In an in-house third-year social work research placement, a duo-ethnography showed that the student--supervisor relationship had far more impact on transformative learning than the assigned placement tasks. A model for co-creating an environment of transformative learning is described, putting student learning and growth at the center. Attributes…

Professionals are increasingly involved in attempts to understand and address problems with wicked tendencies, which require crossing boundaries between disciplines, organisations and stakeholder perspectives. This multiple-case study investigated six higher professional education courses in order to develop better understanding of how teachers…

Competency-based education has become a defining characteristic of higher social work education. This movement provides ample opportunity for students to have transformative learning experiences that will prepare them for professional practice. Yet, scholarly work on competency-based education runs the risk of overlooking the important…

Transformative learning captures the process by which students engage in their learning at holistic levels (emotional, cognitive, spiritual, physical, social, and environmental) and the extent to which they experience a change in perspective, of themselves or society. This four-year, four-cohort study (n = 40) examined the transformative learning…

In this paper, we attend to the pedagogical role of reflection within action research practices. We discuss educational considerations of the complex process of improving curriculum, while undertaking collaborative research in which reflection within the iterative process of action research became pedagogical. We draw upon our reflections from an…

Transformative learning approaches in social work education emphasize the importance of bringing together experience, critical reflection, and dialogue to promote individual and social change. An experiential learning assignment, Social Work Week, was designed to sharpen undergraduate students' group practice skills and introduce them to the range…

This article considers the conditions, possibilities, and challenges of creating what is referred to here as a 'reflective space' within a higher education course for principals. It is informed by the findings of a qualitative research inquiry conducted in the interests of enhancing the principals' learning and professional praxis and the…

This study delves into the transformative impact of a professional development model (PDM) across three affiliated private schools in Beirut, Lebanon, spanning three years, with a primary focus on nurturing teacher leadership. At the heart of this PDM, teachers assumed the role of trainers, guiding their colleagues during dedicated professional…

This conceptual article explores the merging of service learning and cultural immersion. It presents, to social work educators, the use of "cultural service immersion" with Indigenous peoples in order to move students from knowledge to understanding the breadth of Indigenous peoples culture, ultimately increasing skills and cultural…

Anderson addresses the use of digital storytelling to deepen reflective practice for graduate social work students, describing how students created personal digital stories of adversity, presented them to their peers, and wrote reflection papers on the process and the effect of sharing their videos. Thematic analysis of students' papers reveals…

The success of alternative and flexible education settings, serving young people for whom mainstream schooling has not worked well, rests on the practices of their staff. This paper explores interview and survey data on the professional learning experiences and perceptions of staff working in flexible learning programmes across Victoria,…

There is much agreement about the need for continuous improvement in schools but little understanding about how to bring about the changes in thinking and practice needed to support it. This case study describes a professional collaboration in which a strong, experienced teacher leader is able to learn something truly new, which enables her in…

Learning for Sustainability (LfS) is a key component of Scottish Education. However, policy interpretation and enactment is a complicated process and there can often be a difference between policy intentions and implementation. The following research explores how one campus (for pupils aged 2-18) in Scotland undertook a year-long all staff career…

With school budgets at their tightest and a wealth of choices for teacher Continuing Professional Development (CPD), how do senior leaders make the right decisions on training which will deliver real change to classroom practice? CPD must go beyond adding content and resources to an already overwhelmed curriculum but also consider how teachers…

This short address by Hunter McEwan provides a background to what a professional practice degree is and discusses some of the accomplishments of the very first group of graduates of the new EdD--the Doctorate in Professional Educational Practice--at the College of Education (COE) at the University of Hawai'i. The COE aimed at building a…