Christine Eastman

Critical autobiography in the professional doctorate: improving students’ writing through the device of literature

ABSTRACT This paper argues for a pedagogic practice to overcome the challenges that many professional practitioners face in undertaking a professional doctorate. Recent examination feedback on a professional doctoral programme of 300 candidates in the UK highlighted that a number of candidates often struggle to write persuasively, critically and reflectively. This paper discusses the impact of a series of workshops designed to support students in resolving the challenges of writing clearly. In our workshops, we encouraged the students to conceptualise their professional doctorate as a critical autobiography. In order to foster a critical autobiographical voice in our students, we explored a range of autobiographical texts for students to use as models for their own writing. In addition to offering a description of our teaching practice in these workshops, this paper explores the theoretical background that illuminates our pedagogical choices. Both theory and practice are posited side by side in our paper to uncover mutually illuminating connections in our discussion and evaluation of our attempts to improve students’ writing. We suggest that conceptualising the professional doctorate as critical autobiography is a valuable tool for professional practitioners who struggle to communicate the complexities of their practice confidently and lucidly.

Halifax Community Bank: a learning society within a UK organisation

Purpose – Students investigated whether the commonly accepted net promoter score was an accurate way of measuring the quality of service, whether presenteeism was just as corrosive as absenteeism and what internal and external factors contributed to business success or failure. What the paper tried to foster from the outset was the concept of a learning society in order to gauge how students experienced the need to reinforce their arguments with theory. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The authors interest focused on the link between business and academia, what constituted an academic presence in the workplace and whether or not this academic input helped students to become more effective members of their organisation. The author surveyed 30 students for this qualitative study. Findings – Students welcomed clear direction and an opportunity to translate their experience into a problem-solving exercise. They realised they were in the business of developing themselves a...

The use of English literature in the context of work‐based learning – a pedagogic case study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to persuade curriculum developers that the aims of incorporating English literature, particularly in the concern with developing a responsive openness of mind, could and perhaps should be a part of any work based learning programme.Design/methodology/approach – Using a qualitative approach and drawing on the experience at a university in the south‐east of England, this study provides an exploration of and insights into incorporating English literature in journal reflection within the context of work‐based learning.Findings – The purpose of this paper was to present a case study of a course that was taught through a blend of requiring research on writers and reflective journaling and then assessed by a means of formative (journal entries shared and discussed) and summative (final formal presentations) feedback.Originality/value – The author believes that the paper has demonstrated some ideological and practical insights to offering a work‐based learning course marryin...

Working with Toshiba, Lewin and Dewey: a journey into the heart of change

Purpose – Many have suggested that over the last 25 years or so the debate over organisational change has been dominated by the issue of power and politics in the form of an approach consistent with a free‐market spirit. For too long, power and politics have influenced strategic decisions and “top down” management has been the dominant paradigm. However, the authors work with Toshiba has led to the conclusion that the principles of social responsibility and ethical change, as championed by Kurt Lewin and John Dewey, are emerging as a more amenable and desirable approach to change and appear to be embraced by many in the workforce. Many US observers have argued that such events as the bankruptcy of Enron and the indictment of senior executives from this company and others, as well as the recent events in the UK concerning a perceived lack of financial probity in the banking and political milieux, have shown that a disregard for ethics in decision making can have deleterious consequences for business and s...

Researching organizational coaching using a pilot study

This case explores the practical difficulties of designing a pilot to investigate the effectiveness of an innovative coaching technique. It weighs up the strengths and limitations of using a pilot study to research organizational coaching and reflects on the extent to which such a study can provide satisfactory answers to a series of research questions in the field of organizational coaching. The case goes on to explore how an initial pilot study with a limited number of participants might be amplified to provide a more solid empirical basis on which to answer the research questions more authoritatively.

Masterclass in English education: transforming teaching and learning

Book review of: Masterclass in English education: transforming teaching and learning, edited by Sue Brindley and Bethan Marshall, London, Bloomsbury, 2015, 203 pp., ISBN 978-1-4411-2996-3

Coaching in organisations: how the use of fictional characters can develop coaching practice

Purpose This paper consists of a case study that reports on a pedagogical intervention undertaken among a group of postgraduate students in the area of coaching. The purpose of this paper is to design an intervention to bridge the gulf between coaching theory and practice, a gap identified by coaching research and corroborated by professional practice students on the university course examined here. Design/methodology/approach The study gives an account of how literary fiction was used with a cohort of students as a source of hypothetical scenarios used to simulate workplace problems and as a simulative context in which coaching students could apply theoretical models to make-believe scenarios. In this case study, the author evaluates the success of this innovative pedagogical methodology based on a qualitative analysis of excerpts from students’ written work. Findings The author advocates the use of literary fictional texts as a means of enhancing coach training and makes a case for the benefits of exposing students to literary fiction as part of a rich humanities curriculum. Reading about how fictional characters negotiate the terrain of life and work can help coaching students to create stronger, more creative narratives in their work-based projects. Originality/value Exploring how fictional characters respond to challenges in the workplace (and in life generally) will support students to formulate their own coaching interventions in a more coherent fashion. The paper contends that stories are the cornerstone of learning, and that educators can support students to explore issues of core identity, (in)coherent life themes and narrative representation in students’ professional practice by getting them to read fiction.

English literature and work-based learning: a pedagogical case study

This paper discusses a pilot project held at Middlesex University to enhance students’ writing skills through literature teaching. It argues that literature teaching can offer a profound contribution to work-based learning and lifelong education: first, by showing students how effective arguments are constructed; second, by inspiring students to use their reading to improve their writing; third, by offering an ethical guide in the workplace and, broadly speaking, in all areas of life. Moreover, literature teaching should help students become more energized by the challenges of argument, contradictions and complexity, as well as provide them with the means to formulate and then trust their aesthetic judgement. Using literature as a pedagogical tool, teachers can inspire ‘educational connoisseurship’ in their students by teaching them to become active and autonomous, evaluative and critical agents in their own education. This paper presents the results of the pilot, showing the substantive contribution the study of certain essayists and novelists made to the students’ perceptions of what makes good writing, how they might replicate it and how literature can offer an ethical guide throughout their working lives. As a reiterative study which builds on similar research carried out at the University of Kent in 2010, this paper should further the arguments for a work-based learning programme that includes the study of literature.

My word! Plagiarism and college culture

My word! Plagiarism and college culture, by Susan D. Blum, Ithaca and London, Cornell University Press, 2009, 240 pp., US

Improving Workplace Learning by Teaching Literature

19.95 (paperback), US