The students of the professions interprofessional becoming in the organizational setting of a University College in Denmark

Transcription

1 PRES 2011: Papers and Presentations Performative Ethnographic Studies of Management Practices in Organizations May 22nd May 26th 2011 Aegina, Greece The students of the professions interprofessional becoming in the organizational setting of a University College in Denmark - A story of becoming in 3-D Sofie Ørsted Sauzet University of Aarhus, department of education

2 The students of the professions interprofessional becoming in the organizational setting of a University College in Denmark A story of becoming in 3 D. Sofie Ørsted Sauzet, University of Aarhus, department of education, May 2011 Introduction Constantin Guys was named the painter of modern life (by Baudelaire) as Guys depicted the people of his time, wearing the clothes that they wore, in the fleeting encounters they had in opposition to the anti modernist painters of his time, who where painting the beauty of what had already been, as they did not appreciate the aesthetics of the now, they were living in. Constantin Guys however was occupied with depicting how his time, in even the seemingly indifferent moments of everyday life, entailed narratives of the now, that reflected actualizations of the difficulties and controversies of the 19 th century. Painting the life of the now, is a performance of narration it is a question of freezing a moment in time, through framing, sketching and drawing up, choosing colours as dramaturgy, emphasizing the thickness or the lightness of the strokes, highlighting by the way the light falls and shadowing other parts, depicting through the concrete or the abstract, creating expressions and moods, performing the now in one image. Paintings do not represent the now they perform it. So does research. And as paintings can be performed in series, in order to shed light on a topic, so can research be performed through a series of sites and narratives, thematical unfoldings and analytical concepts. Through the metaphor of the painting, and the series of paintings, that we see in exhibitions, that moves us to understand topics in new ways, I will unfold my research project. The following research project, is thus to be understood as a way of performing research through a series of sites, that are created by the researcher (not that I consider myself an artist) in order to depict the everyday life of the now, the now that in this project is the processual becoming of the interprofessional students of the professions in the University Colleges of Denmark. 1

3 Painting 1 - Setting the scene. Interprofessionalism is becoming apparent as a paradigm (or an apparatus Karen Barad) in the education of professionals at University Colleges in Denmark. For about 15 years the political organizations around them, the government, as well as parts of the scientific and consultative community involved with and interested in the professions, has been positioning themselves in the debate concerning the development of the professions by pointing at the possibilities they project interprofessionalism to entail. With the implementation of University Colleges in Denmark in 2007, 1 an increased focus upon interprofessionalism began. Alongside with this creation the juridical texts of the educations of the professions were inscribed with policies concerning new interprofessional elements, demands and goals. Traditionally the sociology of the professions has had an analytical preoccupation with understanding the processes of creating boarders/limits that constitutes the professional status, power and autonomy. The paradigm of interprofessionalism, in this sense, may prove to be a challenge for the regular boarder creating processes of the future generations of professionals. I am interested in interprofessionalism as a paradigm/an apparatus that develops in many places and through many actors. Something which is being developed and produced in many ways and for many reasons, and towards a multiplicity of professionals. As something which is both constructed as a symbol of the desired development of the professional community, as well as something that challenges the professionals autopoesis. The consequences of the interprofessional tendencies multiplicity, for the students education processes, I will draw up, as a story of student becoming in 3 D, as it is enacted in: The students education processes (follow the students) The organizing processes (follow the organizing) And the knowledge production processes (follow the concept) This imagery of 3 D allows me to follow the students, the organizing and the concept. 1 Professionshøjskoler in Danish. However in Denmark the UC s do not have the status of Universities, as they are only allowed to provide education up until bachelor level 3,5 4 years). 2

4 Painting 2 Exhibiting the research question How do the students of the professions become professionals in the interprofessional paradigm (for lack of better word) at University College X? Painting 3 Sketching the ethnographic approach I will explore the interprofessional paradigm within the organizing of a particular UC. Within which, interprofessionalism is both made visible and hidden; present and future; obvious and suspicious. I will work with the notion of multisited ethnography, through which I will be exploring the processes of becoming of the interprofessional professional through an abductive approach 2. A multiplicity of methods will be utilized and developed on site throughout the ethnographic fieldwork, in order to be able to change goggles when the field makes it necessary (participant observations, semi structured interviews, photography, drawing maps etc.) The professionals interprofessional becoming in an UC is explored through:... Sites of performed interprofessional education (interprofessional modules, teacher preparation programs, evaluations of interprofessional projects) Sites of strategic organizing the enactments of the interprofessional dimension (organizing in visionary plans for the future development of the UC, workshops between leaders, teachers etc., ) Sites of everyday life in institutional settings (where the interprofessionalprofessional is created through rythms in places and through materiality, enacted by and through the students themselves, the teachers, the leaders etc.) Sites of enacted narratives (the virtual, the walls, the signs, the symbols narratives can be everything. (Internet pages, facebook, noticeboards, signs, interior decorating etc.)) 2 The term refers to the process of arriving at an explanatory hypothesis to abduce a from b involves determining that a is sufficient (or nearly sufficient), but not necessary, for b. 3

5 Painting 4 exposing the aim of the research project for all to see The analytical aim is to explore the connectivity of the sites, as a series of images, through theories of becoming in organizing action nets (Barbara Czarniawska) in order to unfold: Theoretical developments: To discuss student becoming in complex educational organizations. Empirical developments: To discuss developments within professional education, at a crossroads where interprofessionalism is enacted as a paradigm for the new interprofessional professional. Aim of research: To paint the becoming of professionals in an organizing perspective, where interprofessionalism is becoming a paradigm. 4