{"id":1,"date":"2021-10-30T10:00:01","date_gmt":"2021-10-30T09:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/welspgr\/?p=1"},"modified":"2021-09-22T13:23:38","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T12:23:38","slug":"congratulations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/welspgr\/index.php\/2021\/10\/30\/congratulations\/","title":{"rendered":"Congratulations to Dr Gill Ferguson"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Photo by katy hardman on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Congratulations to Dr Gill Ferguson for the successful <\/b>co<\/b><\/span>mpletion<\/b><\/span>\u00a0of her EdD Thesis<\/b><\/span><\/h1>\n

\u201cWhen David Bowie created <\/strong>
\nZiggy Stardust\u201d<\/strong>
\nThe lived experiences of social <\/strong>
\nworkers learning through work<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Abstract<\/b><\/p>\n

The findings from this qualitative study sit at the intersection of knowledge about
\nworkplace and professional learning, offering new insights into how social workers
\nlearn through work. The study explored the unique lived experiences of social
\nworkers\u2019 learning through an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study
\n(Smith et al., 2009).<\/p>\n

IPA was selected to focus on the nature of the social workers\u2019 lifeworld and their
\nlived experiences of learning in the workplace. In-depth individual interviews
\ngathered rich descriptions from sixteen social workers. The double-hermeneutic
\ncycle, a feature of IPA, explored the meaning that the social workers drew from
\ntheir experiences and the researcher making sense of the participants\u2019 sensemaking. Individual and unique experiences of the participants were explored,
\ngenerating themes for the social workers through an immersive process of
\nanalysis for each case in turn.<\/p>\n

Superordinate themes were then identified across the group that revealed the
\ncomplexity of social workers\u2019 learning experiences. These were, Journey of the
\nself; Navigating landscape and place; Navigating tasks; Learning through the
\nbody; Learning through others; Practices and conceptions of learning; and,
\nLearning by chance. These aspects of the social workers\u2019 lived experiences weave
\ntogether in a complex and enmeshed web, each thread connected to the others as
\npart of the learning process. Striking metaphors were used by social workers to
\nconvey the meaning they associated with their learning in the workplace.
\nThe thesis shows the nature and complexity of individual social workers\u2019
\nexperiences and how understanding these can help design more effective
\nworkplace continuing professional learning opportunities. Drawing on rich
\ntheoretical ideas from phenomenology and workplace learning, the thesis offers a
\nhybrid conceptual web model for social work professional development. This model acknowledges the unique experience of social workers within a complex
\ncontext involving navigation of task, place and embodied learning.<\/p>\n

You can read Gillian’s thesis here:\u00a0Gillian Ferguson theses.pdf (open.ac.uk)<\/a><\/p>\n

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Dr Gillian Ferguson\u00a0@learnventurer<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve worked in diverse settings as social worker, community learning worker and various other roles in practice, HE and learning\/development. Keen to be inspired and inspire others to learn. My doctoral research explored lived experiences of social workers learning through work.<\/p>\n

@learnventurer<\/a><\/p>\n

Linkedin<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Congratulations to Dr Gill Ferguson for the successful completion\u00a0of her EdD Thesis \u201cWhen David Bowie created Ziggy Stardust\u201d The lived experiences of social workers learning through work       Abstract The findings from this qualitative study sit at the intersection of knowledge about workplace and professional learning, offering new insights into how social workers … <\/p>\n

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