Exploring Authentic Practice and Professional Identity Through a Lens of Wellbeing Wendy Holley-Boen PhD Candidate Confirmation October 2014

Tena koutou He mihi nui ki a koutou Ko Bachelor te maunga Ko Deschutes te awa Ko American te iwi No Oregon ahau Heoiano, e noho ana ahau ki Aotearoa inaianei No reira, ko Ruapehu te maunga Ko Wanganui te awa No Greenhithe ahau Ko Wendy Holley-Boen ahau No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa

Overview Background Wellbeing, Authentic Practice, Professional Identity, and Postgraduate Study Aims and Research Questions Research Framework Ethics Fieldwork Participants and context Preliminary themes

Background Experiences across universities Current role Wider role Marking Extensions Wellbeing of students

Wellbeing Varying interpretations, shifts over time Definitions typically focus on: emotional, intellectual, physical, social, spiritual vocational and/or environmental “Integrated wellness” (Morris & DeVane, 1994) Dynamic, Ongoing, Contextualised Increasingly: Relational, e.g. cultural wellbeing (Harr & Brougham, 2011) Contextualised (Csiernik, 2006)

Three happy lives (Seligman, 2004) : 1. The pleasant life 2. The engaging life 3. The meaningful life “…knowing what your highest strengths are, and using them to belong to and in the service of something larger than you are” (15:13). “Wellbeing then, is linked with critical self-analysis, with the courage to speak out and stand for something, and with the inner strength to engage in dialogues…about one’s actions as a teacher…” (Kelchtermans, 2008, p. 32).

Authentic Practice Bringing who you are to what you do (Palmer, 2007). Core Reflection approach (Korthagen, 2004) What are the essential qualities of a good teacher? How can we help people to become good teachers? Modern to postmodern Our identities are dynamic, ever-changing and under revision (Gordon, 2008).

Professional Identity The ways each of us stories our self over time through our interactions with other people and contexts (Kelchtermans, 2009). Four key features: 1. An ongoing process of interpretation 2. Implies both a person and a context 3. Multiple identities 4. An active process (Beijaard, Meijer & Verloop, 2004)

All three terms are widely used with a variety of interpretations. Professionals can be “caught between stories” (Moore, 2009).

Postgraduate study Postgraduate study has changed. 21 st Century learning and teaching Personalised learning Understandings of inclusion and diversity Self-directed Inquiry-based Lifelong learning (Bolstad, Gilbert & McDowall,2012) Degree completion as a shared responsibility (Rogers, 2009)

Supports to Postgraduate Study Level of uncertainty - and dearth of research - around optimal levels of support (Laws & Fielder, 2012) For Māori students, “…a sense of belonging (whanaungatanga) and a place of belonging (tūrangawaewae)” (Rawlings & Wilson, 2013, p.5) Individual intake interviews; dedicated dean of pastoral care; access to instructors; course coordinators and peer mentors; senior instructors teaching incoming students; smaller class sizes; comprehensive levels of support for all students, including classes cultivating reflective practice (Maher & Macallister, 2013).

Aims Student’s perspectives of wellbeing, authentic practice and professional identity The connections between them, shifts over time The importance of connectedness Implications for students, lecturers and institutions A practical and rigorous framework

Research Questions Phase 1 1.How do students make sense of the concepts of professional identity, wellbeing and authentic practice?

Research Questions 2.What do they see as the connections between these ideas? a.How do students think of themselves as professionals? b.What do students describe as influencing their identity in this regard? c.To what extent do static versus dynamic and relational idea around identity influence their practices and wellbeing?

Research Questions 3.What do students identify as the supports to the development of their professional identity, wellbeing and authentic practice?

Research Questions 4.In practice, what are the barriers, and tensions, that students identify to their IP, W and AP? a.How do students position themselves within and against the tensions in their professional lives? b.Do they/how do they interrupt or challenge discourses/practices that are inconsistent with their professional beliefs and practices? c.How do these processes of interruption/challenge relate to the idea of authentic practice/ to their personal understanding of what authentic practice entails?

Research Questions Phase 2 1.What do professionals identify as the ongoing supports for their professional identity, authentic practice and wellbeing? a.How do these supports fit with the understandings we developed in Phase 1?

Research Questions 2.What are the implications for students themselves, for lecturers and for postgraduate training programmes?

Research Framework Paradigm Theoretical framework Methodology Methods Critical Co-constructivism Narrative Inquiry Qualitative Design Individual interviews Focus group

Constructivism Co-constructivism Meaning is believed to be constructed through our interactions with others. Learning is a collective activity which flows to the individual (Stears, 2009). Critical constructivism Questions whose meanings count (Faltis, in Goodman, 2008)

Narrative inquiry Frequently used in education Sense making through language and stories (Casey, 1995). Honour the notion that our lives are storied, and the learning that occurs as we ‘story and re-story’ (p. 226) our experiences individually and together (Bishop, 2003). “Focuses on the relationship between people’s stories and their identity development or personal wellbeing” (Chase, 2011, p. 422).

Benefits (Bell, 2012) Focus on the experience itself Underlying assumptions Dynamic nature of meaning making “Voice” Joint process Ako (Rawlings & Wilson, 2013).

Considerations (Bell, 2012) Time commitment and number of participants Researcher as fellow participant Risk of imposing inaccurate meanings Boundaries

The Context: Specialist Teaching programme Postgraduate diploma Blended learning Whānau support groups

Participants Students enrolled in the Postgraduate Diploma of Specialist Teaching Purposively sampled to capture the voices of: Year 1 and Year 2 students across endorsements Māori and Pasifika Professionals at different ages and stages Year 1 Students Year 2 Students Former Year 2 Students new35

Ethics Full ethics application (November 2013) Considerations Role clarity Selection of participants Protections for students Confidentiality Equity Burden on staff Educated consent

Data collection Individual interviews at the beginning and end of 2014 and 2015 Semi-structured Focus group in October of each year

Thank you to Jill Bevan-Brown and Jude MacArthur – and the entire Specialist Teaching team – for all of your support!

Preliminary themes Authentic practice as relational Connectedness Constructing ideas around ‘novice to expert’ Valuing lived experience Mission and storying ourselves Know thyself Self-efficacy, power and choice Unique contribution Transformative experiences Wellbeing as a perspective Wellbeing because they have experienced being unwell

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