El SUELO COMO CAMPO DE CONOCIMIENTO EN QUÍMICA

The previous question is addressed in this section and the implications for universities are discussed. Candidates attracted to professional doctorates are different from those who prefer to undertake a PhD (Brennan, Kenway, Thompson and Zipin, 2002). Within their experience Brennan et al found that teachers, principals, policy makers, union members, academics, and private consultants were all represented in

professional doctorate intakes. Many of these people did not want to pursue academic careers but wished to participate in the intellectual work of their current employment. Workplace research, applied research, action research and evaluation research are often already part of educational workplaces. Thus, the format of professional doctorates, which are frequently described as research degrees that combine workplace and professional engagement with the scholarly rigour of the university (Malfoy, 2004), appealed to these practitioners. As well, contemporary workplaces often involve early retirements, possible redundancies and an uncertain future for many. Brennan et al (2002) suggested that such uncertainties about future

employment creates an attractive climate in which there are other possible benefits of studying for a professional doctorate. It may enable entry into alternative fields as consultancy, small business and short-term project work which replace many of the professional tasks previously carried out by the government or employers:

A doctoral level qualification, especially with its guarantee of

moderated/examined written output or exhibition/performance, provides some form of independent legitimacy for negotiating entry to new work arrangements (Brennan et al, 2002:70).

McWilliam (2002b) had similar views suggesting that professional doctoral students were often upwardly mobile in their careers, and moving workplaces for reasons such as promotion, transfer or redundancy. However, as mature age students, candidates could also have family commitments that could be a cause of disruption to their study. Thus professional doctorate students could be under more pressures than their full time PhD counterparts. Such pressures could have negative effects not only on their completion times but also on their research project if it was designed to investigate a workplace that no longer existed.

From the inception of this project I was fascinated by the question ‘What factors have motivated the professional development of the first Australian cohort of the Doctor of Education program at a Victorian university?’ Chapters Four and Five revealed complex and multiple reasons for the continuing participation of the members of this cohort in all forms of professional development activities. In the past professional development was undertaken by the members of the cohort to qualify for an employment position, for career advancement, to enhance job skills, and for the benefit of both their students and the profession. Currently, professional development may be required because of government policy, or to benefit the employer. Further, unprecedented changes in communication and information technology have produced the need for constant updating and tangible evidence of knowledge and skills

(Ingvarson, 1989). Professional development was also undertaken for personal interest, and for self-esteem and self-efficacy, including redressing a past fail. This intrinsic interest in professional development activities was a motivating factor for the professional development of the majority of the members of this cohort. The driven way the members of the cohort undertook their studies and the factors that emerged from the data showed there is a powerful need for completion.

Peer and McClendon (2002:137) argued that ‘self-efficacy theory provides valuable insights regarding student learning in the social environment’. Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory postulated that perceived self-efficacy affects an individual in all aspects of life, including educational experiences. How the student perceives their competence to successfully perform a task can affect motivation, interest and

achievement. The higher the perceived efficacy, the higher the goal aspirations people adopt and the firmer their commitment to achieving those goals. Educational

activities foster self-efficacy through the use of social interaction. If the learning environment is structured to de-emphasise competition and highlight self-comparison of progress it will aid in building a sense of self-efficacy and promote academic achievement.

Professional development for goal enhancement was not the major driver for all of the members of the cohort who took part in the current study. Indeed, the retirees of the cohort were no longer motivated by workplace concerns. Therefore, for most of the cohort professional development was undertaken as often for personal development and/or general intellectual interest as it was for vocational reasons. They expressed the desire to educate themselves to the best of their ability and to demonstrate that they were intellectually capable. Whereas some of the men suggested they may use their current studies for further employment opportunities, the women saw its use as providing credibility within their current employment or within their family or the community in which they live.

The geographical location of an institution was an important factor in the choice of an institution at which to carry out self-initiated professional development. Members of the cohort expressed dissatisfaction with geographically impossible locations which were either too far distant for time efficient travel or too inconvenient to access. Students could have undertaken their studies at other universities but these were not as geographically convenient. It was the geographically convenient location of this university and the influence of the positive comments and friendly attitudes of their lecturers from previous degrees undertaken here that were the major factors in the choice of university at which to carry out past and current studies.

Failure to continue to participate in a course has several causes including changing student interests and factors external to a course brought about by administrative strategies that do not consider the nature of part-time studies. The members of the cohort also became impatient with factors internal to a course, such as educators not practising the andragogical principles of teaching adults. The fundamentals of adult learning include considerations such as an adult’s capacity for self-direction, the capacity for self-diagnosis of needs, previous life experience upon which to base current learning and a shift from postponed application of knowledge to the

immediacy of application for acquired knowledge (Knowles, 1970,1973). The dissatisfaction felt by the members of the cohort related particularly to learning situations which were highly directive and which did not respect the experiences and opinions of the students.