ERIC Number: EJ783152
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 14
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0883-0355
EISSN: N/A
Renewing Occupational Cultures--Bridging Boundaries in Learning Spaces
Kalliola, Satu; Nakari, Risto
International Journal of Educational Research, v46 n3-4 p190-203 2007
Professional bureaucracies of the Finnish municipal services are challenged by many modernization pressures manifested currently in the form of New Public Management. Along with efficiency demands the new emphasis is on the provision of client-oriented services by the means of multi-professional teamwork crossing the traditional sector boundaries. This paper analyzes the learning processes needed when representatives of different professional and other occupational cultures start cooperation. The participants of the research are professionals taking care of the elderly: in a small rural municipality the social and health care staff plan joint home care services and in a city, where a joint home care unit is already established, the professional collaboration is extended towards theatre, art exhibitions and other cultural services. In both cases the researchers invited the professionals to have future-oriented discussions on joint dialogue forums. In the analysis of the proceedings the forums were conceptualized as 'learning spaces' and the differences in professional cultures as "thresholds". The results of the analysis point out how the professional cultural confrontation between the social and health sector was more severe, the thresholds were higher, than between the home care staff and the cultural sector professionals. The paper suggests that the dialogue method facilitates learning and crossing the professional cultural boundaries if all participants themselves let this happen and secure that the results of the dialogues will be turned into concrete actions.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Professional Personnel, Older Adults, Social Services, Occupations, Learning Processes, Cooperative Learning, Active Learning, Allied Health Personnel, Teamwork, Cultural Enrichment
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Finland
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A