Lyndon Cabot

Reconsidering the Dimensions of Expertise: From Linear Stages towards Dual Processing.

This paper explores the developing concept of expertise, taking the Dreyfus and Dreyfus staged model as its starting point. It analyses criticism of the Dreyfus model and considers more recent attempts to resolve the tensions implicit within it. The authors go on to suggest ways some of the later modifications can be improved. The traditional notion of intuition is revisited and thereafter a new and novel way of visualising expertise is presented as a dualprocessing relationship between chains of practice and the underlying networks of understanding. These chain and net knowledge structures have been revealed through the analysis of concept maps produced by numerous cohorts of students and teachers. It is argued that a visualisation of the dynamic relationship between the dimensions of expertise provides an emerging theoretical framework for a more general reappraisal of teaching in higher education. This reconsideration of expertise may be the catalyst for dialogue about educational practice within disciplines (between lecturers and between lecturers and students), and between lecturers and educational developers. This dialogue will strengthen disciplinary communities of practice and place the agenda for pedagogic change within the context of the academic disciplines.

Visualising expertise: towards an authentic pedagogy for higher education

The development of expertise is seen as a crucial element in higher education, but the nature of expertise has been clouded by assumptions of the centrality of intuition and tacit knowledge. In this paper the authors contend that much knowledge that has been described as tacit can be surfaced for examination through the application of concept mapping techniques. This approach allows experts to articulate their practice in a way that is transparent, making it available for scrutiny by students. Expertise is described here as connecting the chains of practice that denote competence with the underlying networks of understanding that are required to support academic development. This occurs across the academic disciplines with various degrees of subtlety. It is described in the context of clinical teaching as it is in this context that the separation of chains of practice from underlying networks of understanding is most pronounced.

Threshold concepts in dental education.

The paper presents a conceptual framework to inform dental education. Drawing from a vast body of research into student learning, the simple model presented here has an explanatory value in describing what is currently observed to happen and a predictive value in guiding future teaching practices. We introduce to dental education the application of threshold concepts that have a transformative role in offering a new vision of the curriculum that helps to move away from the medieval transmission model of higher education towards a dual processing model that better reflects the way in which professionals operate within the discipline. Threshold concepts give a role for the student voice in offering a novice perspective which is paradoxically something that is out of reach of the subject expert. Finally, the application of threshold concepts highlights some of the weaknesses in the competency-based training model of clinical teaching.

Towards a pedagogy for clinical education: beyond individual learning differences

The development of teaching in higher education towards a more learner‐orientated model has been supported by the literature on individual learning differences and on learning styles in particular. This has contributed to the evolution of university pedagogy away from a medieval transmission model than runs counter to contemporary understanding of learning. However, rather than solving problems of classroom practice, recognition of student learning differences has amplified a number of tensions within the system that have not been adequately resolved in practical terms for academic staff. Such tensions complicate the professional lives of university teachers and as a consequence may lead to cycles of non‐learning as teachers retreat towards the familiar transmission of content. A reconceptualisation of university pedagogy towards an expertise model allows the variation between complementary chains of practice and networks of understanding to be exploited as a positive characteristic of the learning experience.

Dental vocational training: identifying and developing trainer expertise

Aims The aims of the study were two fold: to determine the influence of trainer expertise on the Vocational Training (VT) experience, particularly in terms of providing Vocational Dental Practitioners (VDPs) with positive role models; and to ascertain if it is possible to identify attributes of expertise that can signpost a successful path for new/less expert trainers.Participants Thirty-five VDPs and each of their Vocational Trainers participated in the study. All training took place in the South East of England.Design The participants were followed through the 12 months of their VT year. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with both trainers and VDPs on two occasions, during the year and once VT had been completed. It was also possible to observe practice sessions and VT Study Day teaching. The descriptive analysis of the training partnerships has been previously described.1 The original data were revisited through a constant comparative analysis of the interview transcripts and observation notes.Results The influence of training expertise is identified and discussed as is the VDP view of the trainer as a role model. Attributes of training expertise are highlighted and presented as a guiding path for new/inexpert trainers.Conclusion The training expertise of a trainer has a significant influence on the VT experience for both trainer and VDP. Expertise has the potential to be harnessed and used to good effect in VT.

Dental vocational training: some aspects of the selection process in the South East of England

Aim To explore aspects of the dental vocational training (VT) selection process.Participants Thirty-five vocational dental practitioners (VDPs) and each of their trainers. The descriptive analysis of the VT year as experienced by these subjects has been previously described.Design Using a semi-structured interview format, the participants were interviewed once the prospective VDPs had secured a VT position. The interview transcript data were subject to a constant comparative analysis and a model of the typical selection experience was developed.Results The selection experience of the partnership that best fits the model is presented and where appropriate this is compared to the other VT partnerships. VDPs favoured practices close to their homes. A degree of formality within a pleasant atmosphere would result in an offer being accepted. For the trainer, again a local applicant was favoured, but above all else the prospective VDP had to fit into the practice team.Conclusion The VT selection experience is not an easy one for VDPs – neither is it for trainers. The more effort participants put into the selection process, the more they are likely to achieve what they want. This is true not only for prospective VDPs finding a practice of their choice, but also for trainers finding a VDP who will become a successful member of the team.

Do high tuition fees make a difference? Characteristics of applicants to UK medical and dental schools before and after the introduction of high tuition fees in 2012

Aim To compare trends in the volume, socio-demography and academic experience of UK applicants and entrants to medicine and dentistry in the UK with university in general, before and after the major increase in university fees in England in 2012.Methods Descriptive trend analyses of University and College Admissions Services (UCAS) data for focused (preferred subject was medicine or dentistry) and accepted applicants, 2010-14, compared with university in general in relation to socio-demography (age, sex, ethnicity, POLAR 2, region) and academic experience (school type). POLAR2 data provide an indication of the likelihood of young people in the area participating in further or higher education.Results In 2012 the volume of applicants to medicine and dentistry fell by 2.4% and 7.8% respectively, compared with 6.6% for university overall. Medical applications remained buoyant and by 2014 had risen by 10.2% from 2010 to 23,365. While dental applications fell in both 2012 and 2013, they had increased by 15.6% to 3,410 in 2014, above 2010 levels. Females formed the majority of applicants, and admissions, with the proportion gaining admission to dentistry in 2014 reaching an all-time high (64%), exceeding medicine (56%), and university in general (56%). Mature admissions to dentistry were at their highest in 2010 (29%) falling to 21% in 2014, compared with 22-24% in medicine. Black and minority ethnic group admissions to university, although rising (24% in 2014), are still less than for medicine (34%) and dentistry (48%). In 2013, just over half of the students admitted to dentistry were from BME groups (51%) for dentistry. Among UK applicants <19 years, over 60% of applicants, and 70% of accepted applicants, to medicine and dentistry are from the top two POLAR2 quintiles representing areas of high participation in education; however, in 2014 there was a notable increase in the proportion of applications from the lower two quintiles to dentistry (19%) and medicine (20%), with a very modest increase in those gaining admission over 2012 (14% of both; cf 10% and 12% respectively).Discussion The findings suggest that the short-term impact of the 2012 rise in fees had a greater influence on the volume and nature of applicants to dentistry than medicine, and that both programmes are gaining in popularity, despite high fees and reduced places. Dentistry remains particularly attractive to Asians, and females, the latter forming an increasing majority of students. While there is some recovery, social inequalities exist and present a challenge for widening participation in the professions.