Program Coherence and Learning in Four Professional Educational Programs: A Qualitative Study

• In Event: Roundtable Session 33
  In Roundtable Session: Cross-National and Cross-Profession Analyses of Coherence in Educating for the Professions

Abstract

1. Objectives
This paper uses qualitative data to explore senior students’ (from nursing, pre-school teaching, teaching and social work education) perceptions of factors in their educational program that contribute to their sense of coherence and learning. As Grossman et al. (2008) point out there is paucity in research investigating specific factors that contribute to coherence, not only in teacher education but other professional educational programs. How are meaningful educative experiences created in spatial and temporal terms (Dewey 1938)? Do some students from certain programs experience less coherence compared to other students from other programs?

2. Theoretical Framework
The paper uses the concept of coherence as defined by Grossman et al. (2008) as the point of departure for exploring students’ perceptions of factors that enhance coherence. It also draws upon Dewey’s distinction between the interactional and continuous aspects of experience (Dewey 1938). The purpose of the latter is that it helps articulate the temporal and spatial aspects of coherence and learning.

3. Methods
The paper draws upon qualitative research methodology to explore students’ perceptions and experiences in further depth. More specifically, the paper draws on focus group methodology (Morgan 1997).

4. Data Sources
I am using 16, 1,5h long focus group interviews conducted with students from nursing, pre-school teaching, teaching and social work education as sources of data. Program coherence and placement coherence constituted important themes in the interviews. Two groups of students (from two to six students in each group) from each of the four programs were interviewed twice. In sum 42 volunteer students participated. The data were generated as part of an ongoing study in Norway called Qualifying for Professional Careers, supported by the Norwegian Research Council.

5. Results and Scientific Significance
Preliminary findings across educational groups suggest that on-campus teachers and fieldwork mentors who explicitly integrate theoretical and practical knowledge and skills are seen as crucial in helping students create coherence and valuable learning experiences. However, there are also differences between educational groups in the extent to which they described whether or not their teachers and mentors actually helped them.
The significance of the study is that it suggests ways of developing the concept of coherence in comparative, theoretical and empirical terms: The paper views coherence from the point of view of several professional programs, it discusses coherence more explicitly in analytical terms, and it points at particular factors enhancing coherence in professional educational programs.

Author

• Andre Vagan, Oslo University College