Revision with unchanged content. Our 'new professionals' need to be able
to act with initiative and responsibility if they are to become more
than functionaries for social élites in the twenty-first century.
Current degree-level courses tend to ignore the importance of active
decision making and concentrate instead almost exclusively on
theoretical knowledge. Using what she calls a 'responsive case study'
into the teaching and management of a professional practice course for
recruits in the criminal justice professions, Merrelyn Bates proposes a
basis for what she calls action teaching. She analyses both the
cognitive and affective dimensions of teaching strategies and
interventions designed to challenge students to use action in the
workplace as the fundamental base for their ongoing development of
expertise. Drawing on a number of theorists from education, philosophy,
psychology and education, she develops an epistemology of practice
analysing in detail the students' responses to learning experiences that
she, as an action teacher, offers. She also offers a number of
principles of procedure which will assist practitioners and university
policy makers to design and implement practical values-based programs.
