A boundary is a metaphor for an experience of discontinuity wherein a socio-cultural difference is perceived as a challenge or obstacle in action or interaction. This case study explores eight student teachers’ perceptions of boundaries during an international teaching internship to identify where experiences of professional learning originate. We found four types of boundary experiences related to discontinuity: (1) existing pedagogical approaches, (2) personal aspects, (3) a specific school type or culture, and (4) the world outside the classroom. Results suggest that the learning potential of experiencing discontinuity resides in situations wherein student teachers’ beliefs are being questioned, thus making the student teacher aware of their implicit beliefs. Student teachers’ attempts to reposition themselves while experiencing discontinuity resulted in questioning their existing ways of thinking and acting. Everyday teaching approaches were no longer always taken for granted, thus opening alternate perspectives. In this study, student teacher experiences of discontinuity had various dimensions (cultural, professional, and personal), which also determined their learning potential.
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This case study explored examples of pre-service teachers’ learning when experiencing discontinuity and (re)positioning themselves in various professional communities and cultures during an international teaching internship. Pre-service teachers’ experiences of discontinuity were defined as boundary experiences, when challenging or problematic socio-cultural differences significantly influenced their (inter)actions. Pre-service teachers’ attempts to (re)position themselves in the unfamiliar professional and cultural contexts are described as a state of continuity and examples of boundary crossing. Learning mechanisms of identification, coordination, reflection and transformation in the theory of boundary crossing were used to analyze 15 boundary experiences. The four learning mechanisms provided insight into how a multi-level approach (including personal, professional and cultural aspects) gives a more nuanced perspective on the dominant adjustment paradigm. The value of a boundary experience for preservice teachers’ learning during an international teaching experience resided mostly in raising awareness of existing, often taken-for-granted, personal and professional beliefs and their ability to switch between cultural and professional perspectives. The 15 boundary experiences in this study suggest that educators could focus more on pre-service teachers’ coping strategies, existential questions and cultural negotiation when they experience discontinuity, in addition to the current focus on learning outcomes, transformations, or cultural fit.
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Coastal and marine cultural heritage (CMCH) is at risk due to its location and its often indefinable value. As these risks are likely to intensify in the future, there is an urgent need to build CMCH resilience. We argue that the current CMCH risk management paradigm narrowly focuses on the present and preservation. This tends to exclude debates about the contested nature of resilience and how it may be achieved beyond a strict preservationist approach. There is a need, therefore, to progress a broader and more dynamic framing of CMCH management that recognises the shift away from strict preservationist approaches and incorporates the complexity of heritage’s socio-political contexts. Drawing on critical cultural heritage literature, we reconceptualise CMCH management by rethinking the temporality of cultural heritage. We argue that cultural heritage may exist in four socio-temporal manifestations (extant, lost, dormant, and potential) and that CMCH management consists of three broad socio-political steering processes (continuity, discontinuity, and transformation). Our reconceptualisation of CMCH management is a first step in countering the presentness trap in CMCH management. It provides a useful conceptual framing through which to understand processes beyond the preservationist approach and raises questions about the contingent and contested nature of CMCH, ethical questions around loss and transformation, and the democratisation of cultural heritage management.
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Educational institutions and vocational practices need to collaborate to design learning environments that meet current-day societal demands and support the development of learners’ vocational competence. Integration of learning experiences across contexts can be facilitated by intentionally structured learning environments at the boundary of school and work. Such learning environments are co-constructed by educational institutions and vocational practices. However, co-construction is challenged by differences between the practices of school and work, which can lead to discontinuities across the school–work boundary. More understanding is needed about the nature of these discontinuities and about design considerations to counterbalance these discontinuities. Studies on the co-construction of learning environments are scarce, especially studies from the perspective of representatives of work practice. Therefore, the present study explores design considerations for co-construction through the lens of vocational practice. The study reveals a variety of discontinuities related to the designable elements of learning environments (i.e. epistemic, spatial, instrumental, temporal, and social elements). The findings help to improve understanding of design strategies for counterbalancing discontinuities at the interpersonal and institutional levels of the learning environment. The findings confirm that work practice has a different orientation than school practice since there is a stronger focus on productivity and on the quality of the services provided. However, various strategies for co-construction also seem to take into account the mutually beneficial learning potential of the school–work boundary.
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This thesis reports on an interpretative case study about student teachers’ and new teachers’ personal interpretations in their teaching practice, during and after an international teaching internship. The main aim of this study was to describe how an international teaching internship interrupts existing, familiar ways of thinking or acting. The findings are an interpretation of how this interruption influences student teachers’ and new teachers’ “personal interpretative frameworks” (Kelchtermans, 2009) during their teacher training programmes and transition from student to teacher. This framework reflects the basis on which a beginning teacher grounds their personal decisions or judgements for action and answers the questions: ‘how can I effectively deal with this particular situation? and ‘why would I work that way?’ (Vanassche & Kelchtermans, 2014, p. 118).
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Peak oxygen uptake (V'O2peak) is recognised as the best expression of aerobic fitness. Therefore, it is essential that V'O2peak reference values are accurate for interpreting a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). These values are country specific and influenced by underlying biological ageing processes. They are normally stratified per paediatric and adult population, resulting in a discontinuity at the transition point between prediction equations. There are currently no age-related reference values available for the lifespan of individuals in the Dutch population. The aim of this study is to determine the best-fitting regression model for V'O2peak in the healthy Dutch paediatric and adult populations in relation to age. In this retrospective study, CPET cycle ergometry results of 4477 subjects without reported somatic diseases were included (907 females, age 7.9-65.0 years). Generalised additive models were employed to determine the best-fitting regression model. Cross-validation was performed against an independent dataset consisting of 3518 subjects (170 females, age 6.8-59.0 years). An additive model was the best fitting with the largest predictive accuracy in both the primary (adjusted R2=0.57, standard error of the estimate (see)=556.50 mL·min-1) and cross-validation (adjusted R2=0.57, see=473.15 mL·min-1) dataset. This study provides a robust additive regression model for V'O2peak in the Dutch population.
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The energy management systems industry in the built environment is currently an important topic. Buildings use about 40% of the total global energy worldwide. Therefore, the energy management system’s sector is one of the most influential sectors to realize changes and transformation of energy use. New data science technologies used in building energy management systems might not only bring many technical challenges, but also they raise significant educational challenges for professionals who work in the field of energy management systems. Learning and educational issues are mainly due to the transformation of professional practices and networks, emerging technologies, and a big shift in how people work, communicate, and share their knowledge across the professional and academic sectors. In this study, we have investigated three different companies active in the building services sector to identify the main motivation and barriers to knowledge adoption, transfer, and exchange between different professionals in the energy management sector and explore the technologies that have been used in this field using the boundary-crossing framework. The results of our study show the importance of understanding professional learning networks in the building services sector. Additionally, the role of learning culture, incentive structure, and technologies behind the educational system of each organization are explained. Boundary-crossing helps to analyze the barriers and challenges in the educational setting and how new educational technologies can be embedded. Based on our results, future studies with a bigger sample and deeper analysis of technologies are needed to have a better understanding of current educational problems.
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As a practitioner, a manager and a scientist in social work for 40 years, I am still intrigued by the social work positioning and legitimating processes. Its recognition by users and financiers is often diffuse and its fragmentation sometimes hinders effective interventions. In social work itself, we see a range of positioning processes, most of them either legitimating social work as a promoter of social justice, a supporter of emancipation and anti-oppressive practice, or positioning social work as a therapeutic approach, treating people with socio-psychological and psychiatric disorders. Social work is often promoted as a ‘real’ profession, in need of formal recognition and in need of a precise profile. In this article it will be argued that the core of social work is about supporting people in their social functioning and should position itself in the centre of the post-modern quest: the social-psychological disorientation, the lack of meaning, and the problems of isolation and exclusion. Modern professionalism is not about demarcating and regulating but much more about ‘Entgrenzung’ and openness.
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The sources of productivity have always been the main subject of economic debate because they are the main determinants of profitability and competitiveness. In order to improve productivity we should be able to identify the sources of productivity. This article presents a method for measuring the sources of knowledge productivity in order to give direction to knowledge management initiatives. The method is based on a theoretical framework which combines two different perspectives (economic and process) on knowledge productivity. This article presents the methodological and theoretical framework, the initial design of the method and the results of the first two case studies. The relevance of this article is that it combines the concepts of knowledge management and intellectual capital measurement in the relatively new concept of knowledge productivity.
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Huidige inburgeringscursussen zijn meestal gericht op taal en kennis en houden geen rekening met de complexe inspanningen die migranten moeten leveren om een nieuw bestaan op te bouwen in een vreemde samenleving. Sinds 2002 onderzoekt en ontwikkel ik samen met Vantrood Educational Services methoden voor psychosociale volwassenenonderwijs, toegespitst op een dubbele context benadering: de ontvangende samenleving, evenals de volwassen lerende migrant. In dit Position paper beschrijven we de theoretisch gefundeerde principes van deze effectieve pedagogische aanpak en bespreken we veronderstellingen van volwassenenonderwijs en inburgering om hiermee een constructieve bijdrage te leveren aan de doorontwikkeling van inburgeringscursussen.
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