Russell Sawa

Violence and Subjectivity in Teacher Education

Caught between the demands of the normative (what they believe they ought to be and value) and normalisation (what professional others tell them that they should be and value), teacher candidates often experience themselves as belated even though they are newcomers to the profession—simultaneously heirs to a history and new to it. In this paper we illustrate and explore the tensions that result between ‘new’ and ‘old’ in teacher education. Drawing on Lyotards concept of the différend, we examine the narratives of a practicum triad—one student teacher and his two mentors—as they each attempt to make sense of their irreconcilable differences. We conclude by discussing how the profession might fulfill its obligation to judge the adequacy of new teachers while remaining hospitable to the difference they introduce.

Virginia: A Story of Conflict in Social Work Field Education

This article considers the case of Virginia, a social work practicum student who experienced conflict in her field placement, in light of Heilbruns notion of liminality—that is, being poised on uncertain ground, leaving one condition or self and entering another. In addition, Virginias experience is explored within the complex web of power and resistance that characterized her relationship with the field instructor, the agency director, and the school.This article considers the case of Virginia, a social work practicum student who experienced conflict in her field placement, in light of Heilbruns notion of liminality—that is, being poised on uncertain ground, leaving one condition or self and entering another. In addition, Virginias experience is explored within the complex web of power and resistance that characterized her relationship with the field instructor, the agency director, and the school.

Falls the shadow and the light: liminality and natality in social work field education

This article is situated within an experience of conflict for Tina, a social work student, who is caught between her beliefs about the virtues of social work practice, and her disillusioning encounter with the schools administration. In this paper, we interpret Tinas experience of conflict by drawing on the central concepts of liminality and natality, and how she moves through disillusionment to illumination, thereby generating new self-understandings and meanings of social work practice. We conclude with the pedagogical implications for students, and educators, and that as messy and complex as the liminal is, it is also vital to the creation of new understandings and regeneration of meaning in professional education.

Spirituality and health: Reflections upon clinical experience and the development of theory about whole person health care from a Lonergan perspective

This article derives theory from reflection on experience of clinical situations encountered in the doctor-patient relationship. Using the cognitional theory of Bernard Lonergan, the author theorizes about the nature of paranormal and spiritual phenomena experienced by his patients. The reader is invited to attend to the data presented, note the questions which arise in their consciousness from the data, and derive possible hypotheses which might explain the data. From this activity the reader is further invited to determine whether there is enough evidence to judge that spiritual and paranormal phenomena exist in the real world. This activity begins to lay a foundation for whole person health care which is inclusive of spirituality and complementary and alternative approaches to healing.

The anatomy and physiology of conflict in medical education: a doorway to diagnosing the health of medical education systems.

This qualitative study uses data from students, teachers and administrators to deepen our understanding of conflict in medical education, its nature and its consequences. It especially looks at systemic issues which may foster or hinder the health of an educational system or of any organization. Its intention is to provide better understanding of the medical education system so that this knowledge can be used to enhance the health of future medical education systems. It is preliminary to a study that would focus on ways of improving the healthiness of future systems. The findings underline the importance of moral education in the training of our future physicians (McWhinney, ). The importance of example by faculty and staff and moral development of the physician flows from the authors’ data and their interpretation of its meaning. Also, it further underlines the importance of faculty and medical educators modeling both caring and exemplary moral behavior within our educational institutions. Bandura (1986) developed the notion of modeling and showed that, ‘even at a preconscious level, we learn moral behaviors through observing and imitating authority figures and/or significant others’ (Crysdale, 2006). This is especially important because caring, or compassionate presence, is so essential to healing.