Situated Learning and the Integration of Theory and Practice through a School / University Partnership Project: Improving Pre-Service Workforce Education through a Partnership Model

Author(s):  
Brett Moore
2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl A. Kallgren ◽  
Sandra K. Myers ◽  
Abigail L. Biebel ◽  
Tammy A. Bartasavich

2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 163-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn Boyd ◽  
Hazel Knox ◽  
John Struthers

This paper begins with a discussion and analysis of the relevance of work-based learning to contemporary education and training needs. It then briefly outlines changes in attitudes and approaches to higher education and training in the UK over the past few decades and highlights the new ‘learning partnership model’ (LPM) as one that offers great potential for the effective development of a wide range of skills. In this context, the authors present a detailed analytical case study of a European-funded Adapt-University for Industry project that sought to identify training needs and to provide guidance and advice on work-based learning opportunities for a variety of Scottish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Using Training Needs Analysis, the authors assess the difficulties as well as the opportunities inherent in such projects. The findings illustrate the heterogeneity of the SMEs' training and guidance requirements and highlight the importance of addressing the tension that exists between the different expectations of employers and employees in relation to training needs and benefits.


2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Anne de Vries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine male and female executives as leaders “championing” gender change interventions. It problematizes current exhortations for male leaders to lead gender change, much as they might lead any other business-driven change agenda. It argues that organizational gender scholarship is critical to understanding the gendered nature of championing. Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws on a feminist qualitative research project examining the efficacy of a gender intervention in a university and a policing institution. Interviews with four leaders have been chosen from the larger study for analysis against the backdrop of material from interviewees and the participant observation of the researcher. It brings a social constructionist view of gender and Acker’s gendering processes to bear on understanding organizational gender change. Findings – The sex/gender of the leader is inescapably fore-fronted by the gender change intervention. Gendered expectations and choices positioned men as powerful and effective champions while undermining the effectiveness of the woman in this study. Research limitations/implications – Further research examining male and female leaders capacity to champion gender change is required. Practical implications – This research identifies effective champion behaviors, provides suggestions for ensuring that gender equity interventions are well championed and proposes a partnership model where senior men and women play complementary roles leading gender change. Originality/value – This paper is of value to practitioners and scholars. It draws attention to contemporary issues of leadership and gender change, seeking to bridge the gap between theory and practice that undermines our change efforts.


Author(s):  
Lynne Hunt

This chapter describes models of work-based learning and outlines key features of the authentic learning pedagogy that informs its application. It contextualises work-based learning in the political and economic imperatives driving curriculum change in universities in the Western world. In so doing, it refers to curriculum development based on generic skills and notes analyses of the role of universities in contemporary society, with particular reference to the relative importance of practical and theoretical training. Innovative case studies provide practical examples of the implementation of authentic learning pedagogies through work-based university programs. The key to successful implementation is assessment, which links theory and practice. The underlying message of the chapter is that what counts are not the teaching and learning tools you have, but the way that you use them. There can be nothing more real than real, and this is the strength of work-based university learning: it offers authentic or situated learning environments that reflect the way knowledge will be used in real life.


Author(s):  
Catherine McLoughlin ◽  
Prathiba Nagabhushan

The field of teacher education has been evolving for several decades, and current approaches to teacher education aim to prepare preservice-teachers to teach diverse populations and develop a range of skills, dispositions, and attributes. Emerging models of teacher preparation recognize the disconnect that has occurred between theory and practice, as opposed to developing student teacher skills and knowledge of learning processes as they occur in both formal and informal settings. The current focus, teacher education (“training” is now a pejorative term) signals a significant shift in the field over the last three or four decades. Increasingly, there is a recognition that new teachers need theoretical, technological, content, and pedagogical knowledge skills to manage the realities of the 21st-century digital classroom and the capacity to connect theory to practice. There is a growing emphasis internationally on the need to create effective and systemic school-university partnerships to prepare teachers for the profession. The focus of the chapter is to outline the features of successful models of teacher education in Finland and Singapore and to highlight the value of an Australian partnership model that is school-based while bridging the theory-practice divide.


Author(s):  
Anne Adams

E-learning can free us from bound concepts of who we are. However, our digital identities relate back to varied real world situations within which we live. Situated implications of identity changes are frequently not understood by e-learning systems. This chapter provides a detailed review of situated learning concepts and identity reformation accounts within five case-study situations (i.e. within healthcare, prisons, developing worlds, field based, and virtual worlds) with varied e-learning technologies (i.e. Web2, virtual learning environments, mobile, tabletops1, and virtual worlds). Issues of situated identity, practices, and the impact on real world contexts are reviewed. Findings identify that e-learning systems must be designed to support variations in situations, student awareness, and reflection around implications of identity reformation. A theory and practice approach supports understanding e-learning impacts and future dilemmas. The chapter also provides a review on issues of support and coping mechanisms for impacts from situated learning identity changes.


1995 ◽  
Vol 58 (8) ◽  
pp. 332-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Jenkins ◽  
Chris Brotherton

In this work, the position is taken that practice is a knowledge-rich domain where knowledge use and knowledge creation intertwine. This article presents a learning-in-practice model of occupational therapy which anchors occupational therapy theory within the reality of occupational therapy practice, identifying theory and practice as one entity. The model takes issue with the theory/practice paradigm of practical professions and suggests that, in occupational therapy, the real world situation of practice and clients' life-world contexts are the most fitting frames of reference for practitioners. The model, arising from the thesis ‘Occupational therapy: perspectives on the effectiveness of practice’ (Jenkins, 1994), implies that professional effectiveness is not dependent only on the concept of reflection in and on action as espoused by Schön (1987) but, in effect, hinges on a ‘community of practice’ wherein learning is situated, ongoing and continuous and occurs in action, in discussion and in periods of personal reflection, purposively and incidentally. Part 1 introduced the work and described Lave's and Wenger's Situated Learning Perspective, from which this practice model is derived; the model's four basic constituents – community, context, access and language – were presented. Part 2 identifies these in the occupational therapy setting and forwards the notion that the model is the kernel of democratic professionalism.


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