Co/productive practitioner relations for children with SLCN: an affect inflected agentic frame

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how school-based practitioners supporting children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) use particular social capital relations. Social capital theory together with selected ‘Productive Pedagogies’ items, are applied to re-frame and understand the co/production of support for such children. Empirical data from the ‘Language for All’ study, which investigates SLCN provision in schools in England, are analysed to understand support network social capital. Novel insights on the types and purposes of inter-professional connectedness within SLCN support networks, in particular how relational agency is inflected by affect, are offered.     

Exploring identities and cultures in inter-professional education and collaborative professional practice

Although the concept of multi-agency working has been pursued and adopted as the most appropriate way to improve childcare provision and health workforces in recent years, both in the UK and more globally, research suggests that participation in such work can be problematic. This article examines current developments in inter-professional education and collaborative professional practice. Drawing on desk research across the fields of Education, Health and Social Care, it applies a critical lens to re-examine inter-professional working using well-established concepts of profession, identity, culture, career, and training/work transitions. The article uses theoretical hooks to look for similarities and differences in the promotion of inter-professionality across the Education, Health and Social Care sectors, alongside those which occur within each. It looks towards a re-invigoration of knowledge creation and application through research. This is viewed as especially urgent in times of fragmentation, transformation, and arguably, disintegration, in the services its professional and academic educators and workers seek to serve.     

An investigation of factors involved when educational psychologists supervise other professionals

Inter-professional supervision combines the social processes of supervision and multi-agency working: both complex and often poorly understood processes. This paper discusses the first author’s research of inter-professional supervision, involving an educational psychologist (EP) supervising another professional and complements the recently published guidelines on professional supervision produced by the Division of Educational and Child Psychology (DECP). The research involved 10 semi-structured interviews with six EPs (supervisors) and four other professionals (supervisees) recruited through purposive sampling. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed and coded using thematic analysis. Research findings suggested that inter-professional supervision was viewed positively. However, participants had a patchy experience of the contracting aspects of supervision and some talked of conflicting conceptualisations of supervision placing a strain on the supervisory relationship. Conclusions reflect the need to view supervision as a process enacted within multiple contexts which impact upon supervision in important ways.     

Competition and reform of the New Zealand tertiary education sector

The purpose of this paper is to use an historical approach to examine the changing nature, size and diversification of education and training in New Zealand. In particular, attention will be concentrated on the impact of the introduction of competition into the New Zealand tertiary education industry since 1989. It will examine the relationship between the various tertiary education institutions as well as the relationship between these institutions and the demands of both students and industry.     

Emotional Literacy Support Assistants’ views on supervision provided by educational psychologists: what EPs can learn from group supervision

The Educational Psychology Service in this study has responsibility for providing group supervision to Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs) working in schools. To date, little research has examined this type of inter-professional supervision arrangement. The current study used a questionnaire to examine ELSAs’ views on the supervision provided to them. Key areas of interest were the extent to which supervision was perceived to be meeting ELSAs’ needs, their relationship with their supervisor and other group members, the advantages and disadvantages of receiving supervision as a group, and the impact of supervision on practice. Questionnaires were returned by 270 ELSAs. The responses indicated that the majority felt that their supervision needs were being met and that they had a good relationship with their supervisor and other group members. Supervision was generally considered to be a useful mechanism for discussing cases, sharing ideas and problem-solving. Consequently, the majority felt better able to support pupils as a result of this support. The results are discussed in light of the dual role that educational psychologists (EPs) who provide this type of supervision have, and the implications of this for educational psychology practice.     

Inter-professional working and learning: instructional actions and boundary crossing or boundary making in oral healthcare

Inter-professional teams are typical in health care, and inter-professional education has thus become more common. This empirical study explores the instruction-related challenges when students of dentistry and oral hygiene collaborate during their internship in caring for the oral health of patients. The conceptual framework of the study stems from cultural-historical activity theory, the aim being to explore the instructional actions and boundary crossing of clinical instructors while they were supervising the students. The main data comprise 17 videotaped treatment sessions, which were organised three-dimensionally in sequences, themes and topics, and analysed in terms of the instructional and boundary-crossing actions. The results reveal chains of subtle and rich instructional actions classified as instructive, evaluative and collaborative. Instructional boundary crossing occurred rarely and was also boundary-making: positioning, moving and communicating. It should be taken into account in the field of inter-professional working and learning that instructional boundaries seem easier to maintain than to cross, and professional teachers at educational institutions and instructors in workplaces need to be aware of this.     

Collective commitment and collective efficacy: a theoretical model for understanding the motivational dynamics of dilemma resolution in inter-professional work

This paper presents a new theoretical model which conceptualizes inter-professional and multi-agency collaborative working, at the level of the individual within a group. This arises from a review of the literature around joint working, and is based on social psychological theories which refer to shared goals. The model assumes that collective commitment, collective efficacy, and process and outcome beliefs interact and feed into the development and maintenance of collaborative processes and outcomes. This is situated within an ecological framework that summarizes the context of inter-professional and multi-agency collaboration. The model illustrates working resolutions of specific inter-professional dilemmas around identity, role and control. This paper extends the literature around theoretical approaches to collaborative work in a multi-agency or inter-professional context, with its specific social-psychological focus on the motivations of the individual within the group.     

Lesson study: an inter-professional collaboration approach for Educational Psychologists to improve teaching and learning

This paper describes an innovative use of Lesson Study (LS), an internationally used collaborative approach in which teachers develop their teaching knowledge and practices. It aimed to evaluate how EPs join teachers in LS teams, using working memory and other knowledge to inform the teaching of pupils with learning difficulties. The study uses a case study methodology to evaluate LS teams (three teachers and EP) in a primary, secondary and special school. The findings show how working memory knowledge is used in reviewing and planning research lessons, how the teams interact, including the teachers’ perceived EP contribution to the Lesson Study process. The paper illustrates the potential of an inter-professional LS study to embody collaborative reflective practice in order to improve the teaching of pupils with learning difficulties.     

Helping Teachers Support Pupils with Mental Health Problems Through Inter-professional Collaboration: A Qualitative Study of Teachers and School Principals

ABSTRACT

A qualitative study conducted in four lower secondary schools in Norway explored teachers’ and school principals’ experiences of collaboration with a variety of extended services (ES). Particular attention was directed to the ways (if any) they perceived collaboration to be relevant to helping teachers support pupils with mental health problems through their everyday social and pedagogic practices. Findings of the study indicated that teachers valued initiatives that could help develop mutual understandings of teachers’ and ES professionals’ roles and responsibilities. Initiatives to build inter-professional relationships were perceived as laying the foundation for more productive collaboration. However, to be able to provide coherent, sustained support in the classroom, teachers needed guidance from ES professionals. This required a shift in collaborative processes away from a focus on individualized pupil support towards helping teachers support pupils through their classroom-based social and pedagogical practices. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.