| Dissertation |
Thesis (D.Soc.Sc.) --NUI, 2011 at Department of Applied Social Science, UCC. |
| Summary |
Youth Work and Community Work in Ireland are undergoing a process of ‘professionalisation’. This process is manifested, in part, by a concern with standards of, and criteria for, initial professional education and training programmes at third level. Sectoral endorsement of professional programmes sets out requirements and criteria for supervised fieldwork practice as a core component of such programmes. To date, supervision of fieldwork in youth work and community work is under-researched and as such, little is known about the experiences, practices, and perceptions of fieldwork supervisors in those contexts. Utilising the oral strengths of practitioners the research adopts a narrative inquiry approach combined with an action-research ‘twist’, to engage experienced youth work and community work practitioners as collaborators and co-researchers, in an exploration of their practice as fieldwork supervisors. The research firstly identifies, and ‘re-presents’ supervisors’ narratives of fieldwork practice and supervision as ‘crystallised practice narratives’ (CPNs) which privilege the participants’ first-person voices. Secondly, the conceptual ‘metaphors in use’ embedded in those practice narratives of fieldwork, student supervision and practice were analysed and provisionally reconstructed utilising a three phase process inspired by the work of Lakoff and Johnson (1980), Kövecses (2000), Schmitt (2005) and Steger (2007). The research reconstructs three conceptual metaphors: FIELDWORK IS A TESTING [JOURNEY] PATH, SUPERVISION IS ILLUMINATION ON A [JOURNEY] PATH and PRACTICE IS A [REVOLUTIONARY] PATH, each of which is further detailed in a metaphoric short story. These metaphoric stories highlight: the various dimensions of ‘testing’ that take place in fieldwork contexts; the role of supervisor as co-traveller who provides illumination for students’ travels; supervisor ambivalence about student assessment; a theory-practice dichotomy; and the contested and political nature of professional practice. The research also charts the researcher’s engagement with narrative inquiry and the doctoral research process itself, going beyond the oft-quoted doctoral journey to characterise it in metaphorical terms as an OVER-LAND EXPEDITION, highlighting both solo and collaborative aspects. |
| Subject |
Youth workers -- Ireland.
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Community Work -- Social Services.
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Social sciences -- Fieldwork.
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| Collection |
Theses Ph.D.
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Theses Applied Social Science Department
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| Description |
274 pages ; 30 cm. |
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