This qualitative research study explores the experience of graduating social workers making the transition from university training into work as qualified social work practitioners. Most studies in this area look at the practice readiness of the newly qualified professional. This study looks at the participants’ experience in the work place. How do participants experience this journey of transition? What skills, particularly reflective practice and supervision, learned in training, are important to them? Eight graduates were interviewed three times as they began to practice, after six months and at the end of year one. Four people worked in children’s services, four in adult services. The methodology adopted for this research was Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). These findings suggest there is a process of transition that has three strands, phased development, a professional strand and a psychological /emotional strand. These strands are unique and taken together give a holistic view of an individual’s journey of transition. Across the eight participants there were commonalities and divergences between transition experiences. However a model of transition did emerge which may be applicable to other professional spheres. Reflective practice and supervision appear to be key elements of a newly qualified social workers practice. All participants received supervision; for the majority supervision was focused on case discussions and the social workers decision making: Little place was given to reflection on practice this was seen as an activity that worker’s carried out on their own in their car following a home visit, or on the way home at the end of the working day. There was no clear model of reflective practice used. A further finding concerns the methodology IPA, particularly this researcher’s experience of bracketing and research journaling as part of the research process.

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Neste trabalho é desenvolvido um estudo de natureza qualitativa que busca compreender em que a disciplina de didática se configurou no período de formação, assim como nos primeiros anos de exercício da profissão, de professores com até 10 anos de formação, vindos de diferentes cursos de licenciatura. Foram feitas entrevistas individuais com 11 professores que lecionavam entre os anos 2010 e 2011, nas cidades de Jundiaí e São Paulo, ambas localizadas no estado de São Paulo. Os dados das entrevistas foram organizados de tal forma que permitiram o estabelecimento de cinco categorias que se referem às formas como os professores percebem a sua formação pedagógica, dando ênfase à disciplina de didática. Eles revelam não haver clareza em relação à função da disciplina de didática na formação pedagógica. Verificamos, também, que as diversas facetas conceituais da didática extraídas dos depoimentos estão fortemente vinculadas à necessidade de um amparo mais palpável, ao qual seja possível recorrer para driblar a insegurança sentida nos momentos em que os professores se deparam com situações desafiadoras em sala de aula. Com base nisso é desenvolvida uma discussão buscando fundamentar a ideia de uma disciplina de didática mais voltada à abordagem das questões complexas que permeiam o cotidiano de trabalho docente na instituição escolar, tendo como pano de fundo a prática reflexiva. / In this study is developed a research of qualitative nature that aims to understand in which didactics discipline set up at formation period, as well as first years of profession, of teachers who count until 10 year of training and who have came from different teaching major courses. It has been done individual interviews with 11 teachers who used to teach between the years 2010 and 2011, at Jundiai and São Paulo cities, both located at São Paulo state. The interviews data was organized such as allows the establishment of five categories that refer itself to manners how teachers realize his teacher training, emphasizing didactic discipline. They reveal doesnt have clarity related to didactic discipline function at teacher training. We have verified too that several conceptual facets of didactic extracted of statements are strongly linked to need for more support, which is possible appeal to dribble insecurity felt at moments when the teachers face challenge situations inside classroom. Based on that its developed a discussion aiming substantiate the idea of a didactic discipline more directed to an approach of complex questions that permeate daily of teaching at school, having as background reflective practice.

This study aims to examine whether and to what extent Cypriot primary school teachers understand and engage in reflective practice and the implication of this for their professional development. In particular this study explores the Cypriot primary school teachers’ understanding of professional development; their engagement in and understanding of reflective practice; the changes brought about in practice through reflective practice; the factors associated with these changes; and the extent to which Cypriot primary school teachers set themselves long term goals for professional development as an outcome of reflection. The study is qualitative and uses semi-structured interviews in which 18 Cypriot primary school teachers describe and explain their experiences and illustrate these with examples from their practice. The analysis of the interviews revealed that Cypriot primary school teachers perceive professional development as the receipt of knowledge from an official authority, mainly the Ministry of Education and Culture (MOEC). Whereas the Cypriot primary school teachers use reflective practice to compare their practice with performance outcomes, comparison of their practice with espoused beliefs is either ignored or limited. Espoused beliefs are only analysed through reflective practice in relation to teaching methods. The study reveals how changes in practice, which are brought about as an outcome of reflective practice, are associated with the following factors: a) length of teaching experience; b) theories in use which can either restrict or promote the critical examination of practice and change; c) the kind of professional exchange in which the teachers engage. In addition a mismatch emerged between the Cypriot primary school teachers’ views of reflection and their long term goals for professional development. This study concludes by discussing the implications of the findings and suggests ways in which Cypriot primary school teachers can be encouraged to recognize the knowledge which they develop from their own practice and to increase their understanding and use of reflective practice. It also identifies the need for changes in the organizational environments in Cypriot primary schools in order to support the developmental needs of its teachers including the reconsideration of the dual role of inspectors who are responsible for both professional development and evaluation.

Constructed Isolation investigates the development of a collection of architectural devices and operations that respond to and have evolved from the specific nature of residential suburban Perth, Western Australia. These devices explore the potential for ambiguity to create space that transforms the occupant from being a passive observer into a dynamic participant. It collates a collection of projects by iredale pedersen hook architects and examines the devices under the thematic concerns of geometry, place, time and craft. The Masters Thesis identifies the potential for Perth's geographic isolation to manifest as a positive construct, developing a unique architecture that opportunistically reinterprets past traditions to create individual environments. 'Constructed Isolation' is an ambitious idea where identity may begin with the individual dwelling and collectively evolve to create a constellation of considerable influence. It demonstrates how these devices may result in new propositions for suburbia, how big ideas with small-scale projects and a little irrational joyousness may contribute to or at least aspire to create change. These small projects will be viewed as a continuation of Perth's 'Heroic Period of Modernism', the fertile and ambitious but incomplete project from the 1950s and '60s. This will also focus on the development and change that occurred as a result of the reflective practice process, while identifying potential opportunities for the future.

This study explores how reflection upon oneself and one's own behaviour assists people - and, in particular, managers - to develop. Reflective techniques are examined in the context of action-learning (Revans, 1980 and Marsick, 1992) and are argued to be a powerful means of creating self-understanding, which in turn creates opportunities for self-directed personal change. Reflective techniques are also examined as a means of developing the personal craft or praxis of those who try to assist the development of managers, and as a technique for use in action research (Lewin, 1946) and the development of collective knowledge. Schon's (1987) concept of the 'reflective practitioner' provided a major theoretical foundation for this work. The study employed action research and action learning methodologies. The researcher spent six years honing her understanding and application of reflective techniques in assisting the development of managers. She also applied self-reflection to the development of her own praxis over that time. One result of the study has been the enhancement of the practical, reflection-based techniques used by the writer to facilitate the development of managers - and more importantly, offered to them to facilitate their own continuing development. Hopefully, these techniques will be of value to other practitioners in this field. A second outcome has been the review and refinement of some of the theoretical constructs used by this writer and other practitioners and theorists which help to describe and explain the phenomenon of reflection-based behavioural change. A third outcome has been the documentation of a case-study in the application of reflective techniques to the development of personal praxis, tracking the integration of conceptual understanding and technique. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the rationale, scope, methodology and outcomes of this study. Chapter 2 explores reflection as a technique for research and the development of collective knowledge, and incorporates a review of the relevant literature. Chapters 3 and 5 examine reflection as a tool for learning, drawing on the literature and tracking the development of the researcher's own understanding. Chapter 4 describes how the researcher learned to use reflective learning techniques when working with others and follows the gradual integration of her understanding with her practice. Chapter 6 summarises and reflects upon both the processes and the outcomes of the research.

Unravelling the Mystery is a qualitative case study that examines the teacher researcher's reflection-in-action as she teaches using process drama. The teacher-researcher taught a class of Year Seven students for a school year. She worked with the students using process drama from 2-5 hours per week. All sessions were recorded and transcribed as part of the reflective practice research. They were then examined to study how the teacher might use reflection-in-action. The data is written as a series of vignettes. The vignettes are used to illustrate reflection-in-action and as a basis for discussion and analysis. In the thesis the data from five of these sessions is presented as vignettes-these vignettes illustrating the teacher's reflection-in-action process. The analysis focuses on the reflection-in-action for the teacher. The vignettes and accompanying analysis for the basis for an illustrative model of the scope of the teacher' reflection-in-action as she works using process drama. The study addresses the following questions: · How might reflective practice inform my teaching? · How can I as a researcher describe and document my reflection-in-action when working as a teacher in process drama? · What is the scope of my reflection-in-action when working as the teacher in process drama? · How might an increased understanding of reflection-in-action be useful to teachers of process drama? These questions are considered in light of the analysis and literature review. The study concludes that reflective practice is valuable to enable teachers to develop their practice. It recommends that this type of research is beneficial to both develop models of practice and to improve the practice of individual practitioners.

Attention is an acknowledged component of the therapeutic relationship that is the heart of clinical work and the base of competence. The centrality of the therapeutic relationship itself has been recognized throughout the history of clinical work. The clinician’s work is based, in part, in attending to the client by actively and openly listening to the client with attention and engagement. However, attention has been lacking within mental health disciplines to what occurs within the process of clinical attention. As a result, little knowledge exists about the structure of clinical attention itself. This dissertation studied the structure of clinical attention to understand what occurs when clinicians attend to their clients in sessions. The thesis focused on the internal processes occurring within the clinician, not on actions or interventions taken in sessions. The literature review grounded the study theoretically in mind science and contemplative science, the study of reality grounded in both objective and subjective experience. The literature review also conceptualized attention in its sub processes of mindfulness, meditation, reflective practice and affect regulation, examining literature relevant to those constructs as well as to the history, philosophy and psychology of attention. The literature revealed a lack of knowledge of the structure and process of clinical attention. Using the extant literature, a new theoretical framework of attention was constructed. Attention was conceptualized as composed of levels of pre-reflective and reflective attention as related to the attention sub processes. A phenomenological methodology was used to study the structure of clinical attention in relation to holistic competence. Fourteen clinicians, all of whom met the criteria for attaining expertise in the use of attention in their clinical work, participated in an explicitation interview. Data analysis followed a modified phenomenological methodology in a series of steps as the data were grouped in invariant constituents, reduced to emergent themes and analyzed for a textural structural description from which a structural description was constructed. From the structural description was distilled the essence of clinical attention. Clinical attention was seen to consist of a dynamic and iterative process of intention and intuition. Intention and intuition were seen to be based in different attentional levels, both of which were recursively and iteratively related to attention’s construction as a process grounded in inner awareness providing the potential abilities to reflect on experience and regulate affective experience. The study concluded with a discussion of the relationship of the skill of clinical attention to a holistic competence based in levels of procedural capability focused on concrete behavioural action and meta competence focused on clinical judgment, self-awareness and self-reflection on the actions taken. The implications of the study’s findings for training clinicians in attention were discussed.

Attention is an acknowledged component of the therapeutic relationship that is the heart of clinical work and the base of competence. The centrality of the therapeutic relationship itself has been recognized throughout the history of clinical work. The clinician’s work is based, in part, in attending to the client by actively and openly listening to the client with attention and engagement. However, attention has been lacking within mental health disciplines to what occurs within the process of clinical attention. As a result, little knowledge exists about the structure of clinical attention itself. This dissertation studied the structure of clinical attention to understand what occurs when clinicians attend to their clients in sessions. The thesis focused on the internal processes occurring within the clinician, not on actions or interventions taken in sessions. The literature review grounded the study theoretically in mind science and contemplative science, the study of reality grounded in both objective and subjective experience. The literature review also conceptualized attention in its sub processes of mindfulness, meditation, reflective practice and affect regulation, examining literature relevant to those constructs as well as to the history, philosophy and psychology of attention. The literature revealed a lack of knowledge of the structure and process of clinical attention. Using the extant literature, a new theoretical framework of attention was constructed. Attention was conceptualized as composed of levels of pre-reflective and reflective attention as related to the attention sub processes. A phenomenological methodology was used to study the structure of clinical attention in relation to holistic competence. Fourteen clinicians, all of whom met the criteria for attaining expertise in the use of attention in their clinical work, participated in an explicitation interview. Data analysis followed a modified phenomenological methodology in a series of steps as the data were grouped in invariant constituents, reduced to emergent themes and analyzed for a textural structural description from which a structural description was constructed. From the structural description was distilled the essence of clinical attention. Clinical attention was seen to consist of a dynamic and iterative process of intention and intuition. Intention and intuition were seen to be based in different attentional levels, both of which were recursively and iteratively related to attention’s construction as a process grounded in inner awareness providing the potential abilities to reflect on experience and regulate affective experience. The study concluded with a discussion of the relationship of the skill of clinical attention to a holistic competence based in levels of procedural capability focused on concrete behavioural action and meta competence focused on clinical judgment, self-awareness and self-reflection on the actions taken. The implications of the study’s findings for training clinicians in attention were discussed.

No description available.