Discursive constructions of student midwives’ professional identities: A discourse analysis

BackgroundThe construction and performance of professional identity is significant to broader socio-cultural understandings of who ‘professionals’ are and what they do. Importantly, it is also implicated in the development and enactment of policy, regulation, education, and professional practice. Professional identity is linked to self-esteem, self-efficacy, professional value, confidence and success. The salience of this in relation to midwifery practice is highly significant; aspects of autonomy, confidence, competence, responsibility, and accountability are all implicated in the provision of safe and effective care.AimTo explore how student midwives are constructed in the discourses of policy, professionalism, and learning, to provide new perspectives to inform, policy, education, and practice.MethodsAn adapted critical discourse analysis of the United Kingdom (UK) Nursing and Midwifery Council’s 2009 Standards for pre-registration midwifery education, using a three-step process: exploring discourse at the level of (1) discursive practice (2) linguistic features of the text, and (3) social practice.Findings/ DiscussionThe discourses that relate to midwifery education and practice emerge within socio-political and historical contexts. Constructions of identity are articulated through a rule-bound framework which includes competence, confidence and ‘good health and good character’. There is a requirement for midwives to ‘be’ responsible, accountable, autonomous, professional, competent, and confident. Regulatory power is reinforced through medico-legal discourses, with the status of midwifery discursively presented as inferior to medicine.ConclusionAccording to the Standards, midwives must be a lot of things in their role and function. The Standards’ discourses are authoritative, legislative and controlling, creating an ideology about professional status and agency which constructs an ‘imaginary autonomy’; becoming a midwife is more automatic (with the perception of control), than agentic. All of which has significance for the social practice of midwifer

Celebrating 70 years of nursing and midwifery in NHS Scotland. [Exhibition]

This set of infographics were displayed together in an exhibition celebrating 70 years of nursing and midwifery in NHS Scotland. They highlight events and images covering each decade of the history of NHS Scotland, from the 1940s through to present day and beyond

'Powers, passages and passengers' : the construction and performance of student midwives' professional identities

This thesis details my study of the discourses within which student midwives construct and perform their professional identities. The title employs a metaphor commonly used in midwifery and obstetric texts to articulate the powers, passages and passengers involved in labour and birth. I use it allegorically as a metaphor for the 'powers' of policy, the 'passages' of professional learning, and the students as 'passengers' therein. The key words for consideration are construction, performance, identities and discourses. 'Construction' uses 'small stories and positioning analysis' theorised by Bamberg and Georgakopoulou (2008). Analysis orientates through three levels, from locally constructed contexts of self to wider socio-cultural perspectives. 'Performance' uses visual analysis and 'micro-dramas', which I developed as part of this thesis; enabling me to investigate how identity is produced in conjunction with the material objects that constitute practice. 'Identities' uses sociolinguistic perspectives proposed by Bucholtz and Hall (2005, p. 585), defined as 'the social positioning of the self and other'. Finally, 'discourses' are explored using Fairclough's discourse analysis (1992). Here I examine how policy shapes midwives' identities and creates preferred 'subject positions' for midwives to adopt. Each element of analysis combines to surface the ways in which these positions are taken up or resisted by the student midwives (n=16), in relation to policy and their own small stories and micro-dramas. I conclude with three important contributions to the literature. The first relates to discursive constructions of 'midwives' and the significance that this has for the development of midwifery education and practice. Second, is the extension of knowledge relative to midwives' emergent professional identities. This comes during a time of unprecedented interest in the professional status of NHS workers and is therefore important to both current and future understandings of who midwives are and what they do. Finally, I propose a new methodology for exploring identity constructions and performances relative to small stories using gesture and material artefacts

'Powers, passages and passengers' : the construction and performance of student midwives' professional identities

This thesis details my study of the discourses within which student midwives construct and perform their professional identities. The title employs a metaphor commonly used in midwifery and obstetric texts to articulate the powers, passages and passengers involved in labour and birth. I use it allegorically as a metaphor for the 'powers' of policy, the 'passages' of professional learning, and the students as 'passengers' therein. The key words for consideration are construction, performance, identities and discourses. 'Construction' uses 'small stories and positioning analysis' theorised by Bamberg and Georgakopoulou (2008). Analysis orientates through three levels, from locally constructed contexts of self to wider socio-cultural perspectives. 'Performance' uses visual analysis and 'micro-dramas', which I developed as part of this thesis; enabling me to investigate how identity is produced in conjunction with the material objects that constitute practice. 'Identities' uses sociolinguistic perspectives proposed by Bucholtz and Hall (2005, p. 585), defined as 'the social positioning of the self and other'. Finally, 'discourses' are explored using Fairclough's discourse analysis (1992). Here I examine how policy shapes midwives' identities and creates preferred 'subject positions' for midwives to adopt. Each element of analysis combines to surface the ways in which these positions are taken up or resisted by the student midwives (n=16), in relation to policy and their own small stories and micro-dramas. I conclude with three important contributions to the literature. The first relates to discursive constructions of 'midwives' and the significance that this has for the development of midwifery education and practice. Second, is the extension of knowledge relative to midwives' emergent professional identities. This comes during a time of unprecedented interest in the professional status of NHS workers and is therefore important to both current and future understandings of who midwives are and what they do. Finally, I propose a new methodology for exploring identity constructions and performances relative to small stories using gesture and material artefacts

Pandora's Box: how to humanise educational technology to ensure an emotionally fluent midwifery programme - recognising the issues.

This article will focus on the challenge of providing anemotionally vibrant midwifery curriculum for our three yearundergraduate programme. We plan to achieve thisthrough the creative use of e-learning opportunities andface-to-face workshops, designed to enable students toexplore issues of emotion and communication in a varietyof interrelated approaches.We have used the 4D Cycle Appreciative Inquiry approach(discovery, dreaming, design and destiny) to provide aframework for us to reflect on key educational issues inmidwifery and enable us to explore ways in which we canweave a woman-focused perspective around our chosenframework (see Fig 1). Here we discuss the first two stagesof the 4D cycle, discovery and dreaming, to establishwhat the issues are for us and to enable us to craft theworkshops. The workshops will develop themes arisingfrom both the theory and practice modules undertaken bystudent midwives throughout the curriculum and willprovide the opportunity for reflective discussion on arange of activities. These activities will be styled aroundthe experiences of parents, students, midwives andsupervisors of midwives providing a synthesis ofinteractive media

Pandora's Box: how to humanise educational technology to ensure an emotionally fluent midwifery programme - recognising the issues.

This article will focus on the challenge of providing anemotionally vibrant midwifery curriculum for our three yearundergraduate programme. We plan to achieve thisthrough the creative use of e-learning opportunities andface-to-face workshops, designed to enable students toexplore issues of emotion and communication in a varietyof interrelated approaches.We have used the 4D Cycle Appreciative Inquiry approach(discovery, dreaming, design and destiny) to provide aframework for us to reflect on key educational issues inmidwifery and enable us to explore ways in which we canweave a woman-focused perspective around our chosenframework (see Fig 1). Here we discuss the first two stagesof the 4D cycle, discovery and dreaming, to establishwhat the issues are for us and to enable us to craft theworkshops. The workshops will develop themes arisingfrom both the theory and practice modules undertaken bystudent midwives throughout the curriculum and willprovide the opportunity for reflective discussion on arange of activities. These activities will be styled aroundthe experiences of parents, students, midwives andsupervisors of midwives providing a synthesis ofinteractive media

Developing an evaluation framework for an online midwifery programme: a practical participatory approach

Purpose:This paper aims to generate knowledge about relevant evaluation topics that align with and represent the unique character of the midwifery programme for students living in the rural and remote areas of Scotland.Design/methodology/approach:The first two central concepts of Practical Participatory Evaluation (P-PE) framed the research design: the data production process and (2) the knowledge co-construction process. The data were collected using a semi-structured approach via online discussions, dialogues and email-based consultation among programme stakeholders. A structural analysis was performed: the units of meaning (what was said) were extracted, listed and quantified in units of significance (what the texts were talking about), from which the key topics for evaluation emerged.Findings:A community of 36 stakeholders engaged in the discussions, dialogues and consultations. The stakeholders identified 58 units of significance. Fifteen sub themes were constructed in five main themes: student profile, student well-being, E-pedagogy, student journey/transition from being a nurse to becoming a midwife and learning in (an online) geographically remote and isolated area. The themes, or topics of evaluation, are dynamic functions and underlying mechanisms of the commonly used evaluation measures student progress and student evaluation.Research limitations/implications:This P-PE is a single-site study, focusing on a unique programme consisting of a specific group of students living and studying a specific geographic area, affecting the transferability of the findings.Originality/valueIn collaboration with stakeholders, parameters to evaluate the uniqueness of the programme in addition to higher education institution routinely collected data on student progress and satisfaction were systematically identified. The themes highlight that if student progress and satisfaction were the only evaluation parameters, knowledge and understanding of the contributing factors to (un)successfulness of this unique online midwifery programme could be missed

Using pre-arrival shared reading to promote a sense of community: A case study across two institutions

Seeking to improve student enrolment, engagement, and retention, Kingston University began a pre-arrival shared reading scheme in 2014–2015, sending a free book to every student about to start at the university and making copies available to staff in all roles and departments across the institution. A number of associated events were organized and outcomes monitored through a variety of project-specific and institutional metrics. Continuing with the scheme in 2015–2016, Kingston University and Edinburgh Napier University joined together as research partners. Edinburgh Napier, having participated in the process of choosing a book for all to read, made the same single title available to their students and staff. In this paper the processes and outcomes of the collaboration are reported, including the differences in project implementation in the two institutions and what they learned from each other. Recommendations are made for how universities can work together on projects of mutual desirability, pointing out particular associated sensitivities, in this case when managing a long-distance collaboration, and what can be learned for the future