‘From lone-sailor to fleet’: Supporting educators through Wild Pedagogies

Enabling educators to meet new and challenging times requires fundamental shifts to ways of imagining and enacting their practice. A central yet often understated aspect of this educational change are the various ways in which educators receive training and development. From initial teacher training through to continuing professional development, cultures which underpin policy change in educational institutions emerge from the practices of educators. In this paper we examine educators’ experiences of a Wild Pedagogies gathering which took place over three days in central Devon in late spring 2019. Part workshop, part informal social gathering and mutual exchange, this continuing professional development event enabled conversations, sharing (and shaping) of practice, and imagination of the future of personal and institutional educational priorities. This paper positions itself as an account of a gathering of wild pedagogues – captured as reflection, discussion and activities – and brings the participants’ reflections into conversation with wider themes emerging from previous Wild Pedagogies gatherings. It makes the assertion that such dialogic continuing professional development, constructed on foundations of relational and place-responsive pedagogies, can underpin future practitioner development in the event of a policy shift toward greater availability of outdoor learning and nature connection in the UK. The paper ends with four principles for infusing new or existing environmental education continuing professional development with place-responsive and wild pedagogical approaches.

Learning to teach for mathematical proficiency: Behavioural changes for pre-service teachers on teaching placement

This study reports on an investigation of how field experiences in teaching prepares pre-service teachers (PSTs) to effectively deal with the challenges and complexities of teaching mathematics in Zimbabwean secondary schools. The study was premised on the view that improvement in learning secondary school mathematics in the classroom is related to practitioner development in teaching. However, despite overwhelming research on mathematics knowledge for teachers, the problem of mathematics failure in high schools has not been addressed. A mixed methods approach, based on the perspectives of PSTs on teaching practice (TP) was employed to depict how their practices impact on their knowledge development for teaching mathematics. The study, found that a proficient mathematics PST is considered one who embraces knowledge of mathematics content and the ability to teach it. Hence, the development of mathematics knowledge for PSTs requires them to be mentored and workshopped by mathematics subject specialists who are well positioned in terms of mathematics pedagogy and mathematics content knowledge.

The Journey of Service Delivery Competence in Applied Sport Psychology: The Arc of Development for New Professionals

A fundamental issue in applied sport psychology is the development of competent professionals who can provide effective and ethical services to clients. The current study uses a qualitative longitudinal design to track the development of five novice sport psychology practitioners in their first year of practice. The research team analyzed and integrated data from surveys, interviews, and journals to understand the participants’ experiences and compare them to previous literature on practitioner development. Participants reported increased confidence and flexibility over time, and reduced their perceived anxiety and dependence on supervision. These changes were similar in nature to what has been reported for counseling trainees, but seemed to happen more quickly. These findings highlight important developmental characteristics of first year sport psychology practitioners, which can help graduate programs to tailor their supervision and training to their students’ needs.

Successfully developing advanced practitioner roles: policy and practice mechanisms

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to lay out how advanced practitioner development occurs in New Zealand primary health care settings. The paper specifically focuses on mechanisms occurring across policy creation and in practice leading to successful role development. Design/methodology/approach The authors applied a realist approach involving interviews, document review and field log observations to create refined theories explaining how successful development occurs. Findings Three final mechanisms were found to influence successful advanced practitioner role development: engagement in planning and integrating roles; establishing opportunities as part of a well-defined career pathway; and championing role uptake and work to full scopes of practice. Research limitations/implications This research focuses on one snapshot in time only; it illustrates the importance of actively managing health workforce change. Future investigations should involve the continued and systematic evaluation of advanced practitioner development. Practical implications The successful development of advanced practitioner roles in a complex system necessitates recognising how to trigger mechanisms occurring at times well beyond their introduction. Social implications Potential candidates for new roles should expect roadblocks in their development journey. Successfully situating these roles into practice through having a sustainable and stable workforce supply provides patients with access to a wider range of services. Originality/value This is the first time a realist evaluation has been undertaken, in New Zealand, of similar programmes operating across multiple sites. The paper brings insights into the process of developing new health programmes within an already established system.