Using an action learning set (ALS) to support the nurse and allied health professional consultant role

Advanced clinical practice roles are now an integral feature of many healthcare services and have been adopted in a diversity of areas. However, mentoring of these roles is not well documented in the literature and formal mechanisms of support are limited. An action learning set (ALS) was developed to provide support for consultants currently in post. The purpose was to facilitate clinicians in developing and meeting the demands of these posts by providing peer supervision, identifying strategies for leading service developments, providing a focus for problem solving and reflection. The ALS meets bi-monthly and is externally facilitated with the option to attend individual sessions with the facilitator. Participants also completed questionnaires measuring coping skills and stress, which were fed back in the individual sessions, providing opportunity for further opportunities for reflection. Initial evaluation was conducted formally using a structured questionnaire and reflective accounts, and provided evidence of the value of the ALS and an indication of how the criteria for success were being met, with greatest achievement reported in the area of work–life balance. The evaluation demonstrates the ongoing value of this ALS and the effectiveness of this method of supporting senior clinical staff.     

Developing Literacy in Inner-city Schools

This article examines the impact of a two-year multimedia computer-based program of structured learning and assessment introduced into fifteen primary schools in three London boroughs. The project was evaluated and the results are reported here. The evaluation had two purposes: to explore the actual effects of the programs during the time span of the project, and to understand the contexts in which they operated.     

Teachers in Class

In this article, I argue for a closer read of the daily “class work” of teachers, as posited by Reay, 1998. In developing exploratory class portraits of four teachers who occupy distinctive social positions (two from working-class homes now teaching upper-middle-class children and two from upper-middle-class homes now teaching poor children), I explore the class constraints within which teachers work.