The Professional Self and Diverse Learning Needs

Abstract

As practitioners and academics, we continually discuss with each other a general need that neither we - nor our colleagues - seem to attend to: taking the time to “stop and stand and stare”. When we started our careers in education, we were full of wonderment about the work ahead, and the opportunities to become really good “evidence informed” educators. We were also full of optimism and enthusiasm for the pupils that we would get the opportunity to work with. We were full of hope for the transformative power of education to enhance the lives of families and communities. These are all still true. The only difference is that now we recognise how difficult it can be in an ever evolving world. As we attend to our work here in this chapter, we have been somewhat forced to “stop and stand and stare”. As reflexive practitioners, this is an ongoing thread that many of you may identify with in the rich tapestry of being a continually developing educator. We trust that our reflections and work here will be of use to you in your own reflections and plans for the future. It is probably fair to say that there has been a drift between our early ambitions and the reality of the contemporary classroom. This might be partly attributable to changes in policy and prevailing ideologies regarding the role of education and inclusive pedagogy. However, our own changing personal and professional identities cannot be ignored.

As we write this, we are immensely aware of the competing demands on your life and time - some from your professional life, some from your personal and family life, and some from the world that we live in. Whatever age or stage of your life you are at, we would encourage you to go on this journey with us, with an open and reflexive mind. We would encourage you to recognise all of the “baggage” that you have accumulated on your professional and life’s travels, and to de-center from this accumulation of attitudes, perspectives, prejudices, and practices. This type of work is seldom as easy as it first appears. To be truly reflective, we need to be aware of the possible need to change our mindsets and approaches to practice. If attitudinal and behavioural change was easy, we would have little need for all of the motivational and technological tools we use in our (often futile) attempts to increase the number of steps taken each day, reminders to have some “headspace”, apps to help us be more productive, and lifestyle approaches to help us with the “disease of being busy” (Safi, 2014). So, we hope that this chapter will help you to de-clutter and reappraise your personal, social, and emotional responsibilities - to yourself and to those young hearts and minds that you are entrusted to work with.