Sheila Stark

Towards an uncertain politics of professionalism: teacher and nurse identities in flux

This paper is about the nature of contemporary professional identity. It looks at the ways in which ‘discursive dynamics’ come to re-write the professional teacher and nurse as split, plural and conflictual selves, as they seek to come to terms with a political impetus written through what the authors term an ‘economy of performance’ in uncertain conflict with various ‘ecologies of practice’. The teacher and nurse are thus located in a complicated nexus between policy, ideology and practice. Epistemologically, the paper offers a deconstruction of professional identities, and criticizes the reductive typologies and characterizations of current professionalism. Politically, it reaches towards a more nuanced account of professional identities, stressing the local, situated and indeterminable nature of professional practice, and the inescapable dimensions of trust, diversity and creativity.

Using Action Learning for Professional Development.

This paper discusses using action learning with different professional groups in the UK—nurses and educators. It addresses the question: To what extent is action learning an effective approach in relation to professional development, and, if so, in what way/s? The formulation and developmental processes of action learning sets are examined. The paper provides examples of the professional and personal development of these individuals as a result of experiencing the action learning process, as well as some positive impacts (outcomes) they achieved at an organisational level. It is also argued, however, that current tensions and challenges within professional groupings, cultures and contexts can impede action learning and, hence, have a negative impact on professional development. For example, political agendas and the psychodynamics of organisational life were found to hinder, or discourage, the learning process, i.e. the likelihood of bringing about change, in favour of maintaining the status quo for the individuals themselves and within their organisational structures.

Project 2000 student wastage: A case study

High wastage rates associated with the nursing profession were a contributory factor driving recent reforms in the form of Project 2000 (P2000). Such changes beg the question: to what extent has this new educational initiative affected current wastage patterns among nursing students? This paper examines whether or not this new initiative is having an effect on student wastage at a first-wave college of nursing, midwifery and health visiting which implemented P2000 in 1989. Thus far, 10 cohorts of students have been admitted on to the course, seven full-time and three part-time. It is hoped other institutions involved in nurse education and training may gain some beneficial insights from the lessons learnt and measures taken to stem wastage at the college described in this case study.

‘Connecting’ the Distance: relational issues for participants in a distance learning programme

Abstract This article explores the relational expectations of distance learning students and tutors. The authors’ experiences teaching a degree course to mature students (mainly practitioners working for the National Health Service) highlight that the reality of the relationship is often incongruent with the expectations. This incongruence appears to have a negative effect on the learning process. In order to develop a more effective distance learning programme the authors explored the experiences and needs of the students, via a series of focus groups and conversations. What emerged as being significant was the need for students to experience ‘connectedness’ with the tutor. How the students defined this concept and what practical measures the tutors took to ‘connect’ the distance between participants in the learning process are discussed.

Sex, science and educational research: the unholy trinity

This article examines the states contemporary construction of ‘sex’ as an educational problem in England. It does so by interrogating the notion of the ‘pregnant teenager’ as it is semantically and statistically constructed in accountability discourses, as well as research constrained within them. It then examines certain features of an exemplary solution to the problem, as proffered by one of the largest contemporary research projects into sex education in the United Kingdom (the RIPPLE project). A critique is offered of the ‘scientific’ nature of some of these findings. The authors claim conclusions to be undermined by statistical and rhetorical gerrymandering, a prejudicial rendering of pupil ‘voice’, and an underlying reductionism. The article concludes that many of the features of such current problem‐constructing and solution‐rendering can be characterised as a false invocation of ‘Science’, and that their conjunction fuels an enduring infantilisation of educational discourses about sex and sex education.