Adolescents’ Experiences of a Developmental Coaching and Outdoor Adventure Education Program: Using Constructive-Developmental Theory to Investigate Individual Differences in Adolescent Meaning-Making and Developmental Growth

Using interpretative phenomenological analysis and Robert Kegan’s constructive-developmental theory, this study investigated how developmental stage shaped the subjective experiences of 13 adolescents ( Mage = 15.92 years, 54% females) in a developmental coaching and outdoor adventure education program. Participants were drawn from socioeconomically disadvantaged schools in Sydney, Australia, and represented Asian, Middle Eastern, and European ethnicities. A single, semi-structured interview was conducted with participants postprogram, following protocols approved by an institutional ethics committee. Interview data were used to investigate participants’ meaning-making structures as evidence of constructive-developmental stage both at the time of interview and program participation. We found that, despite being similar ages at program commencement, participants displayed a range of constructive-developmental stages. The data demonstrate how participants at different stages of meaning-making experienced the same activities differently, including what they experienced as challenging and supportive. Furthermore, our findings suggest that there is a valuable role for developmental coaching in scaffolding program challenges to stimulate constructive-developmental growth. Constructive-developmental theory provides a novel framework for understanding the different ways in which adolescents make meaning of developmental programs. We hope the findings from this study will help those who design and implement these programs to appreciate constructive-developmental differences in their participants to better target interventions aimed at facilitating developmental growth.

Wise academic development: learning from the ‘failure’ experiences of retired academic developers

© 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Informed by Constructive Developmental Theory and the Threshold Concepts Framework, we interviewed retired academic developers from four continents and asked them to describe their processes of learning from perceived failures and how they see the role of academic developers in supporting academics through failures. Findings regarding participants’ definitions of failure, ways of making sense of and learning from failure, and recommendations for supporting academic colleagues’ learning from failure are shared through tables, quotations, and poetry. Findings show that ‘wise academic development’ embraces curiosity about failure, integrates the (sometimes) transformative nature of failure, shares the load of sense-making, and cultivates connectedness.

Wise academic development: learning from the ‘failure’ experiences of retired academic developers

© 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Informed by Constructive Developmental Theory and the Threshold Concepts Framework, we interviewed retired academic developers from four continents and asked them to describe their processes of learning from perceived failures and how they see the role of academic developers in supporting academics through failures. Findings regarding participants’ definitions of failure, ways of making sense of and learning from failure, and recommendations for supporting academic colleagues’ learning from failure are shared through tables, quotations, and poetry. Findings show that ‘wise academic development’ embraces curiosity about failure, integrates the (sometimes) transformative nature of failure, shares the load of sense-making, and cultivates connectedness.

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost: Critically Reflective Research for a New HRD Landscape

The Problem The pandemic and subsequent changes to norms and practices in the workplace mean that for many, existing meaning-making structures are challenged and the limits of existing ways of knowing are revealed. The problem for HRD scholars and practitioners is that dominant approaches to research are largely insufficient for understanding individuals’ meaning making in response to the pandemic. The Recommendations Two critically reflexive method/ologies are presented and overlaid with Constructive-Developmental Theory (CDT) to offer not only a means of capturing data about individuals’ experiences during/post-pandemic but for interpreting the data with an understanding of the mental complexities associated with capturing an emic perspective. The Stakeholders Stakeholders include HRD scholars and practitioners who conduct research in organizations.

Career Development of People With Disabilities: Self-Determination as a Skill Set or a Mind-Set?

Self-determination in career development of people with disabilities has been a widely studied topic among researchers. However, previous research shows that this concept has been narrowly defined as a skill set that individuals can acquire. This article maintains that there is a gap in and a need for understanding and developing the self-determination of people with disabilities as a mind-set in their career development. By applying constructive-developmental theory to career construction theory, the author proposes a new conceptual model of the career development of people with disabilities and provides narrative as a method for practicing it.

Looking behind the Curtain

This article extends mixed-methods longitudinal research with school and district leaders (2008–present) about their most pressing leadership challenges. Here—through in-depth, qualitative interviews—we explore how a subsample of 30 principals described and understood their internal experiences of addressing pressing challenges. More specifically, using an adaptive/ technical lens, social-emotional frameworks, and constructive-developmental theory, we illuminate how principals‘ social-emotional and developmental capacities influenced their leadership, and highlight findings with in-depth mini-cases. By focusing on the inner workings of principals’ leadership for managing change, this article offers implications for professional practice and school-wide change locally and globally, leadership preparation, policy, and future research.

The Self in Social Justice: A Developmental Lens on Race, Identity, and Transformation

In this essay, Eleanor Drago-Severson and Jessica Blum-DeStefano add a new dimension to the literature on social justice in education and constructive-developmental theory by exploring how adult developmental theory can shed new light on the challenges and opportunities of teaching and leading for social justice. Drawing from their decades of research and teaching about leadership that supports educators' internal capacity building, they posit that adults' qualitatively different ways of knowing—or developmental meaning-making systems—will influence how they understand diversity of all kinds, as well as what it means to teach and/or lead for social justice. Given the imperatives of equity and access in educational institutions, US society, and the world, this essay aims to help us better understand how to support diverse adults in their efforts to serve all students well and to work more collaboratively and productively across lines of difference.