Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
.Collaboration,Co-OperationAndConfidence’:HowaFeministSociologyofEducation...
13
previousexperienceinworkingtogether,knowingeachother’sskillsandpreferencesand
thiswasacrucialfoundationfortheproject.Teprojectalsomadeuseoftheexpertise
encompassedinexistingrelationshipswiththeAllIrelandSocietyforHigherEducation
(AISHE),theAllIrelandJournalofHigherEducationandtheEuropeanSociologicalAsso-
ciation(ESA),whichwasagreatsteppingstoneforthesuccessoftheproject.Inaddition,
inengagingauthorsandreviewers,theco-editorsusedtheirnationalandinternational
contactstohaveinputfromasdiversearangeofinterest,levelandexperienceaspossi-
ble,whichwasagainagreatpositivefromtheproject(Brereton&Dunne,2018a,2018b).
CaseStudy2:Teachers’professionaldevelopment
Tesecondcasestudyrelatestoteachers’professionaldevelopmentineducation.In
linewithon-goingchangesineducation,thedevelopmentofteachingskillsiscoreto
on-goingreformsintheeducationsector.Professionaldevelopmentamongteachersand
researchersisincreasinglyanintegralpartoftheirprofessionalpractice,withpractition-
ersnowexpectedtobeskilledinteachingpracticeandresearchactivities(ESF,2012;
Kennedy,2014;OECD,2012).
TissecondexampledescribesarecentprojectinIrishhighereducationprofessional
development,whichwasinter-disciplinaryandinter-institutionalinnature.Aworking
groupcollaboratedfacetofaceandvirtuallytoengagewiththeNationalForumforthe
EnhancementofTeachingandLearninginHigherEducation(NFTL)FrameworkforPro-
fessionalDevelopment(PD)(NFTL,2016;Donnelly&Maguire,2018).Teauthorwas
secondedtotheNFTLProfessionalDevelopmentExpertGroup,leadingaPDwork-
inggroup(‘meitheal’)toconsiderthereal-worldcontextofHEteachingandresearch
practice1.
Overaperiodof12weeks,inanopen,informedprofessionalsetting(f2fandonline),
HEprofessionalssharedtheirpractitionerexperiencetoshareandimprovetheirprac-
tice,aswellasenhancetheirdigitalcapacityanduseoftechnology.Te‘meitheal’was
self-selecting,focusedonimprovement,participativeandcollaborative,andwascarried
outinthecontextofasharingofpractice.Avarietyofqualitativemethodswereused,
includingpractitionerreflection,self-reflectionandmentoring(Brereton,2021).
CaseStudy3:SocialSupportNetworks
Tethirdcasestudyshowingwaysthatthesociologyofeducationcananddoesmake
asignificantpositiveimpactoneducationisaprojectwhichexaminedthesocialsup-
portnetworksofaclassgroupoflearners,withaparticularcomparisonbetweenmature
learnersandothers.SocialNetworkAnalysis(SNA)canprovideusefulinsightsinthe
fieldofeducation(andespecially,thesociologyofeducation)inwayswhichallowfor
1
TraditionallyinIrishculturea‘meitheal’(mɛhəl)wasateamorworkinggroupestablishedto
carryoutasinglefunction,e.g.a‘meitheal’mightcompriseagroupofneighboursworkingtogether
tocompleteseasonalwork.
