Recontextualising professional knowledge – newly qualified nurses and physicians¹

Knowledge and reported confidence of final year midwifery students regarding giving advice on contraception and sexual health

“…The challenges of translating theoretical , taught knowledge into practical clinical competence have been much debated in the literature surrounding professional education in recent years (Corlett, 2000;Corlett et al, 2003;Smeby and Vågan, 2008;Davis, 2010;Sangestani and Khatiban, 2013;). Factors affecting confidence and competence in newly qualified practitioners have also been explored (Stewart et al, 2000;Farrand et al, 2006;Donovan, 2008;Roberts and Johnson, 2009;Liaw et al, 2012).…”

Profesjonsstudentblikk

“…I så måte bekrefter mine funn tidligere studier (van Maanen, 1978;Fielding, 1988;Chan m.fl., 2003;Moskos, 2008;Wolming & Bäck, 2011;Hove 2012;Lauritz m.fl., 2012;Petersson, 2015;Karp & Stenmark, 2011;Lagestad, 2013). Også andre profesjonsstudenter har de samme tilbøyelighetene til å omfavne de praktiske aspektene ved utdanningen, ofte på bekostning av fag de opplever som for teoretiske (Smeby & Vågan, 2008;Heggen, 2010;Smeby & Mausethagen, 2011;Fosse & Hovdenak, 2014). Hvordan skal vi så forklare at studentene rangerer fagene i den rekkefølgen de gjør?…”

How is vocational knowledge recontextualised?

“…In many cases, new particulars must be identified and tested for their capacity to reinforce the concept for the new context. The different ways in which this works are well explicated by van Oers's (1998) distinction between 'horizontal' and 'vertical' recontextualisation, and the suggestion that these two forms of recontextualisation may need to interrelate to embed a concept successfully for a new context (Smeby and Vagan 2008). This interpretation can be seen as particularly relevant for learner recontextualisation, but arguably has strong relevance across processes of knowledge validation, curriculum development and pedagogy.…”

“…Smeby and Vagan (2008) in their research into the formation of nurses and physicians identify how knowledge may need to be vertically and horizontally recontextualised between educational and work contexts, while 'relational knowledge' in particular may be best learnt solely in practice. The discussion above suggests that the role of pedagogy and workplace in enabling particularising and generalising strategies is a key factor for the development of the practitioner recontextualisation capabilities that Smeby and Vagan (2008, 170) recommend.…”

“…Evans et al (2010) and Smeby and Vagan (2008) make reference to van Oers's (1998) ideas of 'horizontal' and 'vertical' recontextualisation.…”