It would seem that the extent to which a child care practitioner is able to reflect critically upon multiple perspectives to construct knowledge and interact effectively, thus demonstrating professional attributes, can be informed by the construct of self- authorship. Moss (2000) argued that competency-based training, the current form of training for child care practitioners, is incompatible with the concept of practitioners being reflective and critical thinkers. Vocational education and training should not thus be limited to demonstrations of practical competence but rather employ a model that encourages a journey towards self-authorship. In this study, the nature of child care students’ self-authorship is investigated as they transition from vocational training into professional practice. These findings will indicate the extent to which child care practitioners have developed self-authoring traits throughout their vocational training and
during their transition to professional practice and how this journey toward personal identity has informed their understandings of their professional identity.
An approach to learning and assessment based on self-authorship may provide a platform on which to build a culture change in vocational education assisting child care practitioners in their pursuit of a clear professional identity (Brownlee et al., 2011). Brownlee, Berthelsen and Boulton-Lewis (2010) suggested that competency-based assessment needs to challenge students to evaluate competing claims about knowledge, how different claims connect with the development of their own knowledge and how to apply it. The construction of knowledge must involve the weighing up of both formal and personal knowledge in social contexts. Brownlee et al., (2011) argued that this may be accomplished through a focus on self-authorship.
Baxter Magolda and King (2007) proposed that self-authorship should be the central goal of higher education and, I would argue, vocational education. They outlined a model for promoting self-authorship development in undergraduates through the Learning Partnerships Model. This model was based on three principles: validate students as knower’s, situate learning in student’s experiences, and define learning as mutually constructing meaning. Student’s learning is validated when respect for their interpretations is offered by their teachers. Knowledge is portrayed as complex and socially constructed, emphasising self as central to knowledge construction. Sharing authority and expertise assists in the mutual construction of knowledge. Calling for a layer of education beyond knowledge acquisition, she proposed that through helping students develop their own belief systems, deciding how to implement these systems in their professional practice, and refining them as knowledge, students could evolve as professionals. Baxter Magolda and King (2007) emphasised that students might only enact self-authorship if the context in which they find themselves is supportive. This sociocultural perspective (Vygotsky, 1978), highlights the social and cultural contexts of social interaction and participation.
A supportive context involves working collaboratively with educators and learners reflecting on their experience, analysing their existing knowledge, exploring connections between experience and knowledge, and exchanging insights to arrive at their own
beliefs. Baxter Magolda (2001) clarified how the dynamics of mutual construction of meaning helped participants develop their own views and move toward self-authorship. It was found that mutuality and interdependence were necessary for genuine participation in mutual construction. Learners, who listened carefully, considered others’ perspectives and shared their own perspectives found their interactions to be more worthwhile.
The qualitative study by Pizzolato (2003) examined changes in college students’ self-authoring ways of knowing. Using semi-structured interviews she focused on 35 students, studying their precollege and early college experiences and conceptions of self. Using verbal prompts and probes she encouraged students to describe in detail the important experiences and how they processed them. Even though the study was based on a small sample size and retrospective, the findings showed that many of the students possessed self-authoring ways of knowing prior to college. The degree to which these ways of knowing developed was associated with what Pizzolato (2003) called provocative experiences: those that challenged student’s current ways of knowing and conceptions of self. Central to all of these experiences was a sense of “disequilibrium” (Pizzolato, 2003, p. 800), where students questioned the reliability and value of their decision-making ability. Pizzolato (2003) found that the degree to which students were self-authored depended on how they dealt with experiences that disrupted their equilibrium. Some students considered making changes or revising their goals others committed to new goals and/or values, each of which led to a different form of self- authorship.
The student’s background demographics were also a contributing factor to the degree of self-authorship identified in Pizzalato’s (2003) study. Pizzolato defined two subgroups within her sample based on degrees of privilege. High privilege students who were sports scholarship recipients did not have to resolve challenges related to experiences like how to pay or apply for college. The low privilege students had to independently source information and funds to secure enrolment. A lack of privilege meant that such students needed to use their resourcefulness to achieve their goals. It was necessary for them to develop a strong and internally defined sense of self to assist in overcoming these challenges. On the other hand, privileged students were less prepared for the role they were expected to play in order to maintain their possible college self.
They missed the opportunities for more developed self-authoring ways of knowing. Pizzolato (2003) found that the development of increasingly more advanced degrees of self-authorship (internal foundations) arose out of students’ processing of challenging experiences, interacting with others and constructing relationships with others.
The findings from the study by Pizzolato (2003) have important implications for practice in VET and child care in general. They can be applied to high school students entering VET study for the first time or vocationally-trained child care practitioners who, with the current trend toward higher qualifications in child care are being encouraged more and more to enter university. At this stage they pursue this goal with little or no understanding of academia (Elliott, 2006). Krause (2006) argued that the transition to university can be a challenge, constituting a conflict of values, a challenge to one’s identity and a threat to familiar ways of knowing and doing. Although there is a recognised pathway between the VET Diploma of Children’s Services to a university degree in early childhood or primary teaching, Watson (2006a) found that students making this transition faced a range of difficulties. The most relevant to this research being the theoretical knowledge expected at university in contrast to the applied and vocational knowledge required at Technical and Further Education Institutes (TAFE) and the differences in teaching, learning and assessment styles at TAFE and university. Watson (2006a) reported in her findings that a frequent comment from early childhood course providers in universities regarding students who have entered the course with VET diplomas, was that they often had difficulty with the academic literacy requirements. Areas of concern which were cited included writing skills, developing arguments, self- directed critical reflection, research skills and the use of theoretical concepts to inform their practice.
Pizzolato (2003) highlighted how student’s self-authoring ways of knowing appear to arise from their willingness to process provocative interpersonal experiences. These findings add support to the Learning Partnerships Model of Baxter Magolda (2001) in which students are assisted to move towards more self-authored beliefs, identities and relationships. It was evident in the findings of Pizzolato (2003) that the most helpful relationships in college were ones in which students were actively engaged to think about their possible selves and the implications of such an achievement.
3.6 Conclusion
This research investigated the nature of the professional identities of child care practitioners as they transition from students in a vocational course to assistants or group leaders in long day child care centres. A qualified and committed early childhood workforce is integral in providing children with quality education and care. To develop a strong professional identity that will support professional participation in cohesive communities of practice within the broader social and political contexts, this thesis argues that child care practitioners need to have a strong self-authored professional identity. A professional identity based on self-authorship may provide practitioners with the skills to critically reflect and establish strong respectful and subjective partnerships with colleagues, parents and the community.
This chapter has provided an overview of current perspectives and theories on the development and understanding of professional identity. Several key findings were outlined. The review of literature noted that studies on professional identity took two directions, either to identify the specific characteristics of professional identity or to understanding the formation and change of professional identity across time. The central characteristic that linked the studies reviewed was their reference to the influence of context on shaping professional identity. Various studies highlighted these social, political, economic, and cultural influences on professional identity. There was also general consensus that understanding the development of professional identity required recognition of the close connection between the capacity to reflect critically both individually on the self and in autonomous respectful relationships. Studies also highlighted the link between professional identity and a sense of agency in performing the professional role. The extensive research was also characterised by the diversity in the theoretical and methodological perspectives used.
Literature emphasised that a sociocultural perspective on learning in the workplace underlines the importance of the collaborative social context of work and influence on individual learning and professional identity (Billett, 2001a; Kelly, 2006; Wenger, 1998). Studies also highlighted the importance of critical reflection in empowering child care practitioners to support quality pedagogical practice and develop stronger perceptions of
themselves as professionals (Brownlee et al., 2011). From the perspective of self- authorship, this thesis contends that individual child care practitioner’s professional identity is constructed as a result of negotiation between the self and the immediate sociocultural context in which child care work is embedded, their communities of practice. Strong and clear perceptions of professional identity are likely to be realised when practitioners participate in cohesive communities of practice using their interpersonal skills to engage in collaboration. Opportunities to reflect critically on their practice both individually and collaboratively enable them to make connections between their personal and professional ideals and epistemology. Such critical reflection that involves self and others is the essence of self-authorship theory which is the theoretical framework used in this study to examine professional identity in child care practitioners.
This review of literature has extended our understanding about the theory of self- authorship (Baxter Magolda, 2001; Creamer & Laughlin, 2005) to provide understandings about the use of self-authorship as a potential new framework which may assist in the understanding of the professional identity of child care practitioners. From the search of literature it was established that there is no research to date, that has used self-authorship as a means to understand and promote professional identity through child care practitioners learning experiences in VET courses and their early career professional practice. An emphasis on self-authorship in sociocultural contexts may provide new understandings of how to promote professional identity with child care practitioners’.