Learning in Third Spaces: Developing Trans-Professional Understanding through Practitioner Enquiry

Published: 
Dec. 10, 2009

Source: Educational Action Research, Volume 17, Issue 4 December 2009 , pages 537 - 550.

This article investigates the value of practitioner enquiry in the development of common language and shared understandings. The participants were a group of mid-career professionals from a variety of public service backgrounds, brought together to formulate responses to the English agenda for integrating services.

It draws upon data gathered from multi-professional action learning and focus groups via a collaboration between an English University and six regional authorities.

Theories of 'third space' and 'hybridity' are engaged in arguing that the achievement of 'integrated' or 'trans-professional' knowledge can develop within 'undecided' reflective spaces through which new ways of working are discovered.

It concludes that collaborative multi-professional practitioner enquiry offers a realistic means of embedding this challenging aspect of policy.

Updated: Jan. 12, 2010
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