Learning Through Practice

Practice-based learning—the kind of education that comes from experiencing real work in real situations—has always been a prerequisite to qualification in professions such as medicine. However, there is growing interest in how practice-based models of learning can assist the initial preparation for and further development of skills for a wider range of occupations. Rather than being seen as a tool of first-time training, it is now viewed as a potentially important facet of professional development and life-long learning. This book provides perspectives on practice-based learning from a range of disciplines and fields of work. The collection here draws on a wide spectrum of perspectives to illustrate as well as to critically appraise approaches to practice-based learning. The book’s two sections first explore the conceptual foundations of learning through practice, and then provide detailed examples of its implementation. Long-standing practice-based approaches to learning have been used in many professions and trades. Indeed, admission to the trades and major professions (e.g. medicine, law, accountancy) can only be realised after completing extended periods of practice in authentic practice settings. However, the growing contemporary interest in using practice-based learning in more extensive contexts has arisen from concerns about the direct employability of graduates and the increasing focus on occupation-specific courses in both vocations and higher education. It is an especially urgent issue in an era of critical skill shortages, rapidly transforming work requirements and an aging workforce combined with a looming shortage of new workforce entrants. We must better understand how existing models of practice-based learning are enacted in order to identify how they can be applied to different kinds of employment and workplaces. The contributions to this volume explore ways in which learning through practice can be conceptualised, enacted, and appraised through an analysis of the traditions, purposes, and processes that support this learning—including curriculum models and pedagogic practices.

This book illustrates hitherto unexamined connections between the present state of teacher education in the UK and past models of practice. It locates contemporary debates within ongoing historical tensions over what constitutes a sound and proper start to a career in teaching. Questions as to the constituents of a professional training, the essential skills, knowledge and attitudes desired of an effective teacher, the most suitable locus of expertise, the relative roles of participants, and the balance of theory and practice lie at the heart of this book. The book reviews apprenticeship and teach-exemplar models of training, expert-novice relationships, model and demonstration teaching, school-based practice and the elaboration of core pedagogical principles in educational debate and research. These developments are assessed against recent initiatives in ITT, such as partnership models of ITT, school-based mentoring, advanced skills teaching, training schools, a standards-driven model of assessment for student teachers and models of effective teaching. Central to the book is the concept of the power to teach. By reclaiming this notion, the book offers challenging new perspectives on current policy and practice in teacher education today and adds to existing histories of teacher training of the past.

Now in its second edition, Teaching and Learning through Reflective Practice is a practical guide to enable all those involved in educational activities to learn through the practices of reflection. The book highlights the power that those responsible for teaching and learning have to appraise, understand and positively transform their teaching. Seeing the teacher as a reflective learner, the book emphasises a strengths-based approach in which positivity, resilience, optimism and high performance can help invigorate teaching, enhance learning and allow the teacher to reach their full potential. This approach busts the myth that reflection on problems and deficits is the only way to better performance. The approach of this new edition is an ‘appreciative’ one. At its heart is the exploration and illustration of four reflective questions: What’s working well? What needs changing? What are we learning? Where do we go from here? With examples drawn from UK primary teacher education, the book reveals how appreciative reflective conversations can be initiated and sustained. It also sets out a range of practical processes for amplifying success. This book will be a must have for undergraduate and PGCE students on initial teacher training programmes. It will also interest practising teachers, teacher educators and those on continuing professional development courses.

This volume presents the explorations of the architects and urban designers at Rogers Partners. In its 20 years of practice designing in cities around the country, the firm has maintained an attitude of curiosity about the elements that make design. From the smallest detail to the largest impositions, their work penetrates sites and their stories to feel their inherent conditions and find inspiration in the discovery of the unseen, the peculiar, the untouchable and the immovable. The book introduces six topics that pervade this journey.

Medical Terminology: Learning Through Practice is designed to direct your study of medical terminology by guiding you through an organized approach to step-by-step learning. Author Paula Bostwick has invested her time, research, and talents to help you succeed in learning medical terminology.

This text presents a research study into the development of reflective practitioners in a pre-service teacher education programme. The teacher educator in the study modelled his own reflections on practice in the hope that it would help students to apply reflection to their own teaching.; The results of the author's research demonstrate that reflection on practice occurs in three distinct periods: before anticipatory, during contemporaneous and after retrospective a pedagogical experience. The book concludes that when student teachers' own learning situations, both within their university coursework and their school experiences, become the focus for their learning about teaching and learning, their understanding of, and practice in, teaching is enhanced.

For future student affairs professionals and higher education administrators, the supervised practice experience is where theory learned in the classroom is put into practice. Learning through Supervised Practice in Student Affairs assists students in applying leadership, advising, conflict management, and planning skills to their practice. This important book explores the theories that foster learning and understanding of higher education organizations while exercises, reflection activities, and case studies illuminate the skill areas that students must develop to become successful practitioners. This Revised Edition Includes: Reflection activities to engage students and foster critical thinking Expanded attention to diverse populations and cultural differences Updated legal references and case law related to daily practice Broadened discussion of professional standards and alignment with the CAS standards and ACPA/NASPA’s Joint Statement on Professional Competencies A new chapter addressing campus politics and organizational culture Learning through Supervised Practice in Student Affairs bridges the gap between theory and practice, assisting students and site supervisors in constructing a practicum or internship experience that successfully contributes to learning and professional development.

Describes play workshop experiences that give educators a deeper understanding of play-based learning and illustrate the power of play.