Topic, objective and conceptual framework  

Students in higher professionals education are being prepared for high level professional practice. Research among university students has shown that one of the prerogatives for this transformation is that students are aware of this need to transform and that they are willing to transform interacting with powerful bodies of knowledge (Ashwin et al., 2014). However, in higher professional education interactions are provided with professional knowledge, theoretical knowledge and professional practice to develop their professionalism. Professionalism is a prerogative to be able to function as a professional. ‘Professionalism’ is here defined as a functional integration of professional knowledge (including embodied knowledge), professional identity and the capability to act professionally (Barnett, 2009; Griffioen, 2019; Guile, 2014). It has been suggested that for a student, each step taken requests a transformation and therefore a rebalancing of knowledge, identity and action (Trede et al., 2012; Young & Muller, 2014).

Several studies consider separate aspects of this trajectory, such as the student’s step from high school to college (Scanlon et al., 2007), or the transition from study to professional life in relation to professional identity and professional practice (Tomlinson & Jackson, 2021). (Barnett et al., 2001) conceptualize knowledge, action and self to describe their balance higher education curricula, theorizing a similar process, although ‘action’ is here related to the action needed for learning by the student within the educational system. While the assumption is that bachelor students in professional education develop all three areas while becoming professionals (Griffioen, 2019), how the three notions that comprise professionalism develop in relation with each other in students has however not yet been studied. This poster presents the first two measurements in a four year bachelor trajectory, indicating how students’ professionalism changes in the first study year.

Research question

How does the self-preceived professionalism (knowledge, identity and action) of bachelor students in professional higher education change during their studies? What influences their perceptions over time?

This longitudinal research project follows the development of professionalism of 36 students in total at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) in four different programs during their four-year bachelor program. The four bachelor programs included are: Aviation, Creative Business, Social Work and Physical Therapy. These four programs are chosen in line with the life/non-life, and hard/soft of Biglan’s (1973a, 1973b) disciplinary model, following a previous study indicating students experiencing differences in inclusion of research in their programs (Griffioen, 2020). The longitudinal design was based on the study by (Ashwin et al., 2014) about the change of student’s accounts of sociology over time. Semi-structured interviews were conducted five times: at the begin of each study year and at the end of their studies. From the second interview onward an educational product was brought by the student to showcase their professionalism. The interviews are transcribed verbatim and analyzed holistically (Saldaña, 2021, p. 214)to capture the student’s professionalism as a whole. For each interview quotes are selected that concerned utterances about professionalism or its elements. The quotes were interpreted and positioned in relation to professional knowledge, identity and action, or more than one. The analysis was based on a qualitative interpretation of the foundations of Perry’s (1968) study on student’s development. He found that students go through several phases in their intellectual development, and develop multiple modes to engage with social complexity as they proceed in their knowledge engagements. This principle of layers of development is here applied to the ‘maps’ generated by the plotted quotes, resulting in a development scheme of each knowledge, action and identity. Combined these result in a development in layers of student’s professionalism. This paper presents the first two measurement points, resulting in a development of student’s self-perceived professionalism from before to after the first study year.

The preliminary results show that students before they start their bachelor trajectory have a limited view on their future professions. The interviews are short (those for year 3 and 4 are much longer), and they literally do not have much text concerning their professional knowledge, identity and actions. Their ideals are oftentimes grounded in personal interests and not much related to a professional identity and actions. Some however have a view of which knowledge and skills they expect to learn. The findings for the first year sustain the importance of the transition to higher education for the development of an identity as a student identity as identified by (Scanlon et al., 2007), less as a professional. There are some differences between programs, whereby it is salient that students from social work value the development of their own professional identity in relation with multiple knowledge conceptions and for example reflect much on their professional actions , whereas students in physical therapy reason about the value of codified knowledge such as standard procedures for professional practice. Several students in Aviation have furthermore the ambition to become a pilot, though the study does not provide the professional education thereto.

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