Learning in Third Spaces: Developing Trans-Professional Understanding through Practitioner Enquiry
Source: Educational Action Research, Volume 17, Issue 4 December 2009 , pages 537 - 550.
This article investigates the value of practitioner enquiry in the development of common language and shared understandings. The participants were a group of mid-career professionals from a variety of public service backgrounds, brought together to formulate responses to the English agenda for integrating services.
It draws upon data gathered from multi-professional action learning and focus groups via a collaboration between an English University and six regional authorities.
Theories of 'third space' and 'hybridity' are engaged in arguing that the achievement of 'integrated' or 'trans-professional' knowledge can develop within 'undecided' reflective spaces through which new ways of working are discovered.
It concludes that collaborative multi-professional practitioner enquiry offers a realistic means of embedding this challenging aspect of policy.