Self-reflection Research Articles

Leadership and Life Skills Development among 4-H State-Level Youth Leaders

This mixed-methods study sought to determine the impact of a 4-H state-level youth leadership program on participants’ leadership and life skills (LLS) development. Youth who participated in the study served as a state-level leader for one year. Two cohorts, 2017 and 2018 (N = 18), participated in the study. Twelve youth completed the survey and interviews. Results from the Youth Leadership Life Skills Development scale (YLLSD) and interviews revealed participants gained LLS in the areas of understanding self, decision-making, strengthened oral communication, teamwork, and critical thinking skills. Participation in 4-H positively built LLS among participants. Long-term engagement in 4-H was found to increase and deepen LLS development among participants by reinforcing lessons learned and through positive role-modeling between peers. Further research should explore the relationship between assigning youth leaders with titles such as president, vice-president, and secretary and associated LLS outcomes as previous research indicated that those given these titles benefited more than youth without titles in spite of all youth receiving similar formative experiences.

INTERNATIONAL FIELD SCHOOL FOR FIRST-YEAR ENGINEERING STUDENTS

Engineering graduates increasingly find that they are part of teams that draw a multi-disciplinary membership across a broad range of cultural, socio-economic, and linguistic backgrounds. Although engineering students often have the opportunity to participate in international projects (e.g. co-operative education programs, study abroad), formal international field schools are not typical within engineering curricula, particularly at the first- and second-year level. To provide an early introduction to intercultural perspectives, first-year engineering students at Vancouver Island University (VIU) participated in a field school at Tra Vinh University (TVU) in Tra Vinh Province, Vietnam over a period of three weeks. This field school consisted of a number of cultural and engineering activities, and involved pairing of students at both TVU and VIU for the duration of the experience. To measure student response during the field school, participating VIU students completed the on-line Intercultural Effectiveness Scale questionnaire pre- and post-experience. Students at both institutions also completed reflection exercises throughout the three-week period. This feedback suggested each student pairing continuously developed skills necessary to overcome linguistic, cultural, and technical barriers to learning and growing over their time together. Students described an enhanced understanding of self, and an increased likelihood to further participate in intercultural experiences.

Wrestling with Ambiguity: Koans as Agents of Change and their Application to the Helping Professions

The similarities that exist between working with koans—the riddles presented by Zen masters to their pupils—and the exchanges of people in the helping professions are examined in an effort to shed light on the transformative potential of ambiguity as a tool in therapeutic practice. This is of particular significance to coaches and psychotherapists with more of a psychodynamic or even paradoxical orientation. It is suggested that koans are ideal agents for learning to engage ambiguity. In that respect there are similarities between Eastern and Western practices, having as their ultimate objective a greater understanding of the self and—through that understanding—the arrival at a transformation of the self. This article also points out that the aim of koan practice—similar to the kinds of dialogues between helping professionals and their clients—is to encourage Zen students to explore the non-analytical, more creative part of the mind and arrive at a more holistic view of the world. Generally speaking, koans help in acquiring a more three-dimensional view of life—again a process that shows similarities with the work of the helping professionals. In addition, given the importance of ambiguity management, the purpose of koan practice—very similar to psychotherapy or coaching—is not to arrive at premature answers to knotty problems. Instead, both orientations to self-exploration practice what’s called negative capability—in an effort to tolerate and utilize not-knowing—a process described by the poet John Keats as being “capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.” It is suggested that koan practice will improve the capacity to tolerate non-knowing and manage ambiguity, important qualities that enable more creative problem solving. In that respect, koans can also serve as meaningful pedagogical tools that assist in transcending constricted thinking. To illustrate the effectiveness of this way of working with the mind, a number of koans are presented.

The effect of autonomous learning process on learner autonomy of English public speaking students

Buta The objectives of this study were to examine the effect of the autonomous learning process (ALP) on learner autonomy of undergraduate students in English public speaking class and its effect size; and to explore how learner autonomy is revealed through the ALP. This study employed a variant of a mixed-methods approach, which is an embedded experimental design. Employing the cluster sampling method, nineteen Thai students were included. The students were trained in the ALP based on the four dimensions of learner autonomy (technical, psychological, political-critical, and sociocultural.) Quantitative data were collected from the Learner Autonomy for Public Speaking (LAPS) questionnaires and analyzed by the dependent samples t-test. Qualitative data were drawn from the Overall Written Reflections, and thematic content analysis was used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that the level of students’ learner autonomy in the post-questionnaire significantly increased from the pre-questionnaire (p = 0.00). Its effect size is large (d = 1.28), and learner autonomy, as revealed through the ALP, can be classified into five emerging themes. The themes are (1) use and plans of the learning strategies, (2) evaluation of learning and learning strategies, (3) capacity to provide and accept praise and criticism, (4) increased positive emotions and (5) sense of awareness and a better understanding of self. Recommendations for further study are provided.The objectives of this study were to examine the effect of the autonomous learning process (ALP) on learner autonomy of undergraduate students in English public speaking class and its effect size; and to explore how learner autonomy is revealed through the ALP. This study employed a variant of a mixed-methods approach, which is an embedded experimental design. Employing the cluster sampling method, nineteen Thai students were included. The students were trained in the ALP based on the four dimensions of learner autonomy (technical, psychological, political-critical, and sociocultural.) Quantitative data were collected from the Learner Autonomy for Public Speaking (LAPS) questionnaires and analyzed by the dependent samples t-test. Qualitative data were drawn from the Overall Written Reflections, and thematic content analysis was used to analyze the data. [A1] The findings revealed that the level of students’ learner autonomy in the post-questionnaire significantly increased from the pre-questionnaire (p = 0.00). Its effect size is large (d = 1.28), and learner autonomy, as revealed through the ALP, can be classified into five emerging themes. [A2] The themes are (1) use and plans of the learning strategies, (2) evaluation of learning and learning strategies, (3) capacity to provide and accept praise and criticism, (4) increased positive emotions and (5) sense of awareness and a better understanding of self. Recommendations for further study are provided. [A1]S-V agreement [A2]Emerging themes or emerging themes, or emergent themes?

Volver a Hayden White: algunas reflexiones

Este ensayo trata básicamente de la transformación teórica de la historiografía. Versa sobre los cambios ocurridos a partir de 1960 en la autocomprensión de la historia académica sobre sí misma. Al aparecer su libro Metahistory en 1973, puede decirse que el medio de la historiografía no estaba preparado para recibirlo. Su discusión se traspasó sobre todo al campo de la teoría y crítica literaria. Solo a partir de su traducción a otros idiomas, hacia 1990 su obra comenzó discutirse y a ser tomada en serio por los historiadores. En particular su discusión se concentró en saber si White aceptaba o no que el discurso de los historiadores, además de su forma literaria, era capaz de referir el pasado, tal como se había postulado desde los orígenes de la historia científico-académica en el siglo XIX.
 Más bien, en este escrito se intenta sostener que el interés mayor de White en su crítica al establishment historiográfico se dirige a poner de manifiesto la unidad que subyace a las oposiciones clásicas sobre las que se constituyó la identidad de la historiografía: entre historia y literatura, historia y filosofía, historia y ciencia, ficción y realidad, teoría y empiria, etcétera. En particular se intenta observar dos puntos en los que White argumenta a favor de dicha intersección: entre filosofía e historia, por un lado, y entre historia y literatura, por el otro. Una de las consecuencias de este “des-ocultamiento” consiste en mostrar que la historiografía moderna (un discurso que “simula” unir el pasado, lo ausente, con lo actual, lo presente) es una actividad fundamentalmente metahistórica. Por eso en nos detendremos en examinar el contenido de la forma conceptual “metahistoria” para develar lo que el historiador produce cuando escribe historia. Siendo así, la cuestión consistirá en centrar la atención en algunos “detalles” para observar su relevancia en la comprensión de la temporalidad asistida por dos estrategias discursivas: la literaria y la historiográfica.
 De manera que para “entender” a White hace falta situar sus reflexiones, no en uno de los polos enemistados, sino en un lugar intermedio (entre los extremos); como un preámbulo para el diseño de un espacio transdisciplinario (ni solo historiográfico ni solo literario, ni solo histórico ni solo filosófico), y así poder imaginar una plausible reconceptualización de la historiografía tras la crisis del historicismo decimonónico. Se habla entonces de “regresar” a White para calibrar una de las posibilidades pensables para el futuro de la historiografía.

Menemukan Kebermaknaan Hidup Melalui Bimbingan dan Konseling Layanan Informasi Berbasis Al-Quran Pada Mahasiswa

The purpose of this study was to find out how to find the meaning of life through al-qur'an-based information services for Islamic Guidance and Counseling students at UIN Raden Fatah Palembang. The method used in this research is a qualitative research method. The subjects in this study were 29 students of the Islamic Guidance and Counseling Study Program at UIN Raden Fatah Palembang. Data collection techniques used in this study were interview techniques and observation techniques. The data in this study were analyzed by qualitative descriptive analysis. The results showed that al-qur'an-based information services could enable students of the Islamic Guidance and Counseling Study Program at UIN Raden Fatah Palembang to find the meaning of life which includes (a) understanding of the meaning of life which includes having a purpose in life, (b) understanding of potential self, (c) the ability to act positively in the face of reality, and (d) the ability to build positive social relationships.

Self-Assertion, ‘Ignorant Backwoodsmen’ and the Experience of ‘(Un) Safe Spaces’

I want to suggest that contemporary notions of individuality and self-assertion have been, to some extent, significantly influenced by the thinking of the 18th-century Genevan political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Although a committed Christian, Rousseau nursed an understanding of the inner self which clearly resonates with the rise in the 21st century of secularized accounts of the person and the prevalence of ‘identity politics.’ I argue these are frequently contextualized within the demand for equality and have morphed into strategies of protection, witnessed most glaringly in the promotion of ‘safe spaces,’ especially in modern universities. While in some respects these developments are to be lauded, since they are located in moral strivings for justice, I argue that a too obsessive focus on the individual self can result in harmful consequences. Biblical writers, Desert Christians and contemporary ascetics know this and have something important to teach in this regard. Their emphasis on the formation of identity, based on scriptural reasoning and historical tradition, imbibed in the body, promotes collective subjectivity and saves the person from descending into introverted, aggrieved individualism, which, ironically, makes the fight for social justice less effective.

Investing in Queensland's rural medical leaders: Lessons from the Queensland Rural Generalist Program.

To improve the leadership capacity of existing Queensland Rural Generalists and support the emerging leaders needed to assume future leadership roles. A customised leadership program for medical Rural Generalists, embedded in professional standards, was developed and delivered during 2016-2018. Pre and post-program and individual module evaluations from two Program cohorts were analysed. Qualitative, semi-structured phone interviews (n=30) discussing participant views on leadership in a rural context and their Program experience were also conducted. The Rural Generalist Leadership for Clinicians Training Program runs over twelve months and includes three residential modules as well as online learning sets. Forty-four participants completed the Program and obtained Associate Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators. Development and delivery of the Rural Generalist Leadership for Clinicians Training Program. Participant's ability to apply Program learning in a rural leadership context. Participant views on leadership in a rural context. Participants indicated they benefited most from the 'understanding self' and management aspects of the Program such as finance, budgeting, and understanding and navigating broader health system governance. They greatly valued the opportunity to enhance their professional networks and relationships and have since developed a regular forum to assist in the transition from individual leadership development to the development of the broader workforce and organisation. The results of this study suggest that further attention and investment in medical leadership is warranted to support and enable the Rural Generalist workforce to continue to meet the complex, context-specific needs of the communities within which they deliver vital health services.

Sense of coherence and resilience for coping with stress in the group of juveniles referred to probation centres by family courts

The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between the sense of coherence and resilience and the styles of stress coping and to determine which of the studied variables (comprehensibility; manageability; meaningfulness; optimistic attitude and energy; perseverance and determination in action; sense of humour and openness to new experiences; personal competences and tolerance of negative affect) was more important in predicting coping styles with stressful situations in the group of juveniles who had been referred to probation centres. Participants in this study were 210 juveniles from probation centres. The following research tools were used in the research: A. Antonovsky’s Orientation to Life Questionnaire, Resilience Scale by N. Ogińska-Bulik and Z. Juczyński, and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations by N. S. Enlder and J. D. A. Parker. The research results show that sense of coherence and resilience play a predictive function for the style which focuses on the task, emotions, avoidance and strategy related to engaging in substitute activities and seeking contact with people. Building (by probation officers) the sense of coherence and resilience among juveniles involves better understanding of the surrounding world and the stimuli which come from it, understanding internal signals and increasing the sense of manageability and comprehensibility, enhancing the ability to use the own and the environmental resources as well as working on the sense of meaningfulness, i.e. the motivational aspect of functioning. Supporting components of resilience (optimistic attitude and energy; perseverance and determination in action; sense of humour and openness to new experiences; personal competences and tolerance of negative affect) through psychoeducational activities (in probation centres) enables better understanding of the own self and, consequently, using stress management strategies aimed at finding a positive solution to a particular situation.

Storytelling as a means of improving community and decreasing burnout in a large academic cancer center.

11018 Background: Burnout is highly experienced amongst physicians who care for patients with cancer. Workplace isolation is a risk factor for burnout. The field of oncology is growing at a rapid pace and many cancer centers are expanding to meet the demands of patient care and research. Prior assessments revealed that our hematology and oncology fellows were experiencing feelings of isolation and disconnection, which was likely reflected from our greater academic community. Methods: The traditional art of storytelling has been used to offer guidance, teaching, new perspective taking and understanding of self. The concept of “My Story”, an interactive storytelling lecture series was developed to address the following objectives at a large academic cancer center: 1) Promote connection and decrease isolation amongst the cancer sub-specialties 2) Increase fellow-faculty interaction for mentorship, 3) provide an outlet to discuss sensitive topics such as burnout, grief, unexpected patient outcomes, medical errors, work- life balance, career transitions, personal struggles, and bias. A faculty member was identified to tell their unique story for a special lecture. Fellows and faculty members from hematology, oncology, radiation-oncology, neuro-oncology, gynecology-oncology, and surgical oncology were invited. All audience members were encouraged to ask questions and engage in discussion. A survey was distributed after the inaugural event for evaluation. Results: A total of 56 people attended the inaugural event. There were 14 fellows, 9 faculty members and 33 others, which included basic scientists and advance practice providers. 17 individuals completed our post survey, which included 6 faculty members, 4 fellows, 1 nurse practitioner, 1 student and 5 others. On a scale from 1-10 (mean scores reported), participants rated the experience 7.5 for enjoyment, 6.6 for sense of connection with the group, 6.0 for inspiring them to make new connections with others and 6.8 when asked if they left with new tools to assist with personal challenge. Conclusions: A lecture series that invites multidisciplinary cancer physicians and surgeons to discuss personal career and life challenges can be beneficial to addressing burnout, decreasing isolation and improving connection and community at a large academic cancer center.

Towards an Ethics of Hybrid Agency in Performance

In the late 1980s, Jean-Luc Nancy brought together nineteen leading thinkers to consider ‘Who comes after the subject?’, in the wake of major historical and philosophical developments that had radically destabilized modern understandings of selfhood and agency. Several of the respondents addressed ideas in their work that have contributed to fundamental reconfigurations of subjectivity in performance research, as well as to expansive, cross-disciplinary discourses that have since emerged on posthumanism and performativity. Some three decades after Nancy’s provocation, the shifting social, cultural, political, environmental, technological and research landscapes have prompted pervasive re-imaginings of agential relations and behaviour. Nevertheless, with human and other biological life now being tracked, evaluated, quantified, mediated, anticipated, exploited and placed in situations to perform in unprecedented ways, and according to often-opaque processes or criteria, the ethical imperative to return to the question of the (post)subject—and its increasingly hybridized manifestations—arguably resonates even more profoundly today. Offering its own response to Nancy, this article takes steps towards a metaethical framework for investigating the vastly expanded scope of hybrid agency in contemporary performance. Who comes after ‘the subject’ in performance research? How are diverse modes of human and nonhuman perception, representation, decision-making and engagement with the world bound up with performance, performativity and the ‘performatic’? To what extent does thinking about such questions coincide across communities and disciplinary boundaries? How do numerous individual choices and criteria about what is ‘good’ and how to act shape particular instances of practice, especially in everyday life? Who or what performs them, and to what ends? What harms might they cause? Building on philosopher Simon Critchley’s ‘fundamental question of ethics’, the article proposes we step back, to explore how—across different fields—various agential configurations materialize and seek to perform or bind themselves by means of performance to whatever they determine as ‘the good’.

Reimaging ‘the Self’ in Criminology: Transcendence, Unconscious States and the Limits of Narrative Criminology

Notions of ‘the self’ in criminology are rarely explored or defined, which is surprising given how pervasively the term is used. According to narrative criminology, the self is generated and moulded by the stories we tell; our identity emerges through narrative scripts and these stories motivate future action. But this understanding of selfhood is quite narrow. This article attempts to widen it by separating selfhood into three categories: ‘the reflexive self’ (the person we think we are); ‘the unconscious self’ (things we do not know that shape us); and ‘the experiencing self’ (the in-the-moment, living and breathing feeling of being alive). The article begins with a critical engagement with the field of narrative criminology which tends to address ‘the reflexive self’ somewhat in isolation. Then a number of findings in criminology, psychology and theology are presented which reveal alternative notions of selfhood. This includes engaging with theological accounts that can be described as transcendent or transpersonal. Second, psychoanalytic research notes how our behaviour is often motivated by unconscious processes that are hard to reconcile with traditional notions of selfhood. There is a call to bring these different ‘selves’ into dialogue and to draw cleaner distinctions between them. Increasing our understanding of selfhood helps us to think more clearly about key criminological debates, such as the causal mechanisms undergirding adaptation and desistance from crime.

KAJIAN SOSIO-HISTORIS TENTANG PANDANGAN DUNIA ATONI PAH METO DALAM RITUS POITAN LIANA

This article describes the world view of the people of South Central Timor Regency regarding Atoni Pah Meto in the Poitan Liana Rite. With qualitative descriptive methods, the paper formulated (1) Poitan Liana Rite means the kinship displayed in the role of Atoin Amaf in belief in Uis Neno, Uis Pah, and the ancestors through symbolic actions and speech; (2) Timorese view their life as an integral part of supernatural life, and the continuation of people’s lives in harmony between social order and cosmic order. Uis Neno, Uis Pah, and Ancestors are believed to be a supernatural power involved in human life. All forms of supernatural power interventions are in the context of the life of Atoni Pah Meto that proceeds to actualize themselves as “Responsible on earth”. (3) All human efforts are seen as a blessing from Uis Neno, Uis Pah, and the ancestors. Overall Poitan Liana’s ceremony contains meaning related to the understanding of self, nature, and society on one hand, as well as relations with supernatural powers on the other. In this vertical and horizontal dimension, Orang Boti directs himself to the vertical dimension to maintain his life in the horizontal dimension.

Culturally Competent Care for Transgender Voice and Communication Intervention

Purpose Despite constituting 4.5% of the population, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+ community is poorly understood by the health care community. Seventy percent of transgender individuals report discrimination in health care, and 51% of speech-language pathologists do not know clinical techniques for transgender clients. This community is particularly obscured by its high degree of diversity, which can be confusing for clinicians who are unfamiliar with the nuances of the culture or unprepared to adapt to a gender-affirming therapy model. Method Methods focus on gender affirmation and community trust building. Specific targets included exploring self-expression through reflection, metatherapy, and observation of self and others in regard to various communication strategies. Clients were provided opportunities to practice and experience a gradient of degrees of gendered communication to make the experience affirming to their gender identity. Results Results were reflected in two case studies, Kasi, a transfeminine client, and RJ, a transmasculine client. Kasi began therapy as directionless, abrasive, and conflicted about their voice and transition goals. They concluded therapy focused, motivated to communicate more clearly, and achieving technical targets that were unexpected given starting points. Kasi made this progress in collaboration with the resilient focus of the clinical team on their validity and affirmation. RJ began therapy highly distrustful of therapy but unable to pursue hormone replacement therapy for pitch lowering. Their goal was to achieve voice modification through therapy. RJ finished their treatment consistently gendered as male on the phone and in public, with 130 Hz without testosterone. Conclusions Voice therapy is a vital health safety service for transgender clients, and increasing access to culturally competent care should be a concern for all speech pathologists. Building trust and empathy with this community will be a significant step in breaking down gatekeeping practices in the field and in the larger medical practice.

Patterns and progression of emotion experiences and regulation in the classroom

In this self-study, a teacher’s in the moment recordings of emotional episodes were analyzed with the help of a critical friend, leading to the discovery of patterns of emotional responses. Initial emotional responses often covered up deeper emotional issues that implicated the teaching self. After dialog with a critical friend, those issues were recognized and contextualized, resulting in greater understanding of self that led to change in approach to future emotional episodes, leading to better classroom environments. Acknowledging deeper emotional issues empowered the teacher to manage herself and students with more emotionally healthy methods.

Development of a clinical pathway for screening and integrated care of eating disorders in a rural substance use treatment setting.

Eating and substance use disorders frequently co-occur in clinical samples. This comorbidity presents a particular challenge due to increased medical complications, higher relapse rates, psychiatric comorbidity, and poorer overall outcomes for both disorders, and is associated with specific medical and psychiatric difficulties that contribute to complexity in diagnosis and treatment. However, patients with co-occurring substance use and eating disorders do not widely receive structured standardized assessment or treatment for eating disorders in substance use treatment settings. Focus groups were conducted to seek clinician's knowledge and perceptions of screening and care planning for eating disorder presentations in a rural substance use treatment setting. The study adheres to COREQ guidelines. To analyse the focus group data, the authors utilized thematic analysis and three major themes emerged as follows: beliefs about clients (stereotypical views, complexity of comorbidity, client expectations), understanding of self (lack of knowledge/skills, professional role), and organizational barriers and enablers. Whilst identifying a significant number of clinician and organizational barriers to providing screening and treatment of eating disorders in a substance use treatment setting, focus group discussions also highlighted a number of potential enablers. Most notably clinicians identified a willingness to provide screening and care planning if they were provided with education, a clinical pathway and access to screening tools. A consensus conferencing approach facilitated construction of a clinical pathway to enable the service to provide screening, assessment, and treatment planning for clients with comorbid eating disorder.

Missing misters: uncovering the pedagogies and positionalities of male teachers of color in the school lives of Black and Latino adolescent boys

ABSTRACTEducational stakeholders often recruit male teachers of color as solutions to the problems facing Black and Latino boys and young men in PreK-12 schools. However, given the assumptions made of these teachers’ role in the lives of boys of color and their disproportionally low presence, few studies have considered what boys themselves report as missed because of the absence of Black and Latino male teachers. This case study drew from the voices of five Black and Latino adolescent boys in one urban secondary school in the United States to theorize what the participants missed (e.g. yearned for connections, reflections of self) and missed out on (e.g. seeing positive images of men of color) by not having a more robust presence of Black and Latino male teachers of color or misters. Findings indicated the need for boys’ voices in advancing nuanced recruitment and retention discourses for their male teachers of color.

Becoming a teacher educator through being a student teacher: an autoethnography in the practicum

ABSTRACTThis In Practice paper reports on an autoethnographic study based on the author’s 12-week teaching practicum experience in two secondary schools in an initial teacher education programme to professionally develop himself as a teacher educator. As a novice teacher educator, the author took on the role as a student teacher in the practicum. Through ongoing dialogues with different stakeholders in schools and the author’s own reflective self, the practicum experience provided an opportunity for the author to understand the tension between theory and practice, learn to give feedback as a teaching practicum supervisor and facilitate the development of schools. This paper offers implications on the benefits of engaging in self-study such as autoethnography in the school context for novice teacher educators to understand the educational reality and professional lives of schoolteachers as well as professionally develop themselves in their teacher education career.

JUDGING THE JUDGES: EXAMINING SUPERVISORS ASSESSMENT OF UNOBSERVABLE SKILLS IN DEVELOPED EFL TEACHING PRACTICE MODEL

This qualitative descriptive case study reflects the researcher's experience, as a Teaching Practice (TP) Co-ordinator at the Libyan Faculty of Education Tripoli (FET), in developing and examining academic supervisors’ implementation of an innovative TP Assessment Model for EFL trainees. Previous assessment lacked accuracy and comprehensiveness and relied solely on assessing behavioural observable skills. The new TPAM incorporates, for the first time at FET, Unobservable Skills Assessment through supporting documents that supervisors use to assess trainees’ skills in classroom observation, feedback provision, self-reflection, and reporting on TP experience, all of which comprise a Teaching Practice Portfolio (TPP). The study focuses on a key concern: (1) How to develop existing assessment criteria in an objective and comprehensive manner embracing both observable and unobservable skills. Two operational sub-questions emerged: (2) How would the supervisors’ implement the Unobservable Skills Assessment in the TPAM; (3) How would trainees respond to Unobservable Skills Assessment criteria? Data were collected through quantitative analysis of the supporting documents; semi-structured interviews with seven supervisors involved; focus group discussions with trainee teachers. The findings show that while the supervisors were satisfied with the developed assessment criteria, their overall performance in implementing the Unobservable Skills Assessment was poor; besides a lack of immediate feedback provision after school visits, the supporting documents for unobservable skills were not fully executed. Only two supervisors out of seven demonstrated acceptable adherence to the model requirements. Some trainees had reservations regarding the extra workload required in carrying out self-reflections and in writing reports of TP experience; others considered the criterion of professional development outlook inconsequential during initial teacher training.

Bariatric surgery, family, and identity: an autoethnographic investigation

ABSTRACTUsing autoethnography and configuring narrative reflections, this article interrogates my personal experiences as a man whose body has been changed by bariatric surgery. The autoethnographic account engages questions relating to family, health history, community, and identity. The narrative reflections are embodied memories that testify to a family history of obesity and diabetes that foreground the challenges faced by those who are faced with the radical option of weight-loss surgery to save their lives. The narrative reflections propose to transform our understanding of bariatric surgery and is consistent with others’ stories in communication scholarship that privileges personal experience within health care. Questions for future research include the unresolved roles of gender and biological sex in the creation of an altered narrative understanding of the obese self.