As a retired academic, I have written many academic papers over the years. This is not an academic paper; it is a personal account of my experiences in autumn 2007 of six days in…
Abstract
As a retired academic, I have written many academic papers over the years. This is not an academic paper; it is a personal account of my experiences in autumn 2007 of six days in an NHS hospital in Wales. My previous experience of hospitals in the UK consisted of having my tonsils out in 1947 and visiting my husband and parents who were patients in the same hospital over the course of the last years of their lives and of visiting friends in hospitals.
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Vanessa Burholt, Clare Wenger, Anne Scott, Bashar Yahya and Sibani Roy
The Bangladeshi Migrants Pilot Study establishes the feasibility of applying the methods used in studying the informal support networks of older people in the majority population…
Abstract
The Bangladeshi Migrants Pilot Study establishes the feasibility of applying the methods used in studying the informal support networks of older people in the majority population of Britain, specifically the Wenger support networks typology, to the elders of an immigrant group, and to elders who have remained in the region of origin. The sample consists of Bangladeshis aged 55+ in Tower Hamlets, London, United Kingdom (N=98), and Sylhet in Bangladesh (N=51) (see Table 1). The paper provides an ethnohistory of Bangladeshi immigration to the United Kingdom, a comparison of the support networks of Bangladeshis living in Sylhet and Tower Hamlets, and a comparison of support networks of Bangladeshis with rural and urban dwellers in the United Kingdom. The Practitioners Assessment of Network Typology (PANT) algorithm produces support network types in 99% of cases and demonstrates that the instrument is applicable in different cultures. Results show little difference between the support networks of Bangladeshis in Sylhet compared with London. There are significant differences between support networks of the Bangladeshi samples and the rural and urban United Kingdom samples.
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Limits may be placed on sociability through a sense of social superiority (middle‐class people separating themselves from working‐class on a housing estate), through strength of…
Abstract
Limits may be placed on sociability through a sense of social superiority (middle‐class people separating themselves from working‐class on a housing estate), through strength of sociability within the nuclear family limiting outside contacts, or through placing a value on solitude and personal privacy. Inadequate attention has been paid to those who actually “choose” social isolation; in particular, the group formed by those who never marry but choose the single life and its attendant type of social isolation would be worth study, giving consideration to the reasons behind such choices.
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Nick Le Mesurier and Gem Duncan
This paper describes a dispersed service operated by Age Concern Leominster in North Herefordshire. The service uses local facilities to offer day‐care services to older people…
Abstract
This paper describes a dispersed service operated by Age Concern Leominster in North Herefordshire. The service uses local facilities to offer day‐care services to older people living in isolated rural communities. Discussion focuses on the challenges facing a service provider in developing and maintaining a localised service across a diverse range of communities, and presents a series of essential strategies for success.
The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the central role of critical reflection for practitioners.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the central role of critical reflection for practitioners.
Design/methodology/approach
This joint paper is informed by a practitioner and an academic perspective and is an output from ongoing research. An MA in Strategic HR provides the initial focus. This partnership programme is informed by action learning ethos and method and the emancipatory potential of critical reflection. The paper illustrates how students talk about becoming critically reflective, and in doing so it explores the opportunities and challenges involved.
Findings
It is argued that in order for critical reflection to realise its potential of emancipatory change, pedagogy needs to be underpinned by critical process and critical content. However, it is unfortunate that a majority of critical literature appears to be addressed to an academic audience. The paper also highlights the need to support learning conversations beyond the original set.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the need for development initiatives to support the questioning of taken‐for‐granted assumptions. This draws attention to the necessity of supporting an emerging community of critically reflective practitioners by ensuring an open dialogue about values and practice.
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Mary Clare Relihan and Richard O'Donovan
This conceptual paper explores the complex, and neglected, area of mentor development in initial teacher education (ITE) in Australia. It focuses on the emotionality of…
Abstract
Purpose
This conceptual paper explores the complex, and neglected, area of mentor development in initial teacher education (ITE) in Australia. It focuses on the emotionality of mentoring, drawing on concepts of emotional labour and emotional intelligence to develop a framework of effective mentoring that helps explain the essence of a mentor’s role in supporting preservice teachers.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper draws together mentor-support practice wisdom and research literature from several relevant areas. It draws on constructive developmental theories and complex stage theory to reaffirm the intricate nature of mentor learning and development. This paper critiques the current utilitarian emphasis on mentoring as a way to improve student outcomes without first having clarity on how to improve mentoring itself.
Findings
We introduce the mentoring as emotional labour framework as a way to better understand the nature of mentoring within ITE and as a tool for developing more effective mentor supports. We present “exemplar cases”, which are amalgamations of field observations to illustrate aspects of the framework – however, we do not claim they provide evidence of the utility or accuracy of the framework.
Originality/value
Previous research and policy have tended to gloss over the skills required for effective mentoring, whereas this paper places the emotional labour of mentoring front and centre, explicitly conceptualising and describing the personal and interpersonal skills required in a way that aims to support and empower mentors to recognise existing strengths and areas of potential growth.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical discussion of a developing epistemology and methodology for a qualitative study of participants of enterprise education in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical discussion of a developing epistemology and methodology for a qualitative study of participants of enterprise education in south‐west Ireland, run collaboratively between third level academics, a regional development agency, and entrepreneurs.
Design/methodology/approach
The perspective taken is social constructionist, drawing on ideas from identity theory and social learning theory. A discursive approach to entrepreneurship suggests that an entrepreneurial aspect of human identity (as with other aspects) is emergent and relational, developed through dialogue with family, customers, employees, suppliers, competitors and others. In the education programme, aspiring entrepreneurs’ exposure to and close engagement with a network of national and international mentors, coupled with their engagement in risk taking, can be understood through the notion of becoming, through and in relation to others.
Findings
The mentor network in the education programme is conceptualised as a community of practice that provides induction for nascent entrepreneurs for stimulating their learning of how to be, their acquisition of status and identify, and not simply their development of practical skills.
Practical implications
The immediate practical implication is that greatest insight would be achieved by a longitudinal study that follows nascent entrepreneurs from start to completion of an education intervention and takes an ethnographic approach.
Originality/value
Findings and the proposed methodology will be of value to those designing and researching entrepreneurship education, where outcomes are desired that go beyond knowledge acquisition.