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What does the actor need to perform in health care? Emotional demands, skills and competences
Get PDFThis article aims to explore the required skills and competencies of the actor who
works in health-care systems. A narrative inquiry gave the opportunity for participants
to elaborate on their understandings of their direct or indirect engagement
with theatre in hospitals. Data were collected in the form of ten narrative interviews
with experienced actors in hospitals and drama trainees. Inductive thematic
analysis of this collection of qualitative data was used to allow findings to emerge
from frequent or significant themes inherent in the semi-structured interviews. The
study demonstrates a defensible emphasis on key themes, including the predictable
professional skills such as acting in participatory dramas, using theatre improvisation
and puppetry, and interpersonal skills such as emotional intelligence and empathetic
awareness
Enacting student partnership as though we really mean it: Some Freirean principles for a pedagogy of partnership
Get PDFThe idea of student-staff partnership working is becoming increasingly popular in higher education. However, there is a risk that, as the idea spreads, the radical nature of partnership working can be diluted and domesticated by established power structures. This article explores the theoretical and practical implications of adopting approaches to partnership working informed by the ideas of Paulo Freire. This is partnership working with a political point—consciously seeking to resist the forces of neoliberalism and any attempts to domesticate partnership to that paradigm. Instead, a pedagogy of partnership, informed by Freire, is juxtaposed with neoliberal domesticated partnership, and six principles are offered for enacting partnership as though we really mean it
The value of the academic award in initial teacher education: key stakeholder perceptions of the masters level Postgraduate Certificate in Education in two English universities
Get PDFThe Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) has been a successful and popular initial teacher education (ITE) programme since the 1950s, with the masters level PGCE being successfully embedded within universities in England since 2007 and having high levels of student satisfaction. Recent White Papers, policy and reviews have undermined the academic award in ITE, however, favouring school-led initial teacher training and the minimum, essential professional award. Located within the Secondary ITE phase in two English universities, this article presents the value of studying education and the academic award at pre-service level via key stakeholder perceptions from interviews with teacher–educators and student–teachers within a case study. Findings highlight improvements to student–teachers’ knowledge and practice; enjoyment in working at a higher academic level; improvements to the ITE programme overall, including student–teacher support and student–teachers’ articulation of knowledge and practice; and enhanced opportunities for employability, career advancement and gaining a Master’s degree
The impact of the Representation of the People Act of 1918 on the politics of the West Midlands
Get PDFDespite the impact of the Representation of the People Act (1918) on the political culture of the west midland region in the inter-war years, the elements of continuity in the politics of the region are striking. The Labour Party failed to dislodge the Unionists’ political control in the region (with the exception of the Black Country) for most of the 1920s and 1930s, despite the presence of a significant industrial working class population in the bulk of the region’s constituencies. The article argues that the lack of significant redistribution of seats in the region, despite wartime growth in all urban areas, enabled the well-organised and well-funded Unionist organisations controlled by Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain to adapt the cross-class, non-denominational message to appeal to the newly enlarged electorate. Although the Labour Party appeared on the brink of a breakthrough in the west midlands, owing to this ‘franchise factor’, the Unionists adapted better to the new age of mass communications and political sloganeering which replaced the Edwardian politics of confrontation and public meetings. The Representation of the People Act of 1918 may have changed the political culture of elections in Britain, but, in the west midlands at least, it did not alter the Unionists’ ability to manage the outcomes of the elections
Lindsey Collen’s narrative gift: a challenge to the commodification of African literature
Get PDFDebates over publishing in African publishing tend to circulate around long-standing arguments about the appropriate language in which to write and whether it is better (or more ethical) for writers to support local presses or to seek international publishers to promote their writing more globally. In this article, the idea of the gift economy is used to explore how one African writer’s publishing practices – Lindsey Collen from Mauritius – can be interpreted as a challenge to such debates. Collen self-identifies as a story-teller (in oral and written narratives) who is gifting her narratives to her audience; this allows an exploration of her novels as more than mere commodities in the material form of published books. Instead, using John Holloway’s notion of the “social flow of doing,” Collen’s publications are seen as only one element in a network of activity that enables the political and activist elements of her work to be foregrounded
Isometric Mid-Thigh Pull Characteristics in Elite Youth Male Soccer Players: Comparisons by Age and Maturity Offset
Get PDFThe purpose of this study was to: 1) provide comparative isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP) force-time characteristics for elite youth soccer players and 2) determine the effect of age and maturation on IMTP force-time characteristics. Elite male youth soccer players (U12 n = 51; U13 n = 54; U14 n = 56; U15 n = 45; U16 n = 39; U18 n = 48) across 3 maturity offset groups (Pre n = 117; circa n = 84; Post-PHV n = 92) performed two maximal IMTP trials on a portable force platform (1,000 Hz). Absolute and relative values for peak force (PF) and impulse over 100 ms and 300 ms, were analyzed. A full Bayesian regression model was used to provide probable differences similar to that of a frequentist p value. Advanced age and maturation resulted in superior IMTP force-time characteristics. Peak force demonstrated high probabilities of a difference between all consecutive age groups (p>0.95). For absolute and relative impulse (100, 300 ms) only two consecutive age groups (U14-15’s; U16-18’s) demonstrated high probabilities of a difference (p>0.95) with large effects (d =0.59 to 0.93). There were high probable differences between all maturity offset groups for PF and impulse with medium to large effects (d = 0.56 to 3.80). These were also reduced when expressed relative to body mass (relative PF, relative impulse). This study provides comparative IMTP force-time characteristics of elite male youth soccer players. Practitioners should consider individual maturation status when comparing players given the impact this has on force expression
Seasonal changes in physical qualities of elite youth soccer players according to maturity status: comparisons with aged matched controls
Get PDFPurpose: Longitudinal studies assessing the seasonal development of strength, speed and power qualities are limited in youth soccer players. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the seasonal changes in the physical development of elite youth soccer players across Pre-, Circa- and Post-Peak Height Velocity (PHV), against a similar age and maturity matched control groups. Methods: One-hundred and twelve male elite youth soccer players (Pre-PHV n = 55; Circa-PHV n = 21; Post-PHV n = 36) and 38 controls consisting of non-elite active participants (Pre-PHV n = 18; Circa-PHV n = 10; Post-PHV n = 10) all undertook isometric mid-thigh pull strength, 10–30 m sprints, change of direction speed (CODs) and countermovement jump (CMJ) tests pre- and post-season. Results: The elite Circa-PHV improved greater than the control group for all physical qualities between pre- and post-season. The elite Pre-PHV improved greater in sprints, CODs, CMJ jump height and strength while the elite Post-PHV group improved more in CODs and strength than their respective control groups. Conclusion: Findings suggest that systematic academy soccer training enhances the development of physical qualities in youth soccer players but maturity status may impact upon such adaptations
The influence of French colonial humanism on the study of late antiquity: Braudel, Marrou, Brown.
Get PDFLate antiquity is a sub-discipline of History. It is also a particular way of representing the time and space of the past. Studies in late antiquity tend to focus on the culture and society of the late Roman world. This article argues that this way of imagining time and space and people derives from Francophone debates about colonial governance that were current in the 1920s and 1930s. This colonial humanism provided the context for two Francophone authors whose work heavily influenced the formation of Late Antiquity: Fernand Braudel and Henri Marrou. This article shows how Braudel and Marrou were influenced by colonial humanism and how this influence shaped the formation of late antiquity. Historiographical accounts of the study of late antiquity have noted a recurring preoccupation with modernity. This article argues that late antiquity is modern to the extent that it is dependent on the colony for its constitution
A learner developer perspective: critiquing dominant practices and cultures within university spaces
Get PDFThis commentary reflects my evolving understanding of the problematic nature of identity and how this relates to notions of professional identity for those in learning development (LD) roles who engage with and produce research. If identity is, as Quinn (2010) asserts, boundary-less, and experienced as a perpetual becoming between multiplicities, what does this mean for questions of identity? This paper suggests that perpetual becoming is reflected in LD roles that operate within a third space, crossing or spanning the boundaries of traditional institutional sites of research, teaching or services, administration or knowledge transfer (Whitchurch, 2013). From such a place, LD practitioners can become what Ball (2007) calls cultural critics, who through their experiences and knowledge of the variety of institutional practices and cultures, are in an enviable place to critique them.
LD practitioners need to maintain a dialogical position that enables reflection-in-action (Schön, 2001) to understand and respond to the multiplicities present in competing individual, institutional and societal discourses. By way of an example, consider the contrast between the pervasive neo-liberal drive for quantification and performance, set against the complex and often messy realities (Biesta, 2010) of LD issues that we, along with our students, often experience.
Learning developers cannot however ignore the current political and social contexts that represent the environment within which our work exists. Nonetheless, LD practitioners must maintain their access to, engagement with, and production of a disparate range of research from across varied institutional and sectoral domains that go beyond seeking evidence of effectiveness. Hence, the need for and purpose of LD practitioner research is to create knowledge-of-practice (Cochrane-Smith and Lytle, 1999) that generates ontological understanding of, and exposure to, the epistemological bases of LD practices
The invisible plan: how English teachers develop their expertise and the special place of adapting the skills of lesson planning
Get PDFThis paper analyses how English teachers learn to become expert designers of learning and why sharing that expertise is increasingly vital. Its conceptual framework is the widely recognised, empirically tested, five-stage developmental Dreyfus model of skill acquisition, exemplifying the development of teacher expertise, constituted by the “milestone” [m] and “transitory” [t] phases connecting with the five stages of: Novice [m], Advanced Beginner [t], Competent [m], Proficient [t] and Expert [m]. Teacher planning is analysed as one key tacit or non-tangible component of developing expertise. Focusing specifically on English teachers as key participants in this pioneer teacher cognition study, the defining characteristics of milestone stages of expertise development are explored with specific attention to the remarkably under-researched area of planning. We introduce three new categories, defining modes of planning: (i) visible practical planning, (ii) external reflective planning and (iii) internal reflective planning, demonstrating their role in teacher development through the Dreyfus five stages. English is a subject which suffers from frequent disruptive changes to curriculum and assessment: new learning designs are constantly demanded, making planning an ongoing challenge. The implications for practice include the importance of an explicit understanding of how teachers’ planning moves through the three phases from the very “visible” novice phase to the internal relatively “automatic” competent teacher and finally the seemingly “invisible” expert phase. Further research is needed to explore how English teachers can share planning expertise between the three phases to improve teachers’ skills and student learning