On Becoming an Education Professional: A Psychosocial Exploration of Developing an Education Professional Practice

Alan Bainbridge

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781137566287
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Educational Psychology

This book draws together a variety of detailed case studies to demonstrate the unique interaction between the past and the present which occurs within the professional education context. Using a psychosocial approach, Alan Bainbridge suggests that this process of identity or role formation requires the expectations and fantasies of the past to be negotiated at the unconscious, individual and social level. A focus on personal agency and dealing with the complexity inherent in education settings highlights the macro and micro negotiations new education professionals are required to undertake between the margins of the personal and professional to provide a more nuanced model for early professional development.

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Developing an Education Professional Practice: Four Common Experiences

Abstract: This chapter makes the case that due to a shared commonality situated in early experiences of education settings, developing an education professional practice is potentially unique to most other professions. Having already experienced being ‘in education’, evokes memories, felt and thought, of past classroom experiences which collide within early negotiations to develop the role of an education professional. Beginning education professionals are seen: to have career pathways are associated with earlier life experiences, reject professional knowledge in favour of practical experience and benefit from reflective activities that reveal the tension between personal and professional understandings of educational practices.

Keywords: Career pathway; education professional; professional knowledge; professional practice

Bainbridge, Alan. On Becoming an Education Professional: A Psychosocial Exploration of Developing an Education Professional Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. DOI: 10.1057/9781137566287.0004.

Introduction

This chapter reviews the literature relating to developing an education-based professional practice and the associated psychosocial processes that are involved. It will be argued that the process of becoming an education professional deserves special consideration due to the ubiquitous nature of education. Notwithstanding exceptional circumstances, most individuals will have experienced some form of educational setting and therefore have a personal awareness of an objective reality, the structures and process, that define these institutions. Consequently, those who choose to join the education profession will, unlike, for example, bankers, police and social workers, have considerable previous novice expectations as to what the role is like and what would be expected of them. The literature accessed to investigate this potentially unique arena of professional development will initially review findings from educational research on (mainly) teacher training.

The first section of this chapter, ‘Developing an education professional practice’, reviews four decades of research on the training and development of teachers and indicates the existence of four common experiences:

1Career pathways are associated with earlier life experiences.

2Professional knowledge is rejected.

3Practical experience is favoured.

4Reflective activity reveals a tension between personal and professional understandings of educational practices.

The literature chosen to inform this research provides a four decade review of an extensive, complex and varied body of work. Each of the main research articles provides a meta-analysis and serves to frame the following discussion on the process of becoming an education professional. For example, Fuller and Brown (1975) consider the sequential stages of development encountered by ‘beginning teachers’. Kagan (1992) includes both pre-service and beginning teachers and discusses ‘professional growth’ that includes experiences beyond obtaining initial qualification. Wideen et al. (1998) reviewed research on ‘learning how to teach’ from a higher education perspective and as such provide useful insight into the theory/practice debate. Cameron and Baker (2004) provide a comprehensive study of ‘Initial Teacher Training’ in New Zealand and helpfully, offer an international perspective and develop the work of Wideen et al. (1998). Korthagen et al. (2006) review the process of teacher education in three countries and put forward suggestions for education professional practice that are common to all. Finally, Webster-Wright’s (2009) evaluation of ‘professional development’ is considered as this offers a perspective beyond the very early years of professional practice.

It may, at first, appear to be incongruent with the participants in this research programme who are not all teachers and none of whom are following traditional HE routes, that the majority of literature is based on ‘traditional’ higher education undergraduate or postgraduate teacher qualification perspectives. However, the rationale for the choice is both pragmatic and theoretical, as there is as yet no established longitudinal review of research for ‘non-traditional’ approaches to developing a professional practice in an education setting. Although Lai and Grossman (2008) do look at alternative approaches, their focus is very much on policy and quality control. Furthermore, the precise details of courses or programmes are not required; as the focus is on the process of ‘becoming a professional’ where individual subjectivities encounter professional practice.

An analysis of the individual research reviews outlined above sought to identify commonalities of experience, as it is proposed that such generalities have more potential to represent widespread and valid experiences of becoming a professional. Four common experiences, the first theme relates to (1) clearly identifiable patterns of career development that, in turn, draw attention to two further themes; (2) how early professionals respond to professional knowledge; and (3) how practical experience is encountered and negotiated. The fourth relates to a lack of experience, identifying the need to develop a reflective practice that can provide an opportunity to consider the impact of personal experience on professional practice. The first area of discussion will look at the chronology of early career patterns and later professional growth.

Career pathways and earlier life experiences

Fuller and Brown (1975) identify three stages of teacher career development. The first involved being concerned with the self, their immediate experiences and the early idealised notions that were held about being a teacher. During the second stage the focus shifted to an apprehension about professional competency relating to teaching processes and classroom control. And the final stage, which they acknowledged that few practitioners reach, that included a wider search for knowledge that would enable their practice to progress beyond earlier professional learning. Similar stages have been reported by Kagan (1992); Darling-Hammond (2000) and Webster-Wright (2009) who all recognise that these stages span many years with Darling-Hammond suggesting that five year degree courses may be necessary to enable a successful professional practice to be developed. Huberman (1995) suggested that despite a wide variety of experiences, it was possible to identify commonalities within teacher career pathways and related these to how the beginning career was experienced. He suggested the existence of two possible starting positions which were ‘easy’ or ‘painful’, followed by periods of assessment and stabilisation before it was considered that the new professional had developed and defined their own professional practice. Huberman also noted how early experiences had an impact on these initial career pathways and suggested that those from larger families or who had been involved in children’s group activities, either as a child or adult, were less likely to experience painful beginnings.

Interaction with and rejection of professional knowledge

The second theme that is universally reported highlights the unwillingness for new education professionals to consider the knowledge base of their profession. Such an activity is rejected in favour of gaining practical experience (Baker and McNeight, 2000; Fuller and Brown, 1975). Webster-Wright (2009) questions what happens to the knowledge base ‘found out’ by academic research and highlights that it is noticeably missing from government policy documents and therefore unlikely to have an impact on practice.

Other authors (McEwan, 1995 and Britzman, 1998, 2003) make the bold claim that there is actually no consensus as to what knowledge education has a claim on and indeed, those in education, may even have lost the ability to think about this slippery knowledge. Britzman (2003) draws attention to the difficulties around dealing with new knowledge in relation to what is already known. Her insight is compelling and enlightening and will be considered in more detail later in relation to psychodynamic processes, but for the present stage of the discussion what she insinuates has some resonance. This difficulty with knowledge could account for the continued theory/practice debate and an unwillingness to include research findings into policy. While this situation may provide a confusing foundation for research centred mainly on teaching, it is exacerbated in relation to non-teaching professionals such as teaching assistants (TAs). Mansaray (2006) (herself a TA) reports that few settings know what to do with TAs and that their roles are ill defined and little understood, so for this group of new professionals the terrain could be even less clear.

Despite what can be seen as a confused understanding of what professional knowledge is appropriate, each of the main research reviews record that the dominant mode of delivery is still the ‘traditional’ transmission of ‘approved’ knowledge. Such approaches are agreed to tend towards the ‘training’ of professionals rather than providing an education. Johnson and Golombek (2002) argue that the transmission of knowledge diminishes and marginalises those being trained by ignoring what each individual brings to their new (professional) experiences. While Fenwick and Edwards (2010), highlight the increased globalisation of professional knowledge in the form of standards and competencies and claim that these seek to control practice – but from a distance. The impact of these and the associated monitoring are argued to produce conformity of practice and reduce the possibilities for local decision making. However, Lawry and Tedder (2009) do suggest that this ‘closing down’ need not happen if those involved have sufficient agency.

There is an assumption that all trainees start from the same knowledge base (Ritchie and Wilson, 2000) and Korthagen et al. (2006) doubt whether it is possible to ‘bestow’ professional knowledge. For Segall (2001) this is a worrying situation as it tends towards preserving the old established knowledge and prevents new ideas from emerging. This is the main issue for Felman (1982), who asserts that the content of knowledge for teachers is less important than developing their own disposition to learn. The commonality here is the lack of ability or confidence within the academy, profession or government bodies, to discuss or define a canon of suitable knowledge, alongside the accompanying disappointment that the knowledge and experience of those entering education professions is not fully recognised. Certainly all the reviews indicate that new professionals are far less concerned with knowledge than they are practical skills and this may indeed also be reflected by government policy.

Favouring a situated practical experience

Most literature recognises the centrality of what can be referred to as ‘situated practical experience’ (SPE) and often regard this as more influential than the encounter with professional knowledge. One of the fundamental themes that emerge is the paradoxical notion that working in education settings is so complex that this can only realistically be recognised by working in the setting. The need to understanding the complex working worlds of education settings is recognised by Kagan (1992), Wideen et al. (1998), Darling-Hammond (2000), Cameron and Baker (2004), Korthagen et al. (2006) and Webster-Wright (2009). Cameron and Baker (2004) consider the SPE itself to be multi-faceted and potentially out of control and Wideen et al. (1998) welcome the opportunity it provides to consider the ‘ecology’ – the complex inter-relatedness of educational settings. Kagan (1992) makes it clear how student teachers regard the learning of skills during their SPE as far more vital than considering theory as they focus on classroom control and their own teaching performance (see also Fuller and Brown, 1975). Numerous authors (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Cameron and Baker, 2004 and Webster-Wright, 2009) raise the topic of gaining experience both with and from supportive colleagues in the settings. In fact Darling-Hammond (2000) regards those schools that focus on professional development as successful schools and Webster-Wright (2009) sees an engagement with real life problems in relation to small interventions within the setting as being the source of significant professional learning.

Reflecting on the past and present: a personal/professional encounter

The need to encourage reflection is the fourth experience on which each of the major research reviews can be seen to reach a consensus. The role of reflection during the development of professional practice focuses on the ability of the new professional to evaluate their performance in light of the present experience and critically, to be able to consider new courses of action. Webster-Wright (2009) and Kagan (1992) understand this as the need to challenge existing assumptions, views and beliefs and to develop a capacity to inquire and to go beyond the present thinking (Darling-Hammond, 2000). Korthagen et al. (2006) advocate formalising this process and encourage student teachers to become more involved in active research. It is worthy of note that most of the main review authors (Cameron and Baker, 2004; Darling-Hammond, 2000; Kagan, 1992; Webster-Wright, 2009 and Wideen et al., 1998) consider the process of reflection as far more problematic than it may at first seem to be. Their contention is that in order to be reflective and consider new possibilities it is necessary that individuals recognise their own viewpoints and are able to acknowledge and adapt these if necessary in the light of their new experiences (see also Miller, 2004; Moen et al., 2003; Ovens, 2009; Price, 2000). Vitally, what an overwhelming majority of the research shows, is how previously held beliefs and views are tenaciously held onto despite subsequent new experiences in education settings.

Cameron and Baker (2004) question with some justified pessimism whether, due to the complexity, SPE can become a site for real professional learning but do recognise that it is during these encounters that new professionals interact initially with the working environment. Therefore, it is the first time that their personal life meets with the potential of a new professional life and in turn the two become combined mutually as their professional practice is developed. The personal nature of this encounter makes the experience distinctive and important. Connelly and Clandinin (1988) refer to how this situation has the effect of ‘pulling out’ what they define as personal practical knowledge by which they mean that the practical skills employed are determined in conjunction with the personal experiences that have been brought to the present professional situation. Likewise, Lortie (2002, p. 61) refers to this as ‘the apprenticeship of observation’. This is the very heart of a SPE, as the present experience is essentially a practical one that is concerned with ‘doing what a professional should be doing’. At this early stage it is situated within what the student brings from their past, and what experience and advice they receive in the present. Jalongo and Isenberg (1995) note that it is only possible to build on what is already known and so it should be no surprise that the responses during the SPE are correlated to past experiences. The career pathway research findings already go some way to confirming this, as Huberman (1995) noted how the easy or painful beginning pathways could be related to earlier life experiences.

The continuity of building on past experience is the underlying fundamental process to developing a professional practice. Brookfield (1995), Bennet (1996), Clandinin and Connelly (2000), Jones (2003) and Riley (2009) see SPE as a social encounter where new professional knowledge and skills can be developed. But McGee et al. (1994), Craig (1995) and Britzman et al. (1997) offer a word of warning and suggest that new practices may not be developed. Instead, the social nature of the experience may lead to the compliance and acceptance of existing practices, as students either compromise their views to avoid being isolated within the new work force or to seek approval from mentors and tutors.

The process of becoming a new professional is beginning to be seen as increasingly complex. It is not sufficient to simply ‘transfer’ the knowledge and skills of a professional practice. The interactions within the SPE are such that individual past experience and dispositions need to be considered. Loughran (2007) provides a persuasive justification to move into more complex territory and notes that:

in teaching teaching, there is a pressing need for teacher educators to be able to bring to the surface the reactions, responses, decisions and moves that influence and shape their learning during teaching ... it matters if students of teaching are to see beyond the superficial and to engage with practice in more nuanced and sophisticated ways. (p. 2)

To ‘see beyond the superficial’ requires a reflexive stance that enables the influence of the past to be considered in the present. Crucially, the social nature of this process cannot be ignored as the individuals already operating within this professional practice will have an impact on how newcomers negotiate their developing professional practice.

A United Kingdom perspective

The four themes, identified from international research reviews, can similarly be seen in recent UK-based research on early teacher career or professional development (see Hartley and Whitehead, 2006 for an extensive overview) and confirm their ubiquity and application within this account. The impact of past lives on career pathways has been shown by Avis (2005), Day et al. (2006, 2007), Goodson (2003) and Goodson and Sikes (2001). Each author has indicated how knowledge of life history is relevant to understanding how individual careers may develop and in particular how lives, both personal and professional, are affected by wider social influences and personal relationships. Adey et al. (2004), Beck et al. (2005), Eraut, (2000) and Furlong (2000) verify the difficult interaction with professional knowledge. They question the value of prescri...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Introduction
• 1  Developing an Education Professional Practice: Four Common Experiences
• 2  When the Personal Encounters the Professional: A Psychoanalytic Perspective
• 3  Collecting Narratives of a New Education Professional Practice
• 4  Stories of Resistance and Challenge: Developing Education Biographies
• 5  Being Agents in Education: Case Studies
• 6  Bringing the Past into the Present: Formative Interviews
• 7  Stories of Hope and Holding
• 8  Encountering Education at Three Levels: Social, Individual and Unconscious
• 9  Developing a Professional Identity: Negotiating the Borders of Professional Practice
• 10  Reasons to Be Cheerful: Embracing Anxiety in Education
• Bibliography
• Index