Healthcare within the UK is undergoing a transformation in terms of traditional role and skill assignations of staff, with an attendant blurring of boundaries seen in terms of the practice of skill in many clinical settings. This has implications for the development and future learning of the staff involved and the aim of this study is to explore how feedback from a supervisor is used to develop and sustain skill in a group of nurses and, in this way, examine the interaction between the learner, the supervisor and the context in which the learning is set. This thesis uses a social constructivist stance and a mixed method approach to answer research questions set. 85 nurses were invited to undertake a web-based questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were conducted on ten of the respondents. The themes which emerged were: developing identity and fitting in; mining tacit knowledge and managing ambiguity; support versus dependency; and, finally, the development of judgement. The study reveals a group who learn in a context that they find enjoyable and is often conducive to learning. The participants are well motivated to learn and they have access to the skills and knowledge of experts. However, learning is also seen to be dominated by the context in which it is set and as the participants learn motor skills, they also learn to fit in and manage a brittle working environment. This thesis illustrates an aspirational professional group for whom the governance of learning leads the participants to be confident to seek help. The thesis concludes by suggesting changes to the pedagogical model employed and avenues for further research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:570647 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Fotheringham, Diane |
| Publisher | University of Strathclyde |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://oleg.lib.strath.ac.uk:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=17402 |
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