Enhancing professionalism in education through inquiry learning: a living theory research approach

Here we present a rationale for enhancing professionalism through Living Theory research drawing on the accounts of practicing teachers to provide examples of evidence-based explanations of educational influences in learning. This rationale has emerged in the course of researching and answering questions of the kind ‘How do I improve what I am doing in my professional practice?’ and generating living-educational-theories (Whitehead, 1989) as valid explanations of our educational influences in our own learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of others with values that carry hope for the flourishing of humanity. We show how teachers are able to realize in practice two responsibilities they have as professional educational practitioners. The first is to continually inquire into their practice to understand, explain and improve it. The second is to create and make public valid accounts of their educational influences in learning as contributions to the development of an educational knowledge-base

Voices carry?:the voice of bioethics in the courtroom and voice of law in bioethics

This paper explores the interaction between bioethics and law in the theatre of the courtroom, with particular reference to English law. No matter what some judges say, the courtroom has long been a location in which law and bioethics interact, not least in seminal health care law cases such as Re A (Minors) (Conjoined Twins: Separation [2000] and R v Arthur [1981]. Judge-made law has made some positive contributions to the shaping of bioethics as a discipline, providing a real-world testing ground for moral arguments, issuing the judicial ‘products’ with which bioethics engages, and emphasising the importance of observing due process. At the same time, the courtroom is an adversarial arena, not always ideally suited to the resolution of ethical conflict, and its concern with actions that satisfy attainable standards can fall short of the aspirations set in philosophical ethics. Indeed, sometimes the judges misinterpret or wholly neglect the ethical dimensions of the case at hand. So much of what judges do involves orchestrated framing, the manipulation of legal concepts, interpretation (of the facts of the case, the story of legal precedent and of the particular ethical dilemma) and translation (of ethical issues into law's discourse). Whether they like it or not, the judges are interpreting and responding to the voice of bioethics alongside the voice of the law in their attempts to reach the 'right' judgment and in the face of the theatre surrounding cases involving bioethical controversy. The end result may be distorting because bioethical theory is misinterpreted or the voice of bioethics becomes obscured because of the drama of the case. But this is not to claim that bioethics has some access to the ‘right’ or ‘true’ response to the case at hand. Indeed, neither bioethics nor law can necessarily claim superiority or access to the ‘truth’ of the matter. We nevertheless argue that each will be likely to gain greater insight by opening a dialogue with the other, telling and re-telling the story, so that the voices of one forum can carry over into the other

From Leadership to Growth: lessons learnt from the LEAD Wales and Leading Growth Programmes 2010-2015

The final report of the LEAD Wales and Leading Growth programmes 2010-2015

O Arweinyddiaeth i dwf: Gwersi a ddysgwyd o raglenni LEAD Cymru ac Arwain Twf.

Adroddiad terfynol rhaglenni LEAD Cymru ac Arwain Twf 2010-201

How does Living Educational Theory research enable individuals to research into their higher education to improve it and contribute to educational knowledge?

Living Educational Theory researchers ask, research and answer questions of the form, ‘how do I improve what I am doing’, by generating valid, values-based explanations of their educational influence in their own learning, the learning of others and the learning of the social formations in which their practice is located. The ontological and relational values that form the researcher’s explanatory principles and living standards are clarified as they emerge. The self that is researched is not an egotistical ‘I’ but a relational one, similar to an African notion of Ubuntu as expressed by the phrases, ‘i am because we are’ and ‘we are because i am’ and the relational quality of self is represented by ~ in i~we. Our innovative relationally-dynamic, multimedia research methods include a process of empathetic resonance, with digital videos of professional practice, to clarify the meanings of the embodied expressions of life-enhancing, energy-flowing values that form explanatory principles in explanations of educational influence. Accounts by researchers researching into their Higher Education will show the use made of this method and how the legitimation of their living-theory doctoral theses, with their unit of appraisal, standards of judgment and living logics contribute to a new educational epistemology

Generating living-educational-theories from changing practices for changing times: past, present and future possibilities of self-study research

The study is positioned in terms of research into the self-study of teacher education practices (S-STEP) carried out since the founding of S-STEP in 1993. The changing practices are focused on enquiries of the kind, ‘How do I improve what I am doing?’ in the changing contexts in which the enquiries are located. The main theoretical assumption is that self-study researchers can contribute to the creation of a new educational humanism (Hamilton & Zufiauure 2014) through the generation of their own unique living-educational-theories (also known as living-theories). Not all self-studies produce living-theories, as a self-study researcher can focus on an extensive range of issues related to self. However, all living-theories are self-studies in that a researcher’s living-theories are the values-based, validated explanations they give for their educational influences in their own learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of the social formations within which their practice is located (Whitehead, 1989). These explanations include the researcher’s communication of their life-affirming and life-enhancing ontological values (the values that give their lives meaning and purpose) that are clarified and evolve as they emerge through their research. We are claiming that these values distinguish a post-Enlightenment, humanist social agenda that rejects stereotypes of normality (and abnormality) and struggles to replace them with normative ideas about the inclusion of difference (Hamilton & Zufiaurre, 2014, p. 150). We are making the assumption that values such as those expressed by Nelson Mandela which include freedom, justice and democracy in his Ubuntu (Whitehead, 2011) way of being, are ones that can be included within the new educational humanism. The theoretical framework includes the following distinction between education and educational researchers. Education researchers contribute to education knowledge within the forms and fields of knowledge of the philosophy, psychology, sociology, history, economics, politics, theology, leadership and administration of education. Educational researchers contribute to educational knowledge through theories such as their living-educational-theories generated as life-enhancing, values-based explanations of educational influence. Living-educational-theories of present learning include evaluations of past learning and an intention to improve practice in the future in ways that are not yet realized in practice. Improvement in practice is understood as practice that contributes to a world in which humanity can flourish and is expressed in the values-based living standards of judgment of the living-theorist. In making this distinction we are claiming, in our theoretical framework, that S-STEP researchers can contribute to the new educational humanism (Hamilton & Zufiaurre, 2014, p. 150). They can make this contribution, as shown below, by making public their living-educational-theories in which they are holding themselves accountable for living their values that carry hope for the future of humanity, as fully as possible

Creating a profession of educators with the living-theories of master and doctor educators

In our last paper in GEI we presented an argument for teachers to engage in Living Educational Theory research as Continuing Professional Development. In this paper we extend our analysis to show how this can empower educators to improve their practice and, by offering as a gift the knowledge they generate in the process, contribute to the creation of a profession of educators. The extension is grounded in the idea of enhancing professionalism in education through recognising and accrediting accounts of living-educational-theories as knowledge generated by professional practitioners as master and doctor educators. We distinguish Living Educational Theory research from a living-educational-theory. Living Educational Theory research refers to the conceptual principles that distinguish the research approach. A living-educational-theory is a values-based explanation offered by an individual of their educational influence in their own learning, the learning of others and the learning of social formations. It is argued that for this knowledge to be legitimated by universities, in the form of accredited awards, an extension and transformation will be required in the dominating forms of knowledge. It is also argued that educators teaching in continuing professional development programmes need to develop their talents, knowledge and expertise by researching their own practice in the same way as the teachers they are supporting. In doing so they exemplify an educational pedagogy appropriate to providing gifted education internationally for students of any age

SiGeC/Si superlattice microcoolers

Monolithically integrated active cooling is an attractive way for thermal management and temperature stabilization of microelectronic and optoelectronic devices. SiGeC can be lattice matched to Si and is a promising material for integrated coolers. SiGeC/Si superlattice structures were grown on Si substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Thermal conductivity was measured by the 3omega method. SiGeC/Si superlattice microcoolers with dimensions as small as 40×40 µm^2 were fabricated and characterized. Cooling by as much as 2.8 and 6.9 K was measured at 25 °C and 100 °C, respectively, corresponding to maximum spot cooling power densities on the order of 1000 W/cm^2