Adopting a student-led pedagogic approach within higher education: The reflections of an early career academic

The current paper presents a reflective account of the adoption of a student-led pedagogic approach, based upon the first author’s experiences of working within a new academic institution. Carl Rogers’ writings around student-centred learning and the role of the facilitator provide the theoretical underpinning for the reflections put forward, and contextual information regarding the institution’s learning and teaching strategy, and the first author’s teaching background are also provided. Observations and reflections relating to ‘power’ within teaching and learning, and the challenges (and successes) encountered when adopting the role of a ‘facilitator of learning’ are considered from a critical standpoint. The paper closes with some key questions and considerations surrounding the first author’s ongoing exploration of this innovative pedagogic approach

Dilemmas in doing insider research in professional education

This article explores the dilemmas I encountered when researching social work education in England as an insider researcher who was simultaneously employed as an educator in the host institution. This was an ethnographic project deploying multiple methods and generating rich case study material which informed the student textbook Becoming a Social Worker the four-year period of the project. First, ethical dilemmas emerged around informed consent and confidentiality when conducting surveys of students and reading their portfolios. Second, professional dilemmas stemmed from the ways in which my roles as a researcher, academic tutor, social worker and former practice educator converged and collided. Third, political dilemmas pertained to the potential for the project to crystallize and convey conflicts among stakeholders in the university and community. Since the majority of research in social work education is conducted by insiders, we have a vital interest in making sense of such complexity

Direct Measurement of Kirkwood-Rihaczek distribution for spatial properties of coherent light beam

We present direct measurement of Kirkwood-Rihaczek (KR) distribution for spatial properties of coherent light beam in terms of position and momentum (angle) coordinates. We employ a two-local oscillator (LO) balanced heterodyne detection (BHD) to simultaneously extract distribution of transverse position and momentum of a light beam. The two-LO BHD could measure KR distribution for any complex wave field (including quantum mechanical wave function) without applying tomography methods (inverse Radon transformation). Transformation of KR distribution to Wigner, Glauber Sudarshan P- and Husimi or Q- distributions in spatial coordinates are illustrated through experimental data. The direct measurement of KR distribution could provide local information of wave field, which is suitable for studying particle properties of a quantum system. While Wigner function is suitable for studying wave properties such as interference, and hence provides nonlocal information of the wave field. The method developed here can be used for exploring spatial quantum state for quantum mapping and computing, optical phase space imaging for biomedical applications.Comment: 27 pages, 14 figure

Reflectivity, reflexivity and situated reflective practice

This paper describes an aspect of reflective practice referred to as ‘Situated Reflective Practice’ (SRP). The overarching theory is derived from social theories of structuration and reflexivity. In particular, from Giddens’s (1984) theory of structuration, this sees social life as interplay of agency and structure. Discussion of the research reported here centres on the nature of such situated reflection, considers related literature and presents the data collected in a recent small-scale study. The original purpose of the research was to explore the perceptions of corporate trainers on a course for Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector (PTLLS). As a result of this research the concept of Situated Reflective Practice was generated. It is argued that here exist some situations where a person will find themselves in a position over which they have little control, avoidance or veto. The major conclusion of this study was that key interview themes enabled the delineation of a series of five characteristics representing increasing structural distance in space and time between the reflective practitioner and the professional situation in which they work

Learning democracy in social work

In this contribution, we discuss the role of social work in processes of democracy. A key question in this discussion concerns the meaning of ‘the social’ in social work. This question has often been answered in a self-referential way, referring to a methodological identity of social work. This defines the educational role of social work as socialisation (be it socialisation into obedience or into an empowered citizen). However, the idea of democracy as ‘ongoing experiment’ and ‘beyond order’ challenges this methodological identity of social work. From the perspective of democracy as an ‘ongoing experiment’, the social is to be regarded as a platform for dissensus, for ongoing discussions on the relation between private and public issues in the light of human rights and social justice. Hence, the identity of social work cannot be defined in a methodological way; social work is a complex of (institutionalized) welfare practices, to be studied on their underlying views on the ‘social’ as a political and educational concept, and on the way they influence the situation of children, young people and adults in society