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Professional Discourse : How Do Novice Professionals See Themselves?

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From Expert Student to Novice Professional

Abstract

In a range of disciplines, including music, design, statistics, law, theology and mathematics, we show how students view their discipline and their learning in that discipline, how they perceive their future profession, and how they see the relationship between future profession and current studies. In general, across the range of views, there are some narrower or limiting and some broader or expansive conceptions. The most limited views (called Extrinsic Technical) see the discipline, learning and the profession in terms of technical components. A broader view (called Extrinsic Meaning) focuses on the discipline-specific artefacts – the actual music, the legal structures, the sets of data and the mathematical models. The most expansive views (which we have labelled Intrinsic Meaning) make a strong personal connection with the discipline and the profession. These conceptions are hierarchical and inclusive, meaning that a student who is aware of the broadest views is also able to access and use the more limited views when necessary – but not vice versa. The broadest views of the profession tend to coexist with broad views of learning in the discipline, and helping students see their profession in a broader way encourages them to a broader view of learning. Given the range of disciplines represented in the book, it seems possible to postulate similar relationships in a wider range of professions.

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Correspondence to Anna Reid .

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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

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Reid, A., Dahlgren, M.A., Petocz, P., Dahlgren, L.O. (2011). Professional Discourse : How Do Novice Professionals See Themselves?. In: From Expert Student to Novice Professional. Professional Learning and Development in Schools and Higher Education, vol 99. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0250-9_3

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