In our professorship 'Learning Strategies' of the Fontys Secondary Teacher Training College Tilburg, we stress the importance of practitioner research for the professional development of teachers. To investigate our own beliefs, we started a project in which teachers learned to do practitioner research in their own schools. There were two questions we were interested in: 1) Which elements of the program are suitable to help teachers to learn do their own practitioner research? 2) What knowledge do teachers create in doing practitioner research? Several authors mention the benefits of practitioner research performed by teachers (Loughran et al, 2004; Zeichner & Noffke, 2001; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999; Cochran-Smith, 2005; Huberman, 2002; Anderson & Herr , 1999; Robson, 1993, 2002; Onstenk, Kallenberg & Koster, 2007). Doing their own research would increase their professionalism as teacher. Although the relevance of practitioner research is stressed by many authors, not many teachers in the Netherlands are already actively doing practitioner research. Among other causes, the lack of experience in how to do practitioner research might be a barrier. We developed a program for teacher practitioner research, consisting of seven group sessions. In each session, attention was paid to theoretical backgrounds (formulation of a research question, choosing methods, obtaining and analyzing data, reporting on the findings) and to practical implications (participating teachers were advised by each other and by the supervisor). Most teachers worked together in a couple on their research project. The supervisor kept notes about difficulties and experiences of the teachers during the process and interviewed the teachers after they finished their research project. The answers to our research questions are: 1) The theoretical parts of the program were necessary for teachers to obtain knowledge about the (systematic) approach of research. The practical help of the supervisor was crucial during the process as the teachers were insecure about applying their newly obtained research knowledge in practice and needed help to do so. 2) Teachers obtained knowledge about performing practitioner research as well as knowledge about the problem they investigated in their school practice. Furthermore, they mention personal benefits such as 'another look at my profession', 'renewed motivation' and 'new insights'.
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De theorie-praktijk kloof is al menige jaren onderwerp van discussie zowel in de literatuur als op de werkvloer, in Nederland en in het buitenland. Sinds het beëindigen van de in-service opleiding voor verpleegkundigen in de jaren '90 lijkt de discussie alleen maar toegenomen te zijn. Met het herontwerpen van haar curriculum heeft Fontys Hogeschool Verpleegkunde getracht expliciet aandacht te besteden aan de zogenoemde theorie-praktijk kloof. De noodzaak hiervoor werd bevestigd gedurende studiedagen in 2004 waarbij Fontys Hogeschool Verpleegkunde contact had met partners vanuit de praktijkinstellingen. Naast een grondige herziening van het 'bachelor' curriculum werd besloten om, onder leiding van het lectoraat 'Implementeren en Evalueren van Evidence Based Practice', een (nieuwe) rol te ontwikkelen middels actieonderzoek, die de interactie tussen theorie en praktijk zal moeten gaan bevorderen: de rol van Lecturer-Practitioner (LP). Als leden van de experimentgroep, werkzaam zowel in onderwijs -als praktijk instelling, beschrijven de auteurs van dit artikel de LP rol op basis van buitenlandse literatuur en vanuit eigen ervaringen. Zodoende hopen zij een constructieve discussie te openen over deze (voor Nederland) nieuwe rol.
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Stimulating patients to approach their pain from a biopsychosocial perspective is central to chronic pain rehabilitation. However, conversations between patients and their healthcare professionals about the social and psychological factors that may contribute to the continuation of pain and disability can be challenging. The current scientific literature does not sufficiently pinpoint the difficulties in patient–practitioner interaction on chronic pain, and it falls short of answering the question of how a joint exploration of the social and psychological factors that might be involved in the patient’s pain and evolving disability can be enhanced. In this theoretical article, we introduce discursive psychology as a potentially valuable research perspective to gain a better understanding of the difficulties in patient–practitioner interaction in the context of chronic pain rehabilitation. Discursive psychology focuses on features of people’s talk (e.g. that of patients and practitioners) and is concerned with the social practices that people perform as part of a specific interactional context. In this paper, we provide an introduction to the main theoretical notions of discursive psychology. We illustrate how discursive psychological analyses can inform our understanding of the specific sensitivities in conversations between patients with chronic pain and their practitioners. Finally, we address how a better understanding of these sensitivities offers a gateway towards improving these conversations. Een belangrijk principe in revalidatie bij chronische pijn is de benadering van de pijn vanuit een biopsychosociaal perspectief. Het blijkt echter een uitdaging voor patiënten en behandelaars om de sociale en psychologische factoren die een rol spelen bij chronische pijn te bespreken. In de huidige wetenschappelijke literatuur is hier nog niet voldoende aandacht voor; en wordt geen perspectief geboden voor verbetering van de gezamenlijke verkenning van sociale en psychologische factoren. In dit theoretische artikel introduceren we discursieve psychologie als een mogelijk waardevol onderzoeksperspectief om een beter begrip tot stand te brengen van de complexiteit van interactie in de context van chronische pijn revalidatie. Discursieve psychologie richt zich op kenmerken van interactie, in het bijzonder de sociale praktijken die tot stand worden gebracht binnen een specifieke interactionele context. We beschrijven de belangrijkste theoretische principes van discursieve psychologie en illustreren hoe een DP analyse licht kan werpen op de specifieke gevoeligheden in conversaties tussen patiënten met chronische pijn en hun behandelaars. Tot slot bespreken we hoe een beter begrip van deze gevoeligheden een ingang biedt tot het verbeteren van deze conversaties.
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Deze casestudie geeft inzicht in verschillende soorten kennis die kenmerkend zijn voor applied design research. Er wordt onderscheid gemaakt tussen kennis over de huidige situatie, over wenselijke alternatieven en over effectieve oplossingen om daar te komen. Ofwel, kennis hoe het is, kennis over hoe het kan zijn en kennis over hoe het zal zijn als we effectieve oplossingen toepassen. Elk van deze soorten kennis heeft andere kwaliteitscriteria.
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Despite the growing interest in and literature regarding practitioner research in human resources (HR), not much is known about the factors that play a role in the actual practice by HR practitioners. This article describes an explorative study to gain empirical insight into the use and quality of practitioner research in HR practice. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 21 Dutch HR practitioners from diverse backgrounds, posing questions about (1) their definitions of practitioner research, (2) the characteristics of the research they perform, (3) the quality and usability of the research projects in which they have taken part, and (4) the forces that drive or hinder practitioner research. We constructed theory-based coding schemes to analyse the data. To assess the quality and usability of the research performed by participants, we constructed a quality framework. Our findings show that all participants were more or less involved in HR-related practitioner research, but the quality and usability of that research could be improved. We report several causes and influencing factors. Our findings complement previous research on evidence-based HR and other practitioner research approaches and provide new insights. Based on our findings, we discuss implications for further research and practice
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At the Teacher Education Institute of Fontys University of Applied Sciences, all student teachers have to do practitioner research as a part of their study programme. They are supervised in this process by teacher educators. The supervising teacher educators discuss the quality of student teacher practitioner research at several formal occasions. Some supervisors for example have recently been formally assessed as supervisors of student teacher practitioner research on the basis of an interview and a portfolio. In this portfolio they not only address their supervision skills but also reflect on the quality of student teacher practitioner research. Some supervisors also participate in a discussion group with colleagues of other Dutch Teacher Education Institutes with the intention to ascertain transcendental quality criteria. We will analyse opinions of our colleagues about the quality of student teacher practitioner research and thereby answer the following research questions: 1. What comprises ‘good’ student teacher practitioner research according to supervisors of research projects? 2. How do opinions about ‘good’ student teacher practitioner research of supervisors relate to their conceptions of the aims and nature of student teacher practitioner research?
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Binnen twee zorginnovatiecentra in de ouderenzorg wordt op bijzondere wijze theoretische en praktische kennis geïntegreerd. Lecturer practitioners ondersteunen deze integratie van meerdere kennisbronnen. In dit artikel wordt ingegaan op de context en inhoud van de rol van de Lecturer Practitioner en wordt aan de hand van enkele praktijkvoorbeelden geïllustreerd hoe kennisbronnen geïntegreerd worden.
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Over the last two decades, institutions for higher education such as universities and colleges have rapidly expanded and as a result have experienced profound changes in processes of research and organization. However, the rapid expansion and change has fuelled concerns about issues such as educators' technology professional development. Despite the educational value of emerging technologies in schools, the introduction has not yet enjoyed much success. Effective use of information and communication technologies requires a substantial change in pedagogical practice. Traditional training and learning approaches cannot cope with the rising demand on educators to make use of innovative technologies in their teaching. As a result, educational institutions as well as the public are more and more aware of the need for adequate technology professional development. The focus of this paper is to look at action research as a qualitative research methodology for studying technology professional development in HE in order to improve teaching and learning with ICTs at the tertiary level. The data discussed in this paper have been drawn from a cross institutional setting at Fontys University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands. The data were collected and analysed according to a qualitative approach.
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