Professional Life Experiences Research Articles

Vocational Teachers’ Craft Knowledge and Working-life Experiences in Building and Construction: a Narrative Study of Embodied and Tacit Learning

AbstractVocational teachers in building and construction in upper secondary school deal with complex situations of an organisational, vocational, and social kind. Recent research has shown that the teacher is the single most important factor for students’ learning in school. Teacher-student relationships and the teacher’s repertoire of teaching practices can be more important for the student’s learning than class size, the classroom environment, and the student’s socio-economic background. Beyond passing the journeyman’s test, we know little about the craft knowledge and working life experiences vocational teachers in the building and construction trades have acquired over many years in the construction industry, and thus, what knowledge and experiences they bring into the vocational teacher role. Learning in working life often takes place as an integrated part of work, and it is difficult to observe how learning happens. Craft knowledge is often tacit and personal. In this narrative, phenomenologically inspired study, learning is investigated as a bodily, internal process that simultaneously depends on the interaction with the material and social environment. Through narrative interviews with eleven vocational teachers in plumbing and carpentry, this study explores the teachers’ backgrounds as vocational students and apprentices, and their extensive experience as craftsmen on different construction sites. The analysis shows that the building site drives craft-related actions and situations that generate a strong craft identity, professional working life experiences, and personal growth. Craftsmen at the construction site work under constant pressure in a social, physically, and mentally demanding work environment and consecutively solve problems. As professional craftsmen in the complex working environment, the teachers also acquired social and organisational expertise, which they intuitively transferred to their role as vocational teachers.

Knowledge and technology transfer in the professional skill development system.

The development of the specialists’ professional skills in all industries in Ukraine is an urgent need today to provide these industries with highly skilled staff. The use of a wide range of knowledge and technology transfer in the system of educational services of institutions of professional pre-, higher and postgraduate education contributes to the attractiveness of these educational institutions and requires the professional growth of scientific and pedagogical staff for the quality provision of educational services. Their use of various forms of knowledge transfer will ensure their professional growth, which, in turn, will have a personal, educational, scientific, professional and practical impact on the development of professional skills of applicants at all levels of education. A comprehensive approach at the stage of formation of readiness for professional activity and directly in the process of professional activity of specialists creates a complex system of integration of knowledgeable and competent approaches that allow getting information about the actual level of activity capability and play an important role in professional growth through the transfer of knowledge and the use of modern educational technologies. It should be emphasized that the appropriate education contributes to the development of abilities, knowledge, skills, experience and competencies. All this with the acquisition of professional education and life experience creates the background for the development of the specialist’s professional skills. Thanks to modern approaches to the development and organization of the postgraduate education system, good conditions have been created for the wider innovative application of knowledge and technology transfer under the prism of educational, professional, interdisciplinary and multicultural integration within the framework of continuing professional education. The cooperation of customers, applicants and providers of educational services of pre- and postgraduate education, will allow them to reach a much higher level of training. Active cooperation of all participants in the educational process and cooperation with employers in the field of knowledge and technology transfer, provide additional opportunities for creating conditions for the development of professional skills of specialists.

Self-Authorship: A Pedagogical Tool for Pre-Service Teachers to Develop (Pre)Professional Identity

This article reports on the use of self-authorship as a pedagogical tool to develop pre-service teachers’ professional identities. Pre-professional identity is considered a dynamic, less mature version of professional identity. Such a notion of fluidity in the professional self necessitates the integration of both personal and professional life experiences in the process of becoming, rather than already being, a teacher. A random sample of 56 pre-service teachers from a population of first-year students at a South African university was selected for this qualitative interpretivist study. Thematic analysis of personal reflections after a professional orientation programme indicates that the pre-professional identity of first-year pre-service teachers is mostly based on external cues and naïve perceptions rather than on well-thought-through personal ideology. The authors draw on Baxter-Magolda’s theory of self-authorship to highlight this influence of past life experiences that shape the pre-professional identity that first-year pre-service teachers bring to initial teacher training programs. Self-authorship is defined as a person’s ability to conceptualise and apply their own beliefs, identity, and social relations in various contexts. Findings confirm that most first-year pre-service teachers place themselves within the first phase of self-authorship. It is postulated that higher education institutions could, through platforms such as Work Integrated Learning, shift the structure and focus of pre-service teacher training programmes away from passive observation and instruction to active partnership, engaged reflection, and critical thinking. Such an approach can then contribute to professional and personal development through the remainder of the pre-service teacher programme. It is further argued that a longitudinal study is needed to explore this required movement towards and through the three phases of self-authorship.

O vliyanii russkih arhitektorov na gradostroitel'stvo sovremennogo Harbina (1898–1917 gg.)

This article explains the influence of concept of design thinking and business ability on the urban development of Harbin from the perspectives of professional background, life experience, education experience and work experience of Russian architects, so as to enrich the study contents of modern urban history and provide references for relevant studies.

Adverse professional life experiences may affect mental health among cardiologists.

Adverse professional life experiences may affect mental health among cardiologists.

A history of violence; exploring Lebanese university faculty mental health and professional lived experiences following the 4th of August 2020 port blast

This qualitative research uses lived experience data to explore the mental health and professional experiences of faculty members in the education department of an English language university in Beirut, following the August 4, 2020 Beirut port blast. The data shows how our participants managed adverse mental health issues, while simultaneously re-engaging with teaching in the aftermath of the explosion. The study concludes that university emergency plans should aim to provide continuous professional development for faculty; utilize unambiguous language in cross-university communications; and offer personalized psychosocial support strategies for staff and students alike.

성인 발달장애인의 직업생활 경험 탐구 -지적장애인을 중심으로-

The purpose of this study is to contribute to improving the employment problem of the adult intellectually disabled by revealing the professional life experiences of the intellectually disabled. The research method was analyzed by conducting in-depth interviews for 2 hours each as a phenomenological research method of qualitative research for 7 intellectually disabled people in employment. As a result of the study, the Study participants had “special family love” as “professionals who work hard” through their work life, and had “dreams as proud members of society” even in “unusual professional lives.” Participants in the study were striving to keep hard-employed jobs and to become recognized professionals. In addition, They were satisfied with the role of supporting the family beyond receiving family support. Although They had anxiety about various difficulties in their professional life, They wanted to achieve self-realization and fulfill their dream as a social worker through their professional life. Therefore, it was suggested that customized educational programs and the need for employment stability and development of various occupations to be supported by four major insurances so that people with intellectual disabilities can live independently and economically happily while working.

Professional competences of social workers: changing priorities in the conditions of war

The problem of providing personnel with the appropriate competence of social services in the conditions of martial law remains relevant for Ukraine. It is predicted that under the influence of the general labor shortage caused by the war, the problem of shortage of specialists in the field of social work may arise. The author of the article emphasizes that, as of now, the distribution of specialists in the field of social work is uneven across the regions of Ukraine and has not reached a critical state, but requires special attention of scientists and practitioners. In recent years, the list and formation of competencies of social workers has been the focus of attention of scientists in the context of professional and educational standards. The realities of wartime changed the conditions and practices of social work, accordingly shifting the emphasis in the required competencies. The purpose of the article is to analyze the trends and factors affecting the required competences of social workers, thereby intensifying the scientific discussion on reformatting professional and educational standards. The author considers competence as a characteristic that determines the specialist's ability to solve professional tasks, using knowledge, life and professional experience, relying on one's own values and abilities. The competencies of a social worker are considered in the context of modern practices of social services in Ukraine. The author identifies the main trends in the change in the composition of social workers: the appearance of employees physically injured as a result of hostilities (killed, missing, injured); an increase in the share of employees who migrated abroad or moved within the country; increase in the number of employees with disabilities of various nature. In the author's opinion, changes in the requirements for the competence of a social worker are influenced by the demand of the labor market, so he examines the proposals that are relevant in the Kharkiv region. Considering the professional skills in demand, the author concludes that employers are paying more attention to «soft skills», although the requirements for a diploma, work experience, language and computer skills remain unchanged. The conditions of the war actualized the requirements for the ability to work under pressure, in difficult conditions, to analyze risks and threats. Employers now consider stress resistance to be an equally important advantage. Summarizing, the author notes that the professional standard after the war will need adjustment and suggests focusing on the European standard

Digital Storytelling with Persons Living with Dementia: Elements of Facilitation, Communication, Building Relationships, and Using Technology.

Digital storytelling is a process that can be used to co-create multimedia stories with persons living with dementia to affirm identity, support person-centered care, and leave a legacy. Although digital storytelling typically involves a facilitator, little is known about the co-creation process between a facilitator and persons living with dementia. This study explored and described elements of digital storytelling facilitation with persons living with dementia using a secondary analysis of qualitative data from a primary study that took place across three Canadian cities. Three elements were identified during digital storytelling facilitation with persons living with dementia: communicating, building collaborative relationships, and using technology. Digital storytelling facilitators employ the three elements to weave together a person's narrative with meaning. The communication, relational, and technological elements of digital storytelling may be employed by facilitators from varying professional backgrounds and lived experiences to create meaningful digital stories for persons living with dementia.

Developing Women’s Authenticity in Leadership

In this exploratory case study, we examined women’s lived experience as leaders and their participation in an in-person leadership development program. More specifically, we studied how women perceived an in-person leadership development program through a lens of authentic leadership. Our method for gathering information included individual interviews, field observation, and archival data. The interviews focused on particular episodes and stories of the participants’ leadership experiences in their professional life and learning experiences through the leadership development program. The findings from this study indicated the importance of self-awareness of leader identity and increased confidence, building their authentically balanced approach, and creating a social network through collective learning. This paper concludes with future research and practical implications for women leaders, senior human resource development professionals, and senior managers who design and develop women leadership training programs.

CREATING OUR OWN TABLES: INNOVATIONS IN MENTAL HEALTH EQUITY

This Clinical Perspectives brings together mental health experts belonging to historically marginalized communities who are experts and leaders in their field. Through their personal and professional lived experiences, speakers will demonstrate innovations that have improved their ability to serve marginalized communities that have been historically neglected in academic and clinical settings.

건축의 표면의 특성이 날카로운 조형의 위협성 인지에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구

Designers express diverse opinions on how to apply sharp shapes in buildings. Sharply-changed contour of sharp shapes is one visual primitive that can be quickly extracted by people1). As a critical part of architectural design, architectural surface boasts of some characteristics that affect brain to recognize threat of sharp contours. In this day with diversified aesthetics, aesthetics rests with audience’s visual perception and cognition of objective objects, as well as their professional knowledge, life experience, thoughts and culture. In the course of evolution, general aesthetic awareness acquired by the brain is minimally impacted by subjective factors. Under the background, this study, on neuroscience view, adopts interdisciplinary approach to explain brain’s perception mechanism to threats and selective attention mechanism by applying interdisciplinary approach. Starting with analyzing five stages of aesthetic cognition, it exposes brain’s preference for characteristics in line with survival instinct, such as “transparency” and “reflection”, in accordance with viewpoint of evolutionary aesthetics. Aesthetic preference can be triggered by both materials, and permeability of architectural shape structures. In summary, this study aims to reveal reasons of threat perception and attraction of sharp shapes, so as to determine influence of surface characteristics on cognition and aesthetic effects of sharp shapes. It is hoped to provide scientific references and proposals for applying surface characteristics in buildings with sharp shapes.

Nurses' Views on Palliative Care and Death: A Qualitative Study

Giriş: Palyatif bakım yaşam kalitesini yükseltmeyi hedefleyen, çok boyutlu bir bakım yaklaşımıdır. Palyatif bakım sürecinde aktif rol alan hemşireler, bakım sürecinde pek çok güçlükle karşılaşmaktadır.Amaç: Bu araştırma ile, palyatif bakım kliniğinde çalışmakta olan hemşirelerin mesleki yaşam deneyimlerinin, palyatif bakım hemşirelik uygulamalarının ve ölüme bakış açılarının belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır.Yöntem: Nitel çalışma deseninde yürütülen çalışmanın evrenini, bir eğitim araştırma hastanesinin palyatif bakım kliniğinde çalışmakta olan 13 hemşire oluşturmaktadır. Çalışma grubu seçilmemiş olup evrenin tamamına ulaşılmıştır. Çalışmanın verileri 15.01.2022- 15.02.2022 tarihleri arasında toplanmıştır. Toplanan veriler içerik analizi yöntemi ile değerlendirilip tematik kodlama yapılmıştır.Bulgular: Katılımcıların hepsinin kadın olduğu, yaş ortalamalarının 33,30±7,45 (min:23, max:47) olduğu belirlenmiştir. Hemşirelerin, meslekte çalışma yılı ortalamaları 10,92±7,80 (min:2, max:25), palyatif bakım kliniğinde çalışma süreleri 2,15±1,21 (min:1, max:5) yıl olarak belirlenmiştir. Verilerin betimleyici ve yorumlayıcı analizleri sonucunda 5 ana tema, 19 alt tema oluşturulmuştur. Belirlenen 5 ana tema başlıkları şu şekildedir: Palyatif bakım hemşirelik yaklaşımları, palyatif bakım veren hemşirelerin duygu ve düşünceleri, hemşirelerin ölüm algısı, ölmek üzere olan hastaya bakım veren hemşirelerin duygu ve düşünceleri ve hemşirelerin kişisel motivasyon kaynaklarıdır.Sonuç: Çalışmamızda hemşirelerin palyatif bakımda en çok hastaların yaşam kalitesini arttırmaya, öz bakım uygulamalarına ve semptom yönetimine odaklandıkları belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca hemşirelerin terminal dönemdeki hastaya bakım verme konusunda zorluk yaşadıkları belirlenmiştir. Bu kapsamda yaşamın son döneminde olan hastaya bakım verme ve sonrasında yas sürecinde aileye destek olma gibi konularda hemşirelere hizmet içi eğitimlerin verilmesi önerilmektedir.

Police stops in Germany – between legal rules and informal practices

PurposeThis paper analyzes micro-political strategies that police officers use during police stops, mostly based on their professional or personal life experience. Police stops take place in an asymmetric power relationship. Actions of police officers during a stop are backed by strong legal powers, and citizens typically do not negotiate how the stop should be carried out.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on ethnographic observation, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with German patrol officers.FindingsThe authors demonstrate that micro-political strategies relying on the officers' personal experience, rather than on strategies developed by the police agency based on empirical evidence, are highly problematic. Depending upon the acting officer, micro-political strategies can vary considerably according to the individual officer’s experience and attitudes. This leads to a risk of discrimination in police stops and of potential infringements on the citizens’ fundamental rights.Research limitations/implicationsSee the paper’s methodology section on the limitations of the empirical approach.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests improvements for the practice of police stops.Originality/valueThe article provides new empirical insights in the practice of police stops in Germany and situates the findings in a broader international debate on police stops and shortcomings of the legal rules that govern the police stops.

Building and leveraging the innovation ecosystem and clusters: universities, startups, accelerators, alliances, and partnerships

This article focuses on the concepts of ecosystems and clusters, with an emphasis on their importance for building vibrant a vibrant and life science/biopharma industry. We illustrate the underlying principles through work published in academic articles and in the popular press. These are highlighted in brief overviews of several mature and emerging ecosystems in the United States, Europe and Australia. The US perspective is based on our own professional life experiences in Boston, Silicon Valley, San Diego, and Pittsburgh, and, with a shorter preview of Philadelphia where we’ve both done business and have close colleagues.  The article ends with a look to the future in a concluding section titled “What’s Coming Next”.  It is our attempt to look at the future of digitally enhanced collaborative innovation.  This is based on our observations during the first 9 months of the Covid-19 pandemic, social distancing, and working from a distance. We ask, what is the potential impact of these emerging digital technologies on work and advancement of the agenda in the life sciences industries? Will the pandemic transform or disrupt the borders and mode of collaboration of traditional definitions of ecosystems and clusters as we define them today?

Medical students\u2019 affective reactions to workplace experiences: qualitative investigation in a Chinese cultural context

BackgroundCompassion fatigue, unprofessional behavior, and burnout are prompting educators to examine medical students’ affective reactions to workplace experiences. Attributes of both students and learning environments are influenced by their socio-cultural backgrounds. To prevent ‘educational cultural hegemony’, opinion leaders have advocated research in under-represented cultural contexts, of which Asia is a prime example. This study aimed to broaden the discourse of medical education by answering the question: how do students react affectively to workplace experiences in a Chinese cultural context?MethodsIn 2014, the authors recruited five female and seven male Taiwanese clerkship students to make 1–2 audio-diary recordings per week for 12 weeks describing affective experiences, to which they had consciously reacted. The authors analyzed transcripts of these recordings thematically in the original Mandarin and prepared a thick description of their findings, including illustrative extracts. An English-speaking education researcher helped them translate this into English, constantly comparing the interpretation with the original, untranslated data.Results(Mis) matches between their visions of future professional life and clerkship experiences influenced participants’ affective reactions, thoughts, and behaviors. Participants managed these reactions by drawing on a range of personal and social resources, which influenced the valence, strength, and nature of their reactions. This complex set of interrelationships was influenced by culturally determined values and norms, of which this report provides a thick description.ConclusionTo avoid educational cultural hegemony, educators need to understand professional behavior in terms of complex interactions between culturally-specific attributes of individual students and learning environments.Trial registrationThe ethics committee of the National Taiwan University (NTU) Hospital gave research ethics approval (20130864RINB).

Unlearning my communication pedagogy through poetic inquiry

Feeling disenchanted with my communication pedagogy to undergraduate students at a university of technology, I searched for a means to improve my practices. Poetic inquiry assisted in unveiling how my personal and professional lived experiences had moulded my lecturer self and negatively influenced my communication practices. The reflexive writing of poems created an imaginative space in which embedded values and assumptions could be excavated, and the complexity of my entrenched beliefs made visible. The creative space helped crystallise my thinking and generate fresh insights into my white race and class privilege. New interpretations of how a merging of my personal and professional identities could improve my classroom teaching and learning were evoked through poetic inquiry. Furthermore, as a form of analysis, it served to disrupt ingrained instrumentalist patterns of thinking and acting whilst enabling a more imaginative envisioning of my communication pedagogy.

Community-Based Participatory Qualitative Research for Women: Lessons from the Flint Women's Study.

The Flint Women's Study is a large community-based participatory qualitative study designed to create and inform community initiatives to serve Flint-area women by exploring their needs, challenges, hopes, dreams, assets, and thoughts about solutions. This article describes the study goals, processes, and lessons learned. We conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 100 Flint-area women or human service providers serving area women. Participants represented diverse professional backgrounds, life experiences, ages, races, and ethnicities. Community members participated in developing the qualitative interview guide, participant recruitment, qualitative coding, analysis, publication, and creation of initiatives based on results. Partnering in discovery and in identifying solutions provides a strong foundation for building trust and mutual capacity. The coding experience helped community partners to hone marketable qualitative research skills, which can elevate community's voice in research. Efforts to benefit women should ensure their representation in every step of the process.

Onkoloji Palyatif Bakım Hemşirelerinin Mesleki Yaşam Deneyimlerinin İncelenmesi

Amaç: Metropol bir kentte yer alan hastanenin onkoloji kliniğinde çalışmakta olan ve palyatif bakım deneyimi olan hemşirelerin mesleki yaşam deneyimlerinin incelenmesidir. Gereç ve yöntem: Bu araştırma niteliksel bir çalışma deseni olan fenomenolojik bir temele dayanmaktadır. Çalışmanın örneklemini, metropol kentte yer alan bir hastanenin onkoloji kliniğinde ve palyatif bakım ünitesinde  çalışan ve  palyatif bakım hemşirelik deneyimi olan toplam 7 hemşire oluşturmuştur. Çalışmanın verileri, Mayıs–Haziran 2017 tarihleri arasında toplanmıştır. Bulgular: Katılımcıların tamamı kadınlardan oluşmaktadır. Yaş ortalamaları 32.7 olarak hesaplanmıştır. Katılımcıların %71.5’i evli, %57.4’ü eşi ile birlikte yaşamakta, tamamı lisans  mezunudur. Meslekte çalışma yılı ortalamaları 12.8 yıl, palyatif bakım hemşireliği ortalamaları 5.2 yıl aralığındadır. Katılımcıların yaşadıkları meslek deneyimleri incelenmiş, verilerin betimleyici ve yorumlayıcı analizlerinin ardından oluşturulan üç ana tema  ve 7 alt tema  oluşturulmuştur. Zorluklar temasının; yorgunluk, baş etmede zorlanma / tükenmişlik,  iletişim sorunlarından oluşan üç alt teması, kazanımlar temasının; profesyonelleşme/ doyum, hayatı anlamlandırma: yaşam ve ölüm, ekip uyumun yer aldığı üç teması ve başetme  yöntemleri  temasının; alana özel  deneyim/eğitim bir alt teması belirlenmiştir. Sonuç: Çalışmamızda, onkoloji palyatif bakımda çalışan hemşirelerin, meslek deneyimleri sonucunda bir takım zorluklara maruz kaldıkları, buna ek olarak kazanımlarınında olduğu  ve bunlarla baş etme becerilerinin yakın ilişkili olduğu saptanmıştır. Bu konuda daha fazla çalışmaya ihtiyaç bulunmaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Palyatif bakım, palyatif bakımda hemşirelik deneyimleri, nitel çalışmalar.  

THE IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION OF NEWCOMER TEACHERS IN ENGLISH EDUCATION THROUGH REFLECTIVE WRITING

ABSTRACT
 This study explores teacher identity among four newcomer teachers who are taking their master degree in English education. Specifically, it engages a holistic perspective to research the connection between personal and professional life experiences that shaped their teacher identity. This study tries to look into to what extent the teacher identity is constructed during English education master program. The researcher gathered reflection writing from the participants about their life stories, journey, and their motivation of continuing study. Their institution and formal courses are not the only aspect that could construct their identity. Work experiences and others’ sharing stories also give the big influence on their teacher identity.
 Keywords: teacher identity; reflective writing; newcomer teacher