The Effect of Wānanga-Based Learning in Supporting the Development of Teacher Agency in Computational Thinking

As of 2020, all schools and kura in Aotearoa New Zealand were expected to teach digital technologies as part of the core curriculum. Our digital world is rapidly expanding and in order to be successful in this space, our rangatahi (youth) need to be capable of both using and creating digital tools. This project seeks to support secondary-school teachers of different subject-specialty areas to authentically integrate computational thinking concepts into their regular teaching practice. This was accomplished through a series of wānanga and exploration phases, with a focus on critically reflective practice and ako (reciprocal learning). Questionnaires and recording of kōrero (conversation) were used to understand changes in teacher confidence in the areas of understanding, lesson design, and ability to give feedback in relation to computational thinking principles. Results of this research have shown that using wānanga to support teachers to learn and apply computational thinking in their classrooms positively impacts their agency in developing high-quality lessons that are aligned with digital technologies curriculum. The findings from this project are intended to support other schools in Aotearoa New Zealand to develop their own frameworks of professional development in this area.

Building better relationships: developing critically reflective practice when working preventively with domestic violence and abuse

Background and context: This article presents reflections on critical participatory action research into the development of critically reflective practice, conducted by the first author alongside practitioners who work preventively in the field of domestic violence and abuse. It is part of a doctorate in health science undertaken in response to the need to question assumptions, presuppositions and meaning perspectives in what is a complex and harmful area of interprofessional practice. Aims: The research aims are to develop knowledge and professional/interprofessional practice in this ill-defined area of practice in two phases – phase 1: creating opportunities for interprofessional critical reflection; and phase 2: examining the impact this has on individual and collective practice. This article offers an emerging framework for critically reflective interprofessional practice, and critical reflections on phase 1 of the study, from the perspective of insider/practitioner/researcher, through the lenses of sincerity and significance in qualitative research. Implications for practice: The article concludes by proposing potentially important implications for practice development in the following areas: Interprofessional practice The conditions required for developing critically reflective practice How we reveal, understand and work with power dynamics when working with conflict, violence and abuse

Action Learning and professional formation of youth and community work students

This paper follows 3 cohorts of students 2012 -2015 and maps their perceptions of professional development using Action Learning sets as a pedagogical tool . It looks at learning immediately after the Sets have taken place and builds on this up to 3 years after graduating. The research found that Action Learning Sets as a pedagogical tool make a valuable contribution to professional formation of youth and community workers by enabling participants to:Consolidate learning from the courseBecome more confident and assertive about their professionalizationReflect together on practice as a learning community and learn about themselves within the group process Understand how and when to use appropriate questions to enable reflection by othersUnderstand different ways people perceive issues, their different thought processesCritically understand the importance and benefits of opening up people's thinking/gaining new perspectivesBe open and willing to listen, best for developing relationships Learn to listen in order to understand others and in so doing developing self-knowledge and problem solving skills.Practise some educator / facilitator skills Action Learning Sets outcomes appears especially important where they helped students develop confidence in their professional identity and in their ability to challenge to achieve recognition and change. However some participants discussed how an organisational culture that is not based on critically reflecting or even discussing professional approaches has impacted negatively on them as developing youth work professionals, echoing Stark’s (2006) similar findings from research on the impact of Sets used with nurses and educators. Many students commented that there was no supervision in the workplace and no mechanism for group reflective learning so individuals were left to self-reflect without the benefit of alternative perspectives which they had come to value as a result of taking part within the Sets. This implied a desire on the graduates’ part for continuing professional development . Further research into critically reflective practice using action learning sets in the workplace could be explored within organisations and any demand developed within HE programmes .

The role of the practice educator in helping students develop critical reflection

This article offers advice to practice educators about the teaching of reflective and critically reflective practice to social work students on placement. It explains what is meant by critical reflection, it offers different tools and ways of teaching critical reflection to students, and it also strives to problematise the teaching of critical reflection- the meaning of which is itself contested and evolving- and to emphasise the need to subject all teaching tools to theoretical scrutiny and awareness of socially constructed context and assumptions. A critically reflective practice educator will interrogate the knowledge underpinning the skills and encourage the student to do the same. The article argues that students have different capacity to be reflective. It explores why many students find it difficult, and suggests that effective critical reflection develops only with time and experience.