Troublesome Thresholds and Limiting Liminality: issues in teaching in vocational education

James AthertonPeter Hadfield

Peter Wolstencroft(formerly or currently of University of Bedfordshire

UK)

Liminality as Liability

James AthertonPeter Hadfield

Peter Wolstencroft(formerly or currently of University of Bedfordshire

UK)

Using the model/frame of

“defences against liminality”as a way of understanding

the practice of teaching and learning in vocational education (and beyond)

Intro

Based on…• Professional Graduate Certificate in Education, and a

non-grad version

• For teachers in post-compulsory education• About 700 students enrolled: in 10 centres: with

around 40 staff

• Actively using ideas of TCs since 2007• In a community of enquiry about how they

work in this sector

• Drawing on all possible sources (within ethical limits).

• Guided and encouraged by the three authors

Intro

Issue

EdExcel 2010Issue

[...] I could see that she was following the required Scheme of Work […] to the letter. The handout declared authoritatively that there are four theories [...] and the teacher was supposed to "get through" these at the rate of ten minutes each, and to test that they had been "learned" [...]

The students, rather sadly, were bored but compliant. They "researched" allocated topics [...] , and paraphrased what they found and the relevant paragraph

from the handout. […] They spoke when spoken to, but volunteered nothing. They exhibited a weary familiarity with yet more half-understood gobbets of information they were supposed to "learn", without a clue as to why.

The teacher told them they could “tick off” their first Unit objective

[…] post-observation discussion. I checked on the academic/vocational level of the programme (3; the next level below first-year undergraduate level). She

agreed it was dumbed-down to near meaninglessness, because that is seen as the way to get the students to "achieve". The bottom line is that they must not drop out.

(Atherton, 2010)

Issue

Issue

• [...] For an irrelevant reason, the teacher decides to address all the “P” level objectives first (for the whole syllabus), and then to revisit the “M” criteria and possibly the “D”s if there is time.

• [...] a student has encountered what is for him a threshold concept, and pipes up with, “But doesn’t that mean that...” and goes on to identify several more “functions of the firm” which go beyond the current topic but clearly now make sense to him.

• He is shut down, “We’re not doing that until next term—don’t confuse other people!”

Issue

Time

Kno

wle

dge/

ski

ll et

c.

Liminality

Time

Kno

wle

dge/

ski

ll et

c.

This is a stylised “learning curve”, a

fantasy of incremental

progress

Time

Kno

wle

dge/

ski

ll et

c.

This is a stylised “learning curve”, a

fantasy of incremental

progress

Liminality

Time

Kno

wle

dge/

ski

ll et

c.

This is a stylised “learning curve”, a

fantasy of incremental

progress

...and this is the more realistic curve

associated with learning a threshold

concept

Liminality

Time

Kno

wle

dge/

ski

ll et

c.

This is a stylised “learning curve”, a

fantasy of incremental

progress

...and this is the more realistic curve

associated with learning a threshold

concept

in particular, this is the

Liminal Trough

Liminality

• Entry level ESOL class

• Trying “naked” teaching

• Changed rooms at last minute

“...almost visible cognitive processes going on as one learner [...] started to answer, fell silent, [...], I again opened it up to the rest of the group. No significant answer, lots of thinking and, crucially

silence for a few moments until the original learner came up with “university” (albeit

mispronounced). A lovely lovely moment, and it wouldn’t have happened if I’d leapt in and told him.”

Sam Shepherd’s blog: 14 June 2012 (his emphasis)Liminali

ty

Liminality is

risky (and so are TCs)

Liminality

Risk is

toxicLiminali

ty

Pressures

andresponse

s

So...

Pressures

andresponse

s

So...

No room for, can’t afford liminality

Pressures

andresponse

s

which represents

loss of control

Pressures

andresponse

s

Pressures

andresponse

s

which represents

loss of controland hence

increasing anxiety

For manage

rs

For teacher

s

…and for

students

Isobel Menzies-Lyth investigated this general principle in a classic 1967 paper:

"A Case-study in the Functioning of Social Systems as a Defence against Anxiety”

which does what it says on the tin (based on nursing).

Trade-off

• Security vs. autonomy

• Risk reduction stagnation

• Raising awareness of the normality of liminality (Cousin, 2008)

So what?

Suggestions

• Raising awareness of the normality of liminality (Cousin, 2008)

• Providing the language to “diagnose” it

So what?

Suggestions

• Raising awareness of the normality of liminality (Cousin, 2008)

• Providing the language to “diagnose” it

• Pre-emptive re-assurance

So what?

Suggestions

www.doceo.co.uk/tools/thresholds_11.htm

james@doceo.co.uk

Selected References

• Atherton J S (2010) Recent Reflection: On making learning more difficult by making it easier... http://recentreflection.blogspot.com/2010/12/on-making-learning-more-difficult-by.html#ixzz1yLm6CPEU accessed 20 June 2012

• Keats John (1817) Letter to George and Thomas Keats (21 Dec 1817) in H. E. Rollins (ed.), (1958) Letters of John Keats, Vol. 1, 193

• Land, R., Cousin, G., Meyer, J.H.F. and Davies, P. (2005), Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (3): implications for course design and evaluation, In: C. Rust (ed.), Improving Student Learning - diversity and inclusivity, Proceedings of the 12th Improving Student Learning Conference. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development (OCSLD), pp 53-64. [http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/isl/isl2004/abstracts/conceptual_papers/ISL04-pp53-64-Land-et-al.pdf   last accessed 23 May 2012]

• Menzies-Lyth I E P (1988) "A Case-study in the Functioning of Social Systems as a Defence against Anxiety" (1967) reprinted in Containing Anxiety in Institutions (Selected Essays vol I) London: Free Association Books

• Perkins D (2010) “Threshold Experience” keynote given at 3rd Biennial Threshold Concepts Symposium, UNSW, Sydney 1-2 July 2010 (online, available http://www.thresholdconcepts2010.unsw.edu.au/speakers.html retrieved 14 November 2011

• Shepherd S (2012) Sam Shepherd’s Blog http://samuelshep.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/unplugged-trousers/ accessed 14 June 2012

• Turner V (1969) The Ritual Process; structure and anti-structure London; Routledge and Kegan Paul

• Van Gennep A (1909) The Rites of Passage (trans.) Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960

• Wenger E (1998) Communities of Practice Cambridge; CUP

The original version of this presentation was given at the 4th International Threshold Concepts Conference, held 28-29 June 2012 at Trinity College Dublin.