Between Scholastic and Clinical Practices - Ethnographic Studies in Professional Learning

Author(s):

Karen Borgnakke(presenting / submitting)Vibeke Røn Noer(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

19. Ethnography

Format:

Paper

Session Information

19 SES 09, Parallel Paper Session

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-20

11:00-12:30

Room:

ESI 2 - Aula 3

Chair:

Dennis Beach

Contribution

The ethnographic studies and different case studies take part in a major project about organizational and pedagogical development and conduct fieldwork in the scholastic, profession oriented and academic learning context (Borgnakke 2009, 2010b, 2011a). The project develops school cases focussing on the practice of innovation and alternative concepts of teaching. This paper will focus on studies conducted in the profession oriented learning context. It will be exemplified through ethnographic studies in an alternative concept of a nursing programme to be followed from the course of academic study to the starting professional carrier.

The aim for the research is to enhance the empirical focus on strategies for professionalization and experienced based pathways to professional learning, with consequences both in terms of individual, educational and organisational perspectives. The project will conduct case studies of practical innovation and will on an empirical basis be able to analyse the conditions for profession oriented learning concepts.

Nursing programmes has over the past 25 years undergone significant changes. The education and learning context has moved from an apprenticeship education towards an academic study in a scholarly learning context (Spitzer and Perrenoud 2006). In terms of learning theory you can recognize the same spectra with movements between ideas from apprenticeship, situated learning and intuitive expertise to grasp the professional clinical and practical context (Nielsen & Kvale, 1999, Lave & Wenger 1991, Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 1986, Benner 2010). At the same time the educational development both in the profession oriented and academic learning context tried to benefit from the progressive ideas of project and problem based learning (Borgnakke 2004, 2005, 2011).

Regardless of the pedagogical ideas, the question of the relationship between theory and practice is still the basic dilemma and a challenge for the professional learning and trainings. In this sense, the common focal point for the project is the relationship between theory and practice, both in terms of scholastic and professional clinical learning contexts.

Method

The empirical phases in the project are closely related to the ethnographic research strategies developed by Borgnakke et al in former studies (2010a). The strength is that material/product collections, interviews and methods of observation will cope and cover all the three organizational levels: The level of management, the level of co-workers, teacher/teacher relations, and the level of teaching and learning practice, teacher/student relations, student/student relations, the process of learning (Borgnakke 2011b, 2012). In terms of theory the project is anchored in discourse analysis and in a variety of learning theories conceptualizing the spectra from the learning student to the learning organization (Borgnakke 2005). But in the specific case the focus is on the possibility to combine concepts of professional skills from Dreyfus & Dreyfus (1986) and Benner (2010) with concepts of experienced based learning origin from Negt (1971) with concepts of organizational learning from Argyris (1992) and Schön (1987).

Expected Outcomes

Related to the empirical studies and the different phases the perspective for this paper is to sharpen the empirical analyse of the organisational discourse, the tendencies and teaching strategies for enhancing practice oriented learning in profession oriented programmes. The paper will in part one identify the characteristic organisational moves towards professionalization in the scholastic, the academic and profession oriented learning context. In part two we will exemplify the analysis related to teaching strategies used in a nursing programme.

References

References Argyris, C. (1992) On Organizational Learning. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. Benner, B, Sutphen, M, Leonard, V, Day, L (2010) Eudcating Nurses – A call for Radical Transformation. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. Borgnakke, K. (2004a) Ethnographic Studies and Analysis of a Recurrent Theme: “learning by doing”, European Educational Research Journal, Theme: Ethnography of Education in a European Educational Researcher Perspective, Vol.3, No.3, www.wwwords.co.uk/EERJ. Borgnakke, K. (2005) Læringsdiskurser og praktikker, Akademisk Forlag. Borgnakke, K. (2009) Projektportalen/evalueringsportalen (Project IT-based strategies for learning and evaluation), University of Copenhagen http://workingprogress.cms.hum.ku.dk Borgnakke, K.(2010a) Études ethnographiques de pédagogie et d'apprentissage: Défis postmodernes, Revue Européenne d'Ethnographie de l'Education, SEE. 2010/ 78: 243 - 260. Borgnakke, K. (2010b) Projektportalen ITAKA (IT & Learning in Academia) University of Copenhagen: http://pur.mef.ku.dk/itaka/ and www.eresearch.ku.dk Borgnakke, K. (2011a) Et universitet er et sted, der forsker i alt undtagen i sig selv og sin egen virksomhed. Institut for Medier, Erkendelse og Formidling & Institut for Nordiske Studier og Sprog, Københavns Universitet. Borgnakke, K. (2011b) Blandt professionelle idealister og pragmatikere – en caseanalyse om professionalisering i gymnasiefeltet, Arbejdslivets pædagogik, Christensen og Berthelsen (red.), Forlaget Frydenlund. Borgnakke, K. (2012) Challenges for the Next Generation in Upper Secondary School - Between Literacy, Numeracy, and Technacy, Schools for Marginalized Youth, Pink (ed.) Hampton Press, in print. Dreyfus, H. & S. Dreyfus (1986) Mind over Machine. New York. The Free Press. Negt, O. (1971) Soziologische Phantasie und exemplarisches Lernen, Frankfurt am Main - Köln, Europäische Verlagsanstalt. Nielsen, K. & S. Kvale (Eds) (1999) Mesterlære – læring som social praksis, Oslo: Hans Reitzels Forlag. Lave and Wenger (1991) Situated learning. Legitimate peripheral participation, Cambridge University Press. Schön. D.A. (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Spitzer and Perrenoud (2006a) Reforms in nursing education across Western Europe: from agenda to practice, Journal of Professional Nursing 22

Author Information

Karen Borgnakke (presenting / submitting)

University of Copenhagen

Dept.of Media, Cognition and Communication

Copenhagen S

Vibeke Røn Noer (presenting)

VIA University College & University of Copenhagen

Department of Nursing in Aarhus, School of Health Sciences

Aarhus N

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