Evolving perspectives on business and books: practitioner implications

The research subject of this Portfolio of Essays is my ‘apparatus of thought’ in the context of my professional development. I have examined theory and the application of theory to a professional life. I analyse how my use of theory has changed and enabled my professional development. Each of the three Essays takes a different perspective and applies the theories of adult mental development, business and firm growth as an analytical framework. Using Kegan’s theories of Adult Mental Development as an ‘apparatus of thought’, Essay One is my reflection on my professional development in the light of my training, education, and development. I describe how changes in my ‘apparatus of thought’, my meaning-making system, have enabled me to develop my professional practice. Exposure to the theories of Adult Mental Development have also enabled me to understand how my development has precipitated and necessitated my career changes. In Essay Two, moving from military aviation to book publishing was a major career change for me, enabled by a change in my meaning-making system. In the context of my professional development, I sought to change my practice so that I could make a more meaningful contribution to the firm. To achieve this, I directed my reading towards a deeper understanding of the nature of the firm and the impact of industrial change on the firm. Using the context of my professional environment in Essay Three, I show how my use of theory has developed. I describe how I sought to change working practices in the firm and discuss the impact this initiative had on my professional self. I use the ‘data of my experience’ to examine my theory of the business from a Penrosian perspective. The Penrosian perspective coupled with my exposure to theories of Adult Mental Development and the effects of a transformational education process enabled me to transition to a leadership role with an international online publisher.

The tithe: Public research university STEM faculty perspectives on sponsored research indirect costs

This study sought to understand the phenomenon of faculty involvement in indirect cost under-recovery. The focus of the study was on public research university STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) faculty, and their perspectives on, and behavior towards, a higher education fiscal policy. The explanatory scheme was derived from anthropological theory, and incorporated organizational culture, faculty socialization, and political bargaining models in the conceptual framework. This study drew on two key assumptions. The first assumption was that faculty understanding of, and behavior toward, indirect cost recovery represents values, beliefs, and choices drawn from the distinct professional socialization and distinct culture of faculty. The second assumption was that when faculty and institutional administrators are in conflict over indirect cost recovery, the resultant formal administrative decision comes about through political bargaining over critical resources. The research design was a single site, qualitative case study with a focus on learning the meaning of the phenomenon as understood by the informants. In this study the informants were tenured and tenure track research university faculty in the STEM fields who were highly successful at obtaining Federal sponsored research funds, with individual sponsored research portfolios of at least one million dollars. The data consisted of 11 informant interviews, bolstered by documentary evidence. The findings indicated that faculty socialization and organizational culture were the most dominant themes, while political bargaining emerged as significantly less prominent. Public research university STEM faculty are most concerned about the survival of their research programs and the discovery facilitated by their research programs. They resort to conjecture when confronted by the issue of indirect cost recovery. The findings direct institutional administrators to consider less emphasis on compliance and hierarchy when working with expert professionals such as science faculty. Instead a more effective focus might be on communication and clarity in budget processes and organizational decision-making, and a concentration on critical administrative support that can relieve faculty administrative burdens. For higher education researchers, the findings suggest that we need to create more sophisticated models to help us understand organizations dependent on expert professionals.

Developing Social Work Education: Academic Perspectives

During the past decade, a new culture of pedagogic research has emerged in social work in the UK. A succession of child-care tragedies that have led to government and public criticism of social work have highlighted the need for improvements to professional standards and stimulated renewed interest in social work education. Research aimed at developing knowledge of ‘what works’ in the educational process have included studies of student experiences and the perspectives of other stakeholders including service users and practice teachers. However, there has been little systematic investigation of the role of academics in social work education and their perceptions of what needs to be done to improve the quality of provision. This paper aims to address this gap in research by examining the perceptions of academics about their work. The authors utilise an adaptation of the conceptual model developed by Fraser and Bosanquet (2006) as a theoretical framework for analysing the findings and exploring the complex interrelationship between academic perspectives and the variety of concepts, ideas and stakeholder expectations that shape pedagogical practice. The findings should provide important lessons of relevance to educators in the UK and in other countries seeking to develop social work education.

Law and Society: Volume III: Legal Processes and Professional Groups within the Legal Field

The thriving and well-established field of Law and Society (also referred to as Socio-legal Studies) has diverse methodological influences; it draws on social-scientific and arts-based methods. The approach of scholars researching and teaching in the field often crosses disciplinary borders, but, broadly speaking, Law and Society scholarship goes behind formalism to investigate how and why law operates, or does not operate as intended, in society. By exploring law’s connections with broader social and political forces—both domestic and international—scholars gain valuable perspectives on ideology, culture, identity, and social life. Law and Society scholarship considers both the law in contexts, as well as contexts in law.
Law and Society flourishes today, perhaps as never before. Academic thinkers toil both on the mundane and the local, as well as the global, making major advances in the ways in which we think both about law and society. Especially over the last four decades, scholarly output has rapidly burgeoned, and this new title from Routledge’s acclaimed Critical Concepts in Law series answers the need for an authoritative reference collection to help users make sense of the daunting quantity of serious research and thinking.
Edited by the leading scholars in the field, Law and Society brings together in four volumes the vital classic and contemporary contributions. Volume I is dedicated to historical antecedents and precursors. The second volume covers methodologies and crucial themes. The third volume assembles key works on legal processes and professional groups, while the final volume of the collection focuses on substantive areas. Together, the volumes provide a one-stop ‘mini library’ enabling all interested researchers, teachers, and students to explore the origins of this thriving sub discipline, and to gain a thorough understanding of where it is today.

Delivering Social Work Education on Case Reviews and Inquiry Reports: An Exploratory Study of Students' Perspectives in Northern Ireland

It is self-evident that we live in the age of inquiry where the negative impact of risk has been examined through numerous formal processes. In the wake of such scrutiny, there have been repeated recommendations for better training of the professionals charged with safeguarding the welfare of vulnerable individuals. Yet there has been very little examination of how student social workers, in particular, evaluate this training. This exploratory study responded to this gap through a mixed-methods design centring on the views of qualifying and post-qualifying social work students attending courses within two regional universities in Northern Ireland. The study found that, in the main, the cohorts responded favourably to certain aspects of the curriculum and how they were delivered. That said, the emotive nature of the case review and inquiry reports was inadequately addressed in the classroom and was not processed afterwards through a psycho-social framework. In effect, students were often left with residual anxieties that potentially hampered learning. On the basis of the findings, the study calls for further research into this highly significant area of professional competence.

Service user perspectives on palliative care education for health and social care professionals supporting people with learning disabilities

Background and objectives
Evidence from European and American studies indicates limited referrals of people with learning (intellectual) disabilities to palliative care services. Although professionals’ perceptions of their training needs in this area have been studied, the perceptions of people with learning disabilities and family carers are not known. This study aimed to elicit the views of people with learning disabilities, and their family carers concerning palliative care, to inform healthcare professional education and training.

Methods
A qualitative, exploratory design was used. A total of 17 people with learning disabilities were recruited to two focus groups which took place within an advocacy network. Additionally, three family carers of someone with a learning disability, requiring palliative care, and two family carers who had been bereaved recently were also interviewed.

Results
Combined data identified the perceived learning needs for healthcare professionals. Three subthemes emerged: ‘information and preparation’, ‘provision of care’ and ‘family-centred care’.

Conclusions
This study shows that people with learning disabilities can have conversations about death and dying, and their preferred end-of-life care, but require information that they can understand. They also need to have people around familiar to them and with them. Healthcare professionals require skills and knowledge to effectively provide palliative care for people with learning disabilities and should also work in partnership with their family carers who have expertise from their long-term caring role. These findings have implications for educators and clinicians.

Looking again at troubled families: parents' perspectives on multiple adversities

The 'Troubled Families' policy and intervention agenda is based on a deficit approach that tends to ignore the role of structural disadvantage in the lives of the families it targets. In an effort to support this rhetoric, both quantitative and qualitative data have been used, and misused, to create a representation of these families, which emphasizes risk and individual blame and minimizes societal factors. This current paper presents findings from an in-depth qualitative study using a biographical narrative approach to explore parents' experiences of multiple adversities at different times over the life-course. Key themes relating to the pattern and nature of adversities experienced by participants provide a more nuanced understanding of the lives of families experiencing multiple and complex problems, highlighting how multiple interpretations are often possible within the context of professional intervention. The findings support the increasing call to move away from procedurally driven, risk averse child protection practice towards more relationally based practice, which addresses not only the needs of all family members but recognizes parents as individuals in their own right.

Academic and Practitioners perspectives on Organisation Development – a UK study

This paper reports on a research study to identify the nature of the profession of Organisation Development (OD) in the UK and how it has evolved over four decades. The study is designed to compare academic perspectives on OD with what is happening in the professional practice world. Three forms of data were collected for this study, content analysis of job advertisements from a four decade period, a bibliometric search and interviews with subject experts. The findings were analysed through the theory lens of institutional theory, the dissemination of ideas and fads and fashions in management. Emerging insights are that there is a difference between academic and practitioners development of the OD profession in the UK. The reasons for the difference have been explored in the discussion.

L’accumulation compulsive: Perspectives de l’intervention psychosociale

Cette recherche qualitative a pour objectif de contribuer aux connaissances sur le trouble d’accumulation compulsive (TAC) afin de donner des assises empiriques à la pratique des travailleurs sociaux, techniciens en travail social, éducateurs spécialisés, psychoéducateurs et autres professionnels intervenant au sein des services sociaux. Par extension, elle vise aussi à fournir des pistes pour l’amélioration des services offerts aux personnes aux prises avec ce problème. La question de départ de cette recherche était : Comment les usagers des CSSS ayant eu des services pour un TAC perçoivent et évaluent-ils les interventions effectuées par les intervenants sociaux? Afin d’y répondre, des entrevues individuelles semi-dirigées ont été effectuées auprès d’usagers de Centres de santé et de services sociaux de Québec et ses environs (CSSS Alphonse-Desjardins, Québec-Nord, Portneuf et de la Vieille-Capitale). Ces usagers ont complété le questionnaire Working Alliance Inventory-SR (WAI-SR), version française. Des intervenants sociaux des CSSS ont également participé à des groupes de discussion, afin de compléter et contextualiser les données obtenues. Résultats : Le TAC est une expérience et une situation de vie avant d’être une condition au sens psychiatrique, et les comportements d’accumulation s’inscrivent dans les perceptions que les usagers ont d’eux-mêmes, de leurs priorités et objectifs et des conditions dans lesquelles ils veulent vivre. Les usagers rencontrés ont majoritairement une opinion favorable des services psychosociaux des CSSS, ce qui peut être lié à un bon niveau de reconnaissance de la problématique. La perception favorable des services semble liée à une bonne alliance thérapeutique. Autant les usagers que les intervenants sociaux percevaient qu’il y avait un manque de ressources dans la région de Québec pour répondre aux besoins spécifiques des personnes aux prises avec des problèmes inhérents au TAC. Mots-clés : accumulation compulsive, santé mentale, alliance thérapeutique, intervention psychosociale, perception services, Centre local de services communautaires.

Conceptualizing and Researching the Professionalization of Religious Education Teachers: Historical and International Perspectives

Current discussions on Religious Education (RE), both in Germany and England, focus on the quality of teaching and the professionality of teachers, but neglect the historical and institutional process of professionalization upon which conceptions of teaching quality and teacher professionality hinge. This article seeks to provide definitional clarity by differentiating between individual and collective professionalization; exploring teacher professionalization in general and in the special case of RE; and operationalizing the concept of RE teacher professionalization for the purposes of planned historical and international comparative research. A three-fold conceptualization of professionalization is proposed, consisting of the following inter-related levels: (1) initial and continuing professional development; (2) professional self-organization and professional politics; and (3) professional knowledge. The breadth, complexity and significance of the historical and institutional processes associated with the professionalization of RE teachers at each of these levels is described and discussed. It is argued that further historical and international comparative research on these lines would contribute a broader and deeper understanding of the presuppositions of RE teacher professionality beyond current debates.

The Professional Legitimacy of the Taiwan-educated versus US-educated Taiwanese English Teachers

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2015

Spiritual journeys in the classroom: elementary public school teachers' perspectives /

This thesis explored 5 public elementary school teachers ' perceptions of spirituality and its implications for classroom practice. A generic qualitative study was conducted where each teacher shared her experiences and perceptions in one audiotaped semistructured interview. Transcripts were generated and coded for themes which emerged, resulting in the findings of the study. Following this process, the participants verified the accuracy of the transcripts and findings through a member-checking system. The research found that each teacher has her own definition of spirituality. Furthermore, one's personal connection with spirituality can involve a relationship with religion, the self, a higher being, others, and nature. These spiritual relationships were nurtured through a variety of methods outlined by the teachers. This resulted in the creation of a personal spiritual profile for each teacher which contained each teacher's spiritual connections or facets and the methods used to develop these facets. The teachers identified spiritual needs in their students warranting the need for and importance of spiritual education. Given this, a number of classroom practices were identified with the intention of meeting the spiritual needs of students. Among these practices, the teacher as role model was identified as a significant practice for students' spiritual development in the classroom. The teachers further outlined a number of professional development initiatives with the intention to promote greater awareness for spiritual education and to provide resources for educators.

Teachers' perspectives on the implementation of expectations-based curricula /

This qualitative study examines teachers' experiences implementing new standardized curricula in Ontario schools. This new curricula contained several policy changes and an expectations based format which directed what knowledge and skills students were to demonstrate in each subject. This level of specificity of subject-content served to control teachers in relation to curricula; however, data suggested that at the same time, teachers had enormous flexibility in terms of pedagogy. Four secondary teachers who were implementing a Grade 10 course in the 2000-2001 school year participated in the study. The qualitative framework supported the researcher's emphasis on examining the participants' perspectives on the implementation of expectation-based curricula. Data collected included transcripts from interviews conducted with teacher participants and a representative of the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training, field notes, and a research journal. Many of the factors often cited in the literature as influencing implementation practices were found to have affected the participants' experiences of curriculum implementation: time, professional development, and teachers' beliefs, particularly concerning students. In addition, the format of the policy documents proved to both control and free teachers during the implementation process. Participants believed that the number of specific expectations did not provide them an opportunity to add content to the curriculum; at the same time, teachers also noted that the general format of the policy document allowed them to direct instruction to match students' needs and their own teaching preferences. Alignment between teachers' beliefs about education and their understanding of the new curriculum affected the ways in which many participants adapted during the implementation process.

Exploring School Principals’ Perspectives on Emotional Intelligence

Ontario school principals’ professional development currently includes leadership training that encompasses emotional intelligence. This study sought to augment the limited research in the Canadian educational context on school leaders’ understanding of emotional intelligence and its relevancy to their work. The study utilized semi-structured interviews with 6 Ontario school principals representing disparate school contexts based on socioeconomic levels, urban and rural settings, and degree of ethnic diversity. Additionally, the 4 male and 2 female participants are elementary and secondary school principals in different public school boards and represent a diverse range of age and experience. The study utilized a grounded theory approach to data analysis and identified by 5 main themes: Self-Awareness, Relationship, Support, Pressure, and Emotional Filtering and Compartmentalization. Recommendations are made to further explore the emotional support systems available to school leaders in Ontario schools.