ERIC Number: EJ960585
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1363-9080
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Complexity Science and Professional Learning for Collaboration: A Critical Reconsideration of Possibilities and Limitations
Fenwick, Tara
Journal of Education and Work, v25 n1 p141-162 2012
Professionals increasingly must collaborate very closely, such as through inter-professional work arrangements. This involves learning both "in" and "for" collaboration. Some educational researchers have turned to complexity science to better understand these learning dynamics. This discussion asks, How useful is complexity science for examining professional learning in collaboration? After introducing complexity principles that appear in accounts of professional practice and education, selected studies are presented that draw from complexity science to examine professional collaboration in fields of management, social and health care, and education. A critical discussion of these studies points out oversights and limitations. Complexity theory is concluded to offer useful insights for two areas: (1) articulating complexities of professional practice and knowledge and (2) providing educational support for professional knowing-in-undecidability. However, it is also argued that complexity analyses of professional collaboration could do much more to exploit the explanatory power of complexity concepts, by returning to rich dynamics of strong emergence in a sociomaterialist analysis, and by avoiding metaphorical uses of complexity. Used rigorously rather than romantically, complexity concepts may prove more useful not only in analysing political dynamics of collaborative professional practice, but also in opening new questions and approaches for future research in professional learning. (Contains 2 notes.)
Descriptors: Professional Personnel, Cooperation, Professional Development, Researchers, Theory Practice Relationship, Interdisciplinary Approach, Administration, Health Services, Social Services, Educational Practices
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Adult Education; Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A

Peer reviewed
Direct link
