Editorial

In our previous, inaugural editorial we noted the strange times in which we are living, with particular uncertainty as to whether the UK would have exited the EU on 29 March 2019. Just a few months later and the United Kingdom is still in a state of instability, the former Prime Minister Teresa May having resigned and a new leader of the Conservative Party, and perforce, Prime Minister, now in post. As PM Boris Johnson assembles his Cabinet we once again find ourselves presented with new and in many cases inexperienced Secretaries of State across the Public Sector. And this of course brings with it a new wave of policy initiatives at system level as ministers seek to define their time in office, to make a difference in the name of progress. Of course, policy initiatives launched by new ministers have a significant impact on practitioners who are charged with enacting changes to a greater or lesser extent depending on the nature of the policy text. Roland Barthes (2009) concepts of readerly and writerly texts will be helpful to those of us in ~and close to ~ practice in the coming months as we seek to understand, critique and enact new policies that will inevitably reposition expert practitioners, redefine legitimate knowledge and reshape the public sphere. Even with the introduction of new policies, the UK remains in a state of uncertainty as the revised date for leaving the EU, the 31st October, looms. This state of continuous and rapid change has been described by Zygmunt Bauman as Liquid Modernity, where the flux is the status quo, often resulting in insecurity. Such times require particular skills and dispositions from practitioners and educationalists, particularly if they are to retain their values. Fiona King picked up on just this point in the Editorial of our sister journal, ‘Professional Development in Education’, recently. Reflecting on how we empower practitioners to stay close to their moral purpose, Fiona proposes developing practitioner agency through professional learning and development, ergo, through reflection and critique. The papers in this second issue of ‘Practice: contemporary issues in practitioner education’ stay close to this mission, whilst reflecting the liquidity of high modernity.

Our regular opening feature, ‘In conversation with … ’ engages with Professor Ken Jones. Ken offers us the compelling image of practice as a final, on ~stage performance, the result of intense backstage endeavours; the backstage endeavours representing rich and vital professional learning and development. An abiding theme throughout Ken’s career has been the quest to create space for learning opportunities, to make time to think critically about how learners learn, and to create learning cultures, themes that are exemplified by many of the papers in this issue.

Ben Screech, in his research on unsilencing the child in children’s’ literature, employs reader response theory to privilege the child’s ’ voice. Ben demonstrates the conditions of entry and participation in literature via language, and highlights the ways in which adults are gatekeepers to the text, resulting, arguably, in an othering of the child; the adult author speaks for and about children in the text. Said’s Orientalism provides the theoretical lens in this think piece, where kinship is advocated in text production.

Caroline Lohmann ~Hancock and Philip Morgan explore the uncertainty of widening participation students undertaking an Integrated Masters in Social Sciences. They set out a valuable interrogation of the postgraduate funding landscape showing that there is no one funding system for the British learner. They too draw on Bauman’s (2000) notions of change, uncertainty and anxiety to describe the fragmented context of professional learning and development at Masters level. Focused on a new Integrated Masters in a Welsh HEI they highlight the importance, and challenges, of positioning students and staff as equal partners in the learning process.

Chris Carpenter’s think piece is another example of Bauman’s Liquid Modernity, of rapid change and instability. Chris deconstructs a speech by Damien Hinds, who, at the time of submission was Secretary of State for Education. After just a year in post, however, Hinds resigned as Boris Johnson took office as PM. Chris puts social mobility under the microscope, drawing out the challenges of harnessing this to address inequality.

The type of inquiry~based, theory rich professional learning and development championed by Ken Jones in the opening article is researched by Mary McAteer in her research on the Mathematics Specialist Programme (MaST). Mary draws out the essence of relevant, high-quality professional learning that empowers practitioners to re~form their relationship with the subject and reduce their anxiety in relation to teaching the subject.

Like Fiona King, Tristan Middleton’s think piece highlights the centrality of moral purpose to inclusive practice. Tristan proposes a human rights-based approach to inclusive practice that enhances resilience, develops relational thinking and embraces diversity. In essence, a compassionate approach to practice.

The holy grail of questioning as a means to enhance learning is challenged by Colin Forster et al. in their research on the use of questions in primary science. They draw attention to the balance of teacher talk and time for learners to think; in a fascinating echo of Screech’s earlier think piece, this article shows how teacher talk can also silence the child. By drawing attention to the nuances of questioning situated within a meaning-making frame, Forster et al. remind us of the value of action research as a rich vehicle for professional learning.

Our regular final piece, ‘From our own correspondent’ has been crafted by Ben Appleby and Claire Roberts, who offer us their reflections on the Integrated MSci nursing dual registration programme. They too situate this development within a climate of rapid change in health, care and education drawing attention to the co~production of programmes with stakeholders and show that whilst fundamental skills and knowledge have not changed since the previous iteration of standards, what has changed is how the portfolio of knowledge and skills in the health-care arena can be applied.

There are key threads that are woven through this issue: the centrality of rich, relevant professional learning; the rapidly changing context within which practice is enacted and the place of values in professional practice.