Inaugural lecture, delivered upon public acceptance of the endowed professorship in Professionalisation of Nursing and Care in Elderly Care by Prof. Dr. Robbert J.J. Gobbens at Tilburg University on 29 September 2023.
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Exploring Practical Knowledge investigates professional practices from a hermeneutic perspective. The book presents, discusses and applies notions such as practical knowledge, practical wisdom, tacit knowledge, and normativity to the professional lifeworld. These contributions focus on both specific practices and more general questions concerning theories and investigations of practice. This volume comes as the result of a cooperation of three research centres: The two Centres for Practical Knowledge in Bodø, Norway and in Södertörn, Sweden, as well as the Research Group Value-Oriented Professionalisation at the University of Applied Sciences in Utrecht, the Netherlands. It offers empirical studies of professionals as well as discussing the underlying theories, approaches and methods of exploring practical knowledge – including the limits to any articulation of these aspects of professional action. In contrast to the objectivist paradigm that otherwise dominates professional studies, each chapter presents central perspectives and possibilities drawing from humanistic and interdisciplinary research traditions. The book explores professions in a style accessible to scholars and practitioners alike. It is interesting for those studying practices within these professions and for vocational studies in education, social work, health care, police work, journalism, etc.
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In this chapter, we present a perspective on the professionalisation of students in higher vocational education, which relates their life orientation to professional and societal values and beliefs. In a teaching programme at HU UAS Utrecht, inspired by Biesta’s notion of a pedagogy of interruption, students are prompted to articulate personal answers to philosophical and existential questions about the good life and doing good work, to prepare them for becoming reflective professionals. The concept of life orientation primarily draws on the narrative philosophies of Ricoeur and Taylor. These two philosophers relate ethics to identity, and describe how answers to moral and existential questions are a part of identity formation. Dialogical Self Theory helps us to understand how personal values interfere with professional and societal beliefs. We present two cases about a critical professional situation which bring students to reflection, and show how students’ life orientations influence their professional decisions within different contexts.
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In this chapter we elaborate a hermeneutical perspective on professionalism and professional development in the wide range of professions and vocational trainings, which fall under the concern of a University of Applied Sciences (UAS). In a joint research programme of the HU UAS and Utrecht University we aim to unveil and make visible that professionals are continuously making interpretations simply by doing their jobs. Unavoidably, with these interpretations, subjectivity and normativity comes along, setting a moral agenda in the respective professional fields. We show how the more conceptual and philosophical reflections in the humanities at the Academia, is brought in interaction with professional development, vocational education and practice-oriented research at UAS. After this we walk through a number of recently completed or still ongoing research projects in the wide range of professionals in religious education (RE) via general and vocational education to non-educational professions. We end up with six developments or ‘movements’ that are taking place and that can be useful for a better understanding of complexity in vocational education and professions as such, and the imperative for change that is given by this.
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Although education programmes are constantly being renewed, innovation does not always lead to anchored changes in educational practice. One explanation is that educational innovation evolves more dynamics than often is assumed. Instead of following a well-designed plan, the core activities of innovation leaders hinge on the ability to swiftly identify and interpret situations with which they are confronted. This suggests that the Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous (VUCA) innovation process requires a specific repertoire from innovation leaders, including a better understanding of their internal decision-making processes. In our search for a fitting repertoire, we discovered the capacity for “situational awareness” as a concept to help understand complex situations and to determine very quickly what needs to be done. Additionally, we focus on how innovation leaders make decisions at significant moments during the innovation process in higher education. We describe how our discovery leads to the development of a lens for innovation leaders, with situational awareness as a starting point, and supplemented with the filtering, framing and guiding function of beliefs as steering principles of internal decision making-processes. This allows to gain a better understanding of how the innovation leader identifies critical situations and responds in terms of interpretation and action.
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There are lots of definitions of quality, and also of quality in education. Garvin (1984)discerns five approaches: the transcendental approach, the product-oriented approach, the customeroriented approach, the manufacturing-oriented approach and the value-for-money approach. Harvey and Green (1993) give five interrelated concepts of quality as: exceptional, perfection (or consistency), fitness for purpose, value for money and transformative. A new definition of quality is needed to explain recent quality issues in higher education. This article describes a quality concept with four constituents: object, standard, subject and values. The article elaborates on the values. Four value systems derived from Beck and Cowan (1996) are transformed into four value systems on quality and quality management: control, continuous improvement, commitment and breakthrough. These value systems make it possible to explain some recent developments in quality management in higher education.
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In 2005 and 2006, almost sixty Dutch National Sport Federations (NSFs) participated in a special program for creating a marketing strategy for the next four years. This program was initiated and organized by NOC*NSF (the Dutch Olympic Umbrella Sports Organization). The NSFs had to joint the project to receive funds. For most of them it was the first time they seriously analyzed the market with the aim of developing new programs. The purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent Dutch NSFs are capable to change their structures to become more market oriented and more market responsive in order to write strategic plans. The changed structures are investigated using the "institutional theory" (Tolbert & Zucker, 1996) and are explained by exogenous (market context and institutional context) and endogenous (interests, values, power dependencies, and capacity for action) dynamics from the neo-institutionalist framework (Greenwood & Hinings, 1996). In 2005 NSFs were expected to be in a pre-institutionalized stage, i.e. they were supposed to develop new organizational structures in response to specific problems (Kikulis, 2000). Now, approximately 1½ years after finishing their strategies, the question arises whether they have reached the semi-institutional stage, i.e. whether the new structures or actions are diffused across organizations, yet still subject to change and whether old structures are yet eroding (Kikulis, 2000). Methods Studying the intended structural change of NSFs requires an in-depth study of their social reality and the reactions and interpretations of involved actors, including their applied meanings to certain situations. Greenwood & Hinings (1996) plead for detailed comparative case-studies when studying institutional changes. Therefore three NSFs has been selected: The Royal Dutch Korfball Federation (KorfFed); The Royal Dutch Billiards Federation (BillFed); and the Dutch Jeu de Boules Federation (JeuFed). These three federations differ on size, amount of housed sports, number of associated clubs, sorts of intermediary decision making bodies, employed FTE's, and more. Therefore it is expected that the tempo of institutionalization of the new, market oriented, structures, will differ among them. Sugden & Tomlinson (2002) developed a multi-method style of qualitative research for making sense of the deep, inside information below the surface of everyday life. They call it the "Brighton method. Applying the Brighton method for this research implies that the three cases will be studied with respect to their history, their present marketing actions, their results and the changes in their organization. In-depth interviews, document analysis (policy plans, marketing plans and more), and where possible observations and participations are used to create a critical and investigative view of the organizations in change. Results The KorfFed used the marketing program to further develop existing programs. Although the outcomes of these programs were not new, the program has opened the eyes of the president, director and staff members. They are now conscious of the urgency of a market orientation, and a marketing orientation (a marketing position has already been introduced), and they see opportunities in attracting non-competition playing korfball players. They have, however, not yet reached the phase of semi-institutionalization of the market oriented structures. This can be concluded from the following: - The organization still has an ad-hoc character; - Some board members still make decisions based on their own insights rather than on information from the professional part of the organization; - Decisions to start programs are still grounded on subsidy possibilities rather than on market possibilities. Interest dissatisfaction and power dependencies are the main dynamics that form barriers in the planned organizational change. The BillFed is a federation that covers four disciplines, i.e. pool, snooker, carom, and billiard 3 cushions. The federation used to act upon these four disciplines. The marketing program has made clear that the BillFed should act upon target groups instead of on these disciplines. Therefore, the federation created a vision to reach youth, young adults, as also elderly people. Carrying out this new vision requires a market orientated structure (focus on target groups) instead of an internal orientated structure (focus on discipline groups). This new vision is created on an upper level (general board together with professional staff) in the organization. This federation also introduced a professional marketing position. Unfortunately, the underlying layers remain slightly passive and are not willing to work along the new structures, which mean that the new structures have not been diffused across the whole organization. Interest dissatisfaction, value commitments and power dependencies are the problematic dynamics. The JeuFed used to have a strong competition and tournament (internal) orientation, while many jeu-de-boules players play the game just for fun. The marketing program has created the insight that the just-for-fun players are also an important target group. Hence, 3 projects are developed to make club membership more attractive for all jeu-de-boules players. Since the federation never worked with projects before, they just found out that implementing projects such as these requires new structures. The JeuFed has just arrived in the pre-institutionalized phase, still far away from the semi-institutionalized chapter. Power dependencies and a lack of capacity for change are influencing dynamics in this case. Discussion Although it is already 1½ years ago that Dutch NSFs finished their marketing program, in none of the described cases the new structures have reached the semi-institutional stage. These new structures or actions are not yet diffused across the organizations, and the old structures are not eroding. In all three cases another combination of endogenous dynamics are influencing the process of organizational change. Continuing research is needed to find out whether these federations will ever reach the next stage of institutionalization and which dynamics will play an important role.
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Deze afscheidsrede van Frank de Jong verwondert zich over de sterke impact van (directe) instructie in het onderwijs en de daarmee samenhangende gerichtheid op het individuele leren. Om een antwoord te vinden op die verwondering put de rede uit de filosofe Hannah Arendt en haar analyse van de menselijke conditie, de vita activa. Arendt onderscheidt drie menselijke activiteiten: arbeid, werken, spreken en handelen. Arbeid gaat over het voorzien in basisbehoeften en het creëren van een ‘thuis’ met anderen waar het goed toeven is. Werken heeft te maken met het creëren van talen en cultuur en daarmee een kunstmatige wereld. Spreken en handelen omvatten het organiseren van de samenleving en politiek bedrijven. Door het leren en onderwijs te koppelen aan de vita activa komt een beeld naar voren van een onderwijs dat zich voornamelijk richt op arbeid en werken, met een sterke nadruk op (directe) instructie en het aanleren van vaardigheden en kennis. Het spreken en handelen, het ontwikkelen van ideeën en het samenwerken aan een betere wereld, blijven vaak onderbelicht in het onderwijs. Directe instructie mag dan wel efficiënt zijn in het steeds meer geïndustrialiseerde onderwijs met eindtermen en managerial KPI’s, het is niet effectief in het licht van het de totale ontwikkeling als mens. Dit pleit voor meer ruimte te creëren voor idee-ontwikkeling, co-creatie, kennisopbouw en dialoog in het onderwijs. Een onderwijstransitie van een 'belief mode' van leren naar een 'design mode' van leren met de nodige infrastructurele verandering op verschillende niveaus die zo’n transitie vereist. Er is een groeiend bewustwording nodig dat de huidige rol en wijze van leren in het onderwijs en in (school)organisaties onvoldoende bijdraagt aan de oplossingen van de huidige complexe uitdagingen in onze samenleving. Een bredere en diepere benadering van leren in het onderwijs, waarbij niet alleen kennisoverdracht en vaardigheden worden benadrukt, maar ook het ontwikkelen van ideeën, samenwerking en dialoog centraal staan is noodzakelijk, zodat er ruimte is om spreken en handelen te ontwikkelen opdat mensen af en toe uit de rij te stappen om een beter ‘thuis’ te realiseren. Dit doe je niet in je eentje maar in cocreatie met anderen samen en dat moet je (stimu)leren.
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In een door het lectoraat Revalidatie uitgevoerd onderzoek bij jongeren met niet aangeboren hersenletsel (NAH) hebben veertien studenten van de Academie voor Gezondheid geparticipeerd. Bij jongeren hebben zij, twee jaar na het oplopen van hersenletsel door een ongeval of hersenaandoening, tijdens een huisbezoek, verschillende vragenlijsten over sociaal-maatschappelijke participatie afgenomen. In de periode voorjaar 2010 tot najaar 2012 zijn in vier wervingsrondes hoofdfase studenten via drie methoden geworven voor participatie in het NAH-onderzoek. In dit artikel worden werkwijze werving, voorbereiding en begeleiding van de studenten beschreven. De voorbereiding bestond uit informatieverstrekking en training. De begeleiding vond plaats in de vorm van supervisie. Studenten kwamen in dit onderzoek rechtstreeks en intensief met deelnemers in contact. Bij dit contact worden (beroeps)competenties op de proef gesteld: in vele opzichten een belangrijke aanvulling op hun opleiding. De belangrijkste aanbeveling is, dat studentenparticipatie in praktijkgericht onderzoek goed voorbereid en ondersteund moet worden en aanzienlijk makkelijker verloopt als dit onderdeel is van het curriculum van de opleiding. Ook zal participeren in analyse en verwerking van de onderzoeksgegevens naast dataverzameling meerwaarde voor de student hebben. ABSTRACT Fourteen students of the Academy of Health participated in a research about the social impact of acquired brain injury (ABI) in adolescents. This research was performed by the research group Rehabilitation. The students conducted several questionnaires about social functioning while visiting the adolescents with ABI at home, two years after the youths had suffered from brain injury, through accident or brain illness. During four selection rounds that took place between Spring 2010 and Autumn 2012, students were recruited by three methods to participate in the data collection of the ABI research. This article describes methods of recruitment, preparation and supervision of the selected students. The preparation consisted of education and training. The supervision consisted of feedback and encouragement. Students were in direct and intensive contact with participants during this research. Their (professional) competencies were therefore put to the test and in many respects this was an important addition to their education. The most important recommendation is that student participation be properly prepared and supported in practically oriented research and be a much more integrated component of the programme curriculum. In addition to data collection, participation in the analysis and processing of research data will also be of added value for the student.
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This speech discusses how the professorship intends to support practitioners in the nursing domain and contribute to shaping nursing leadership and each person's professional individuality. The title of the speech, “Notes on Nursing 2.0,” is particularly intended to emphasize the need for these changes in the nursing domain. Not by assuming that nothing has changed in care and nursing since Nightingale's time. There has. Being educated in the professional domain is not only a given but a requirement. The knowledge domain of care and nursing has developed far and wide in nursing diagnostics and standards. Nursing science research, which Nightingale once started as the first female statistician in the British Kingdom, has firmly established itself in education and practice. Wanting to be of significance to others out of compassion is still the professional motivation, but there is no longer a subservient servitude (Cingel van der, 2012). At the same time, wholehearted leadership is not yet taken for granted in daily practice and optimal professional practice falters due to an equality principle of differently educated caregivers and nurses that has been held for too long. That is the need for change to which this 2.0 version “Notes on Nursing” and the lectorate want to contribute in the coming years. Chapter 1, through the metaphors in the story “The Cat Who Looked at the King,” describes the vision of emancipatory action research and the change principles that the lectorate will deploy. Chapter 2 contains the reason, mission and lines of research that are interrelated within the lectorate. Chapters 3 and 4 address the themes of identity and leadership, discussing their interrelationship with professional practice and developing a research culture. In addition, specific aspects that influence practice and work culture today are addressed, and how the lectorate contributes specifically to the development of nursing leadership and the formation of professional identity in the relevant domain is described. Chapter 5 contains a summary of the principles on which the research program is based, as well as information on current and future projects. Chapter 6 provides background information on the lector and the members of the knowledge circle.
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