Professional Craft Research Articles

‘I want to be judged on my work, I don’t want to be judged as a person’: Inequality, expertise and cultural value in UK craft

This article focuses on the relationship between inequality, expertise and cultural value in UK professional craft. Drawing on interviews with ethnically diverse women makers, I explore how getting their craft skills recognised and valued as expertise hinders their ability to establish a full-time career in craft. This is because judgements of craft expertise are largely predicated on aesthetic codes and classifications which are historically racialised, gendered and classed. In order to address these exclusionary processes, I argue that expertise in craft, which refers to the practical skills of production and the capacities of the maker, should be more central to evaluative judgements. I draw on Janet Wolff’s work on community evaluation to discuss how evaluative judgements about craft expertise can be less universalizing and instead located within specific contexts and communities. I propose that community evaluation could help to reframe what ideas of craft expertise are and address existing inequalities in the sector.

Community MH Must Include Care for Incarcerated Individuals, Released Prisoners

Community MH Must Include Care for Incarcerated Individuals, Released Prisoners

Adaptations in models of urological regulation and their application to sub-Saharan Africa.

Regulation of medical care is something that has grown from humble roots in professional craft groups to huge establishment in well-resourced, high-income countries. Self-regulation was the preferred method of determining appropriate behaviour initially, but a lack of public trust in this, and the desire of patients to contribute to the establishment of the standard of care that they receive, has meant that most Anglophone countries have adopted some form of independent regulation. Regulators are responsible for the registration of doctor's qualifications, licensing them to practise, accrediting institutions to provide undergraduate and postgraduate education and certifying the attainment of accepted standards of achievement by some form of assessment process. Regulators also have powers to sanction individuals whose practice falls outside expected levels of competence. Both centralized and devolved models of regulation have evolved. Much of the accreditation for postgraduate education and training has been handed down to collegiate bodies, or non-governmental organizations, who can also certify completion of training. Evidence-based medicine and clinical practice guidelines have enforced an informal tier of regulation in high-income countries; guideline-derived practice is now widely regarded as an accepted standard of care. In low- and middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa the governmental and legislative structures and finance available to provide the regulation espoused in more privileged environments is rarely available. The workforce is structured in a completely different way and some care groups are totally unregulated. Medical councils in sub-Saharan Africa fulfil a registration and licensing function but surgical collegiate bodies provide the structure for postgraduate training. The East and West African Colleges of Surgeons have developed into robust organizations, who have verifiable, quality-assured, accreditation systems that have helped improve standards of care for the large populations for which their member surgeons are responsible. Formal regulation of continuing practice and sanctions are challenges that are, at present, largely unaddressed.

Crafting or mass-producing decisions: Technology as professional or managerial imperative in public policy implementation

Policy implementation is characterized by professional public service workers who make decisions about clients using knowledge and skill-sets acquired through years of training and experience. Their unique position separates them from other workers, provides them with autonomy, and enables them to challenge managerial directives. Information and communications technology is used to tame this power. Whereas public service workers have been criticized for having too much influence, technology may shift decision-making from a professional craft to technology-driven mass-production. This article studies how technology impacts policy implementation in seven sub-stages resulting in alternating professional and managerial imperatives in all sub-stages except for discretionary practices. Whereas managers, public service workers, and clients can appreciate that professional norms are strengthened, and managerial goals achieved, there is a growing concern about the role of technology and its influence on public service workers responsible for policy implementation. The article ends with suggestions for future research.

ПЕДАГОГІЧНІ ПОКРУЧІ В ОСВІТНЬОМУ ПРОЦЕСІ (МІЖПРЕДМЕТНИЙ ПОГЛЯД)

В умовах глобалізації набули пріоритету питання не тільки раціонального споживання, а й моделі поведінки особистості. Тому викладання економічних дисциплін доповнено новим предметом — поведінковою економікою. Поведінкова економіка використовує міжпредметні зв’язки економіки й психології. Розглянуто два види поведінки індивіда — опортуністичної в економіці та «професійної деформації» у педагогіці. Перший тип поведінки пов’язаний з асиметрією наявної інформації на ринку. Другий тип поведінки характеризує зміни особистості через його професійну діяльність. З другим видом поведінки переплітається поняття «троянського навчання», яке ми досліджуємо. Проведено опитування серед студентів і викладачів Львівського навчально-наукового інституту ДВНЗ «Університет банківської справи» про існування «троянського навчання » в інституті. На цій основі проведено аналіз факторів, що впливають на «троянське навчання», оцінено форми несприйнятливої освіти, зроблено висновки щодо пом’якшення наслідків «троянського навчання» в освітньому процесі. Зокрема, бачимо шлях подолання цих недоліків у розвитку професійних компетенцій, як того вимагає Закон України «Про вищу освіту».

OBITUARY: Yasmine Ryan—a sketch of an extraordinary journalist’s international career

There is yet much to learn from journalist Yasmine Ryan’s experience, who died tragically in conflicted circumstances in Istanbul, Turkey, on 30 November 2017 after a stellar career reporting in international conflict zones, from the Pacific to the Middle East. One element is relevant to journalism and communications curriculum. We all live in complex times, and for those who choose to exercise their professional craft in regions of conflict, there is a clear need to develop an awareness of how dangerous situations impact on us. The author of this article argues that professional development in this specific area of journalist safety must be designed to provide the individual an ability to self-assess and determine what kind of help is needed and how to access it before a crisis (whether internal or external) erupts.

ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОЕ РЕМЕСЛЕННОЕ ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ КАК СОЦИАЛЬНО-ПЕДАГОГИЧЕСКАЯ ПРОБЛЕМА

ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОЕ РЕМЕСЛЕННОЕ ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ КАК СОЦИАЛЬНО-ПЕДАГОГИЧЕСКАЯ ПРОБЛЕМА

Inclusive pedagogy in action: getting it right for every child

ABSTRACTA key assumption underpinning formative assessment strategies is that individual pupils must be fully involved in the process. While such engagement and attention on the individual is important, studies suggest that teachers do not always readily engage with formative assessment as a reciprocal process which involves pupils. Additionally, a focus on individual differences between pupils can be problematic if the work that is set for some is differentiated to such an extent that they are not able to participate in classroom activities with others. Inclusive pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning that attends to individual differences between pupils but avoids the marginalisation that can occur when pedagogical responses are designed only with individual needs in mind. Using participant observation and video footage from three classrooms that captured ‘learning moments’ identified by teachers and pupils, this study documents how the professional craft knowledge of teachers develops as they learn to use what their pupils have to say about learning in the context of whole class teaching. By concentrating on the findings from one site, this paper shows how teachers can use what they learn from listening to pupils’ self-assessments of their learning in ways that meet the standard of inclusive pedagogy.

Evaluating Application of Research Findings to New Settings and Populations.

Evaluating Application of Research Findings to New Settings and Populations.

The Power of Quiet: Re-making Affective Amateur and Professional Textiles Agencies

This article advocates an enlarged understanding of the benefits of manual creativity for critical thinking and affective making, which blurs the boundaries, or at least works in the spaces between or beyond differential definitions of amateur and professional craft practices and identities. It presents findings from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project: Co-Producing CARE: Community Asset-based Research & Enterprise (https://cocreatingcare.wordpress.com). CARE worked with community groups (composed of amateur and professional textile makers) in a variety of amateur contexts: the kitchen table, the community cafe, the library, for instance, to explore how critical creative making might serve as a means to co-produce community agency, assets and abilities. The research proposes that through “acts of small citizenship” creative making can be powerfully, if quietly, activist. Unlike more familiar crafts activism, such “acts” are not limited to overtly political and public manifestations of social action, but rather concern the micro-politics of the individual, the grass roots community and the social everyday. The culturally marginal, yet accessible nature of amateur crafts becomes a source of strength and potential as we explore its active, dissenting and paradoxically discontented aspects alongside more frequently articulated dimensions of acceptance, consensus and satisfaction. Informed by work on cooperation, DIY citizenship, critical making, and theories of embodied and enacted knowledge, the authors interpret findings from selected CARE-related case studies to explicate various ways in which “making” can make a difference by: providing a safe space for disagreement, reflection, resolution, collaboration, active listening, questioning and critical thinking, and offer quiet, tenacious and life-enhancing forms of resistance and revision to hegemonic versions of culture and subjectivity.

Hobbyists, artisans and entrepreneurs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the goals and values of craft practitioners in Ireland, and assesses the validity of the business support provided to Dublin based craft practitioners. This research aimed to identify entrepreneurial traits in craft businesses and to challenge the objectives of public business support programs. This research enquires into what support practitioners have participated in and the perceived relevance to their professional needs and goals. Indeed, does demand or policy shape business support programs for craft in Dublin? Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on a mix of quantitative and qualitative research using surveys and interviews. Findings – The research provides new insights into the goals and values of craft practitioners in Ireland. It identifies discrepancies between the needs of these businesses and the support programs available in Dublin. This study also highlighted three profiles of craft practitioners with distinct goals and values: the hobbyist, the artisan and the entrepreneur. Research limitations/implications – This study was limited to members registered with the Craft Council of Ireland in Dublin. It therefore excluded any professional craft business non-registered with the agency. Practical implications – This paper provides valuable insights on craft practitioners goals and values and offers useful recommendation on business support for craft micro-businesses in Ireland. Originality/value – This paper offers empirical data entirely new for Ireland and highlights the similarities between craft businesses and other micro-businesses, questioning business support rationale for the whole of this sector.

Архитектурные фантазии на тему античности в рисунке эпохи Ренессанса

The author of the article investigates the problem of perception of ancient architectural monuments in the Renaissance artistic culture. She considers a curious phenomenon — long-term existence and wide spreading of pictured imaginary monuments and “pseudo-antique” fantasies embodied in the so-called “Roma antica” architectural drawings and engravings, along with contemporaneous works that render images of authentic Roman antiquities. The author ascertains their long-term expansion and consistent evolution within a century from the late 15th to the late 16th century in Italy and abroad, and its strong influence on the visual arts: painting, sculpture, and decorative arts. She analyses various versions of the origin of these fantasies, their relationship with the humanistic literary-philosophical tradition and professional craft practice. The author suggests that motifs of the authentic 1st century AD Roman painting and actual archaeological experience of the Renaissance artists were possibly reflected in these fantasies. She expresses her opinion on the impact they have had on formation of the genres like architectural landscape with ruins, grotesque décor, and architecture of minor forms in landscape art, as well as upon theoretical studies and projects of the Renaissance architects. It can be thus concluded that two kinds of perception coexisted in the Renaissance concept of Classical antiquity: on the one hand, accurate render of true archaeological sites, and, on the other hand, their fictional arbitrary reconstructions based on creative transformation of historical and artistic experience. It reveals an important specific feature of the epoch’s thinking. Rather than being distant, abstract ideal construct and an object of scholarly research, Classical antiquity was live and relevant material, which used to be in a constant dialogue with the contemporary art process. The awareness of the historical distance between different eras did not presuppose the gap between them — Classical antiquity continued to be “restored” in accordance with the Renaissance creative goals. This creative attitude towards antiquity distinguishes the Renaissance from all subsequent cultures.

Urban Youth Workers' Use of “Personal Knowledge” in Resolving Complex Dilemmas of Practice

Using narrative inquiry to analyze accounts of how two experienced youth workers handled the potential for gun violence in their organizations, this article argues that youth worker expertise in part is based on personal knowledge derived from childhood neighborhood-based peer groups and participation in youth programs. Expert youth workers draw on personal and professional craft knowledge and move between the rules of youth organizations and the rules of the streets to read people and situations and address the potential for serious violence. Implications for youth worker professional development are raised.

A model for evaluation advisory groups: Ethos, professional craft knowledge, practices, and skills

AbstractA practice model of evaluation advisory groups (EAGs) is described with the use of the frames of craft orientation, practice, and skills. Questions for EAG research and evaluation are presented, and a beginning guide to organizing and using an EAG is offered. A formal training agenda completes the text. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc., and the American Evaluation Association.

Commentary: Mathematics Teacher Educator: The Evolution of a New Journal

In the past decade, there has been a growing interest in the role that practitioners play as stakeholders in and coproducers of professional knowledge and of research knowledge in mathematics education (Kieran, Krainer, & Shaughnessy, in press). Although the wellspring of professional knowledge and craft wisdom of teachers has been sparsely tapped in previous decades, there are now signs from all over the world that teachers are playing an increasingly important role in research on the teaching and learning of mathematics (Bednarz, 2004; Fernandez & Yoshida, 2004; Herbel-Eisenmann & Cirillo, 2009; Huang & Bao, 2006; Jaworski et al., 2007; Makar & O'Brien, in press). A recent conference brought together practitioners, teacher educators, and researchers in mathematics education to develop a research agenda that will provide closer links between research and practice (NCTM, 2010).

Developing a curriculum for initial teacher education using a situated learning perspective

This paper argues that the implications of the concept of situated learning are important when developing a curriculum for initial teacher education (ITE). It describes and analyses the use of a model of ITE designed to stimulate discussions promoting the development of professional craft knowledge situated mainly in schools and to connect these with a wider research‐based understanding of educational issues situated mainly in the context of university departments. Findings from a study of trainee teachers following a one‐year postgraduate ITE programme based on this model indicate that it did help trainees to develop professional craft knowledge. However, socio‐cultural differences between the school and university contexts made it difficult for trainees to translate ideas introduced in the university into their school‐based practice. The implications of these findings for developing the model and for ITE in general are discussed.

Evolving the theory and praxis of knowledge translation through social interaction: a social phenomenological study

BackgroundAs an inherently human process fraught with subjectivity, dynamic interaction, and change, social interaction knowledge translation (KT) invites implementation scientists to explore what might be learned from adopting the academic tradition of social constructivism and an interpretive research approach. This paper presents phenomenological investigation of the second cycle of a participatory action KT intervention in the home care sector to answer the question: What is the nature of the process of implementing KT through social interaction?MethodsSocial phenomenology was selected to capture how the social processes of the KT intervention were experienced, with the aim of representing these as typical socially-constituted patterns. Participants (n = 203), including service providers, case managers, administrators, and researchers organized into nine geographically-determined multi-disciplinary action groups, purposefully selected and audiotaped three meetings per group to capture their enactment of the KT process at early, middle, and end-of-cycle timeframes. Data, comprised of 36 hours of transcribed audiotapes augmented by researchers' field notes, were analyzed using social phenomenology strategies and authenticated through member checking and peer review.ResultsFour patterns of social interaction representing organization, team, and individual interests were identified: overcoming barriers and optimizing facilitators; integrating 'science push' and 'demand pull' approaches within the social interaction process; synthesizing the research evidence with tacit professional craft and experiential knowledge; and integrating knowledge creation, transfer, and uptake throughout everyday work. Achieved through relational transformative leadership constituted simultaneously by both structure and agency, in keeping with social phenomenology analysis approaches, these four patterns are represented holistically in a typical construction, specifically, a participatory action KT (PAKT) model.ConclusionStudy findings suggest the relevance of principles and foci from the field of process evaluation related to intervention implementation, further illuminating KT as a structuration process facilitated by evolving transformative leadership in an active and integrated context. The model provides guidance for proactively constructing a 'fit' between content, context, and facilitation in the translation of evidence informing professional craft knowledge.

Communautés d’enquête et création de connaissances dans l’organisation: le modèle de processus en gestion

Organization sciences are interested in the “community “ concept, particularly to overcome the opposition between “methodological individualism “ focused upon the subject and “methodological holism” focused upon the organization. “Communities of practice”, based upon practices common to a group of actors, provide a useful frame to study professional craft communities. They are not so useful to study the cooperation between actors who are involved in a “conjoint activity” — an activity which is not characterized by similar practices, but by their heterogeneous complementarity -, for which we propose to recur to the concept of “community of inquiry “ owed to the pragmatist philosophers Peirce and Dewey.

Crafting Identity: The Development of Professional Fine Craft in Canada (review)

Crafting Identity: The Development of Professional Fine Craft in Canada (review)

Exploring the role of assessment tasks to promote formative assessment in Key Stage 3 Geography: evidence from twelve teachers

The article focuses on the planning and implementation of interim assessment tasks in Key Stage 3 Geography. This research identifies three key dimensions which impact on the planning of assessment in the medium and long term. These are: teachers’ emerging conceptualization of ‘formative assessment’; the statutory requirements for assessing pupils’ progress and attainment in the Geography National Curriculum in Key Stage 3; and teachers’ professional craft knowledge. By considering the impact of the Geography National Curriculum level descriptions on the planning of formative assessment, the article also examines the tensions between the formative and summative functions of assessment.