registration, advanced teaching and leadership and management. There is a danger that professional standards focus on narrowly defined behavioural competences and so reinforce a technicist approach to the practice of teachers and leaders in school (Murphy, 2005). The policy emphasis in Scotland (Donaldson 2011), however, is on the use professional standards as developmental tools to enhance practice (Ingvarson, 2005). A key element in the revision process of the professional standards has been to position the role and practice of the teaching profession in a global setting thereby fostering a future orientation in the development of teaching that reflects increasing social and cultural diversity. The foundation of this suite of standards has been the agreement of a common set of values for the teaching profession: “Professional Values are at the core of Professional Standards. The educational experiences of all our learners are shaped by the values and dispositions of all those who educate them. Values are complex and the ideals by which we shape our practice as professionals” (GTCS 2012a p. 10). The set of professional values cover the ethical dimensions of professional practice such as integrity, professional commitment, trust and respect. Importantly the professional values also cover wider issues related to social justice and sustainability. However, there is a question of how we move from these being a set of espoused values to a set of ‘values-in-action’. This paper examines the potential of this set of professional standards to bring to the fore issues of social justice as a means of developing culturally responsive teaching

The development of the professional values and practice standard in the secondary graduate initial teacher training route in England

The paper reports on a pilot research project to investigate how trainee teachers develop an understanding of the competences that must be reached in the area of professional practice and values , which is one of the standards that needs to be met before the award of Qualified Teacher Status in England. Data were collected from secondary trainee teachers, their placement mentors in schools and university tutors. Data have been interpreted in the context of potential threats to the professionalism of teachers, through the introduction of managerialist influences in public funded education. The main findings are: that trainees think that the most dominant influence on developing understanding of professional values are their school placements ; there were little differences in the responses from four subject areas studied ; mentors and other lead teachers play an important role in the development of understanding of professional values; the grades awarded by mentors when assessing professional practice and values varies between the four subjects studied. The explanation for these findings is complex and is related to the understanding and interpretation of the standard by both mentors and trainee teachers. The findings highlight some of the difficulties in attempting to assess competency standards in an area that is underpinned by values and suggest that initial teacher training can best assist the development of the standard when it is approached in a critical way by all parties.</p

VaKE(Values and Knowledge Education). Piloting a strategy for NursingEducation

Nurses are expected to have health responses which imply interdisciplinary, multi-professional dynamics, require high responsibility and consistent general knowledge to deal with many different, very specific patient needs, which lead them to deal with situations often triggering dilemmasthat involve moral dimensions. Although it is accepted that nursing is a moral activity and that ethical reflection requires practitioners to think critically about their values and to ensure that these values are integrated into caring in every interaction(1), the focus of teaching is more centered on knowledge (about responsibilities, Code of Ethics, …). In fact, personal values are accepted as inherent to human life, seen as attitudes, beliefs and priorities that bind individuals together and guide behavior(2), and some authors acknowledge that personal values can influence the nurses’ professional behavior(3,4). Academic professors of graduation nurses need to take into account all these dimensions, inasmuch as higher education must maintain dynamics of permanent relevance and adequationto society needs and to the quality control of this offer(5)and these must not be dealt with independently but in relation with each other. Awareness of the importance of a reflected and discussed process that enables rationalization of personal and professional values within the process of care, was the motivation to adhere to a proposal of piloting VaKE methodology within Nursing Academic framework.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

PIVOT Stage 2: Professional and Personal Values in Practice

PIVOT Stage 2 encourages deeper reflection upon your professional and personal values in practice. You will capture what is really important to you now, and your future aspirations. It may bring out ideas and values that you weren't aware of holding dear to you - a sort of 'I didn't know I knew it' experience

MacCrate\u27s Missed Opportunity: The MacCrate Report\u27s Failure to Advance Professional Values Symposium

The 1992 Report of the Task Force on Law Schools and the Profession: Narrowing the Gap (the Task Force ), Legal Education Professional Development - An Educational Continuum, popularly known as the MacCrate Report (the Report ), was the most ambitious effort to reform legal education in the past generation. Some commentators have described the Report as the greatest proposed paradigm shift in legal education since Langdell envisioned legal education as the pursuit of legal science through the case method in the late 19th century.” Although the Report sought to promote education in both lawyering skills and values, its major influence has been in the area of lawyering skills. The Report has contributed little to promoting professional values.5 This result is not surprising. The Report\u27s treatment of values suffers from two basic flaws. First, the text makes values a low priority and then does not explain them coherently. Second, the Task Force fails to consider that the dominant values of the Bar and the Academy oppose those of the Report