In the following, you will find informations about my PhD topic. It focusses on the question of pedagogical professionalisation in corresponding degree programmes at universities. Find out more about the theoretical and methodological approach here…
Starting point
In the context of Lifelong Learning, an increasing number of people enter their studies with manifold life experience. As I decsribed in my other post, this situation is in Germany somewhat special as the target groups and the group of people reached in classic degree programmes may differ quite a lot. Classic (and charge-free) degree programmes on a Bachelor or Master level at state universities adress “traditional” students coming from High School and are pretty theoretical. However, many students in these programmes are already well-integrated into the job market and only seek for a low-cost academic training. That’s what my and other’s experiences and observations say, but there is somewhat little proof so far. So a first step is to make visible the various backgrounds of students in classic degree programmes on a Bachelor or Master level at state universities. I will do this the field of pedagogy, focussing on prior professional experiences.
Research field
My field of field of investigation comprises pedagogical study programmes leading to a B.A. degree at German state universities that don’t have a further thematic specification. Why so complicated? Well, the stronger the thematic concretisation, the more valid the results. But there are two more reasons: I am a lecturer myself in such a study programme – the B.A. Bildungswissenschaft at the FernUniversität in Hagen. So my research interests are grounded in my personal experience in this concrete frame and I was looking for comparable contexts for validation. Furthermore, there are also reasons in view of theoretical sampling: The stronger the difference between two related contexts – here: curricular input and individually desired learning outcomes – the better the results. So thematically broad pedagogical bachelor programmes at universities can be seen as the worst choice for people with distinct prior professional experience in the field of education or pedagogy. But maybe, there’s also a value added.
Research questions
My research project basically tackles the role of pedagogical degree programmes in context of pedagogical professionalisation.
On the one hand, I want to find out to which extent these study programmes serve as individual continuing education formats: Are the professionally experienced students the exception or the rule? So the basic underlying questions are: Who attends these study programmes and for which reasons? This wasn’t my focus at the beginning, but it turned out to be worth considering in depth when writing my first research papers.
On the other hand, I am interested learning experiences and outcomes of students with distinct prior professional experience in the field of education or pedagogy. In which ways did the studies contribute to their individual professionalisation? What were personal and work-related developments and how do they relate to the pecularities of the academic setting?
Methods
I selected a sample of degree programmes that are comparable to the B.A. Bildungswissenschaft, whose students will be in focus of my research. The depicted research foci are worked on in two different methodological approaches that are connected to each other:
An online survey with students of in the final phase of their studies, focussing on their professional background, current situation and study motivations. Learning experiences will be also part of the questionnaire to prepare the following interview survey.
Problem-centered interviews with students from this sample, focussing in depth on their study experiences and personal an professional development. The selection of students will follow the typology I developed in the survey.
Theoretical framework
So for an international audience, I would say that my research project basically adresses two spheres: a context- and subject specific one and a more far-reaching, general one. This can be seen in my theoretical framework.
The concepts contouring pedagogical occupations and tasks as well as the the conceptualisation pedagogical professionalisation are clearly related to the German context. These concepts are combined with anglo-american approaches on reflective practice and learning in Higher Education. Ronald Barnett’s understanding of learning in Higher Education exceeds Donald Schön’s concept of the reflective practitioner. By elobarating the aspect of criticality with sprecial reference to an academic setting, it serves an an appropriate frame and offers connections to concepts of professionalism. With respect to the procedural aspect of learning, concepts of reflective learning that partly relate to Barnett are used, as Eva Cendon does in her research.
Outcome
Overall, my research project also adresses different spheres with respect to its research outcomes:
On the one hand, they are more or less context specific by portraying German pedagogical study programmes as spheres of (individual) professionalisation and by concretising concepts of pedagogical professionalism in this discourse.
On the other hand, the empirical findings on the value added of degree programmes with respect to individual and professional development seem to be interesting in view of the depicted anglo-american approaches on reflective practice and learning in Higher Education.
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