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Professionalism

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	53%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	16%
Education	9%
Humanities and Social Sciences	8%
Law and Criminology	3%
5 Other Domains	11%

Distribution within Medical Sciences

Medical Professional Development	26%
Nursing General	18%
16 Other Subdomains	56%

Selected Abstracts

Contesting the Curriculum: An Examination of Professionalism as Defined and Enacted by Australian History Teachers

CURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 3 2007
FIONA HILFERTY
ABSTRACT In this article, I present an analysis of professionalism as defined and enacted by the History Teachers' Association of New South Wales (HTANSW). This analysis was part of a larger doctoral project (2000,2005) in which I employed critical qualitative inquiry to compare and contrast the contribution that two subject teaching associations (science and history) make to the project of teacher professionalism in Australia. My aim for this project was to explore what professionalism means in practice for a unique group of teachers: those who have made an active and fundamental commitment to their subject community by voluntarily serving on the executive committee of their subject-based professional association. In this article, I present findings from the case account of the HTANSW,an organization that operates locally as a professional teacher community and a representative organization for school-based history teachers. This case account details the manoeuvrings of an association that powerfully asserts an expansive role for history teachers as both contributors to, and critical commentators on, curriculum policy. In this article, I conceptualise the actions of this association as an enacted form of teacher professionalism. Drawing on study findings, I explicate my conception of professionalism as an enacted discourse of power and I show how this discourse is enacted in subject-specific ways. [source]

Writing the "Show,Me" Standards: Teacher Professionalism and Political Control in U.S. State Curriculum Policy

CURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 3 2002
Margaret Placier
This qualitative case study analyzes the process of writing academic standards in one U.S. state, Missouri. The researchers took a critical pragmatic approach, which entailed close examination of the intentions and interactions of various participants in the writing process (teachers, politicians, business leaders, the public), in order to understand the text that was finally produced. School reform legislation delegated responsibility for writing the standards to a teacher work group, but the teachers found that their "professional" status and their intention to write standards that reflected a "constructivist" view of knowledge would meet with opposition. Politicians, who held different assumptions about the audience, organization, and content of the standards, exercised their greater power to control the outcome of the process. As the researchers analyzed public records and documents generated during the writing process, they constructed a chronological narrative detailing points of tension among political actors. From the narrative, they identified four conflicts that significantly influenced the final wording of the standards. They argue that as a consequence of these conflicts, Missouri's standards are characterized by a dichotomous view of content and process; bland, seemingly value,neutral language; and lack of specificity. Such conflicts and outcomes are not limited to this context. A comparative, international perspective shows that they seem to occur when groups in societies marked by political conflicts over education attempt to codify what "all students should know." [source]

Teaching Communications and Professionalism through Writing and Humanities: Reflections of Ten Years of Experience

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 11 2002
David P. Sklar MD
Both professionalism and interpersonal communication are core competencies for emergency medicine residents as well as residents from other specialties. The authors describe a weekly, small-group seminar lasting one year for emergency medicine residents that incorporates didactic materials, case studies, narrative expression (stories and poems), and small-group discussion. Examples of cases and narrative expressions are provided and a rationale for utilizing the format is explained. A theoretical model for evaluation measures is also included. [source]

Ethics Seminars: Teaching Professionalism to "Problem" Residents

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 10 2002
Catherine A. Marco MD
Abstract Professional skills, which include communication, compassion, honesty, integrity, altruism, service, commitment, suspension of self-interest, commitment to excellence, authority, and accountability, are essential skills that should be taught during residency. A variety of approaches can be used, which include didactic teaching, bedside teaching, leadership, evaluation, and individualized mentorship. Deficiencies in professional skills should be identified early in the residency program, and should be addressed on an individual level. [source]

Internal Audit Professionalism and Section 404 Compliance: The View of Chief Audit Executives from Northeast Ohio

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AUDITING, Issue 1 2007
Albert L. Nagy
This study explores the notion that the recently heightened regulation over United States public company reporting limits the amount of professional judgment required by internal auditors, and in the long run may reduce the overall value and professionalism of the internal audit group. Our assessment is based on face-to-face interviews conducted with Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) from 17 publicly listed companies located in Northeast Ohio, United States, and is in general agreement with the extant literature on the topic. We find that despite several short-term benefits from the Section 404 work for the individual auditor (e.g., increased pay and job security), the compliance work may indeed be a threat to the long-term reputation of the internal audit profession. Based on the existing literature and the CAEs' responses, the Section 404 work does appear to be driving the internal audit profession down a new path. [source]

Determining the professional behaviour of nurse executives

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NURSING PRACTICE, Issue 4 2010
Filiz Hisar PhD RN
Hisar F, Karada, A. International Journal of Nursing Practice 2010; 16: 335,341 Determining the professional behaviour of nurse executives This study was carried out with the aim of determining the professional behaviour of nurse executives. The sample of the study included 104 nurse executives working in university, state and private hospitals in Turkey. Data were collected using a questionnaire, which included demographic characteristics of nurses and a Behavioral Inventory Form for Professionalism in Nursing (BIPN). The questionnaire was filled out by the nurses. The BIPN results showed that the mean score of nurse executives was low. Although the scores of nurse executives who had completed postgraduate studies in nursing were the highest, those who had only completed an associate degree programme were the lowest. In conclusion, the professionalism scores for Turkish nurse executives were found to be low; recommendations for improving these scores were made. [source]

Session 4A , Professionalism

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACY PRACTICE, Issue S1 2009
Article first published online: 8 JAN 2010
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Professionalism and ,the master clinician', an early learning experience

JOURNAL OF EVALUATION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 3 2000
Ronald Harrison Fishbein MD
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Perceptions of Professionalism: Interior Design Practitioners Working for the Top 100 Firms

JOURNAL OF INTERIOR DESIGN, Issue 1 2001
Craig Birdsong M.S.
ABSTRACT A necessary gauge of a profession is its members' commitment to the components of a profession. This study examined interior design practitioners' perceptions of selected components. Interior designers employed by the top 100 firms identified in Interior Design magazine were surveyed about their perceptions of accreditation of undergraduate programs, state licensing, the NCIDQ examination, research and graduate education. Ninety-four (94) responses representing 34 firms were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, and mean scores. Spearman rho correlation coefficients were calculated to determine relationships and Horowitz's categorizations and descriptions of coefficient values were used for summarizing the Spearman correlation coefficients. In general, practitioners perceived an advantage of most components of a profession for interior design. Graduate education was the one professional component they did not view as important or advantageous as the other four. Practitioners might consider increased involvement in the various components interior design has developed to meet the requirements of a profession and acquire additional credentials for themselves. Educators and the professional organizations must work more diligently to help practitioners understand the importance of graduate education and its relevance to the continuing and successful growth of the profession. [source]

Client Influence and the Contingency of Professionalism: The Work of Elite Corporate Lawyers in China

LAW & SOCIETY REVIEW, Issue 4 2006
Sida Liu
This study examines how the professional work of elite corporate lawyers is constructed by influence from different types of clients. The data presented include interviews with 24 lawyers from six elite corporate law firms in China and the author's participant-observation in one of the firms. For these elite Chinese corporate law firms, foreign corporations, state-owned enterprises, and private enterprises constitute their extremely diversified client types. Accordingly, lawyers' work becomes flexible and adaptive to accommodate the different demands of the clients. Meanwhile, client influence on lawyers' professional work is mediated by the division of labor within the corporate law firm: whereas partners have solid control over the process of diagnosis, inference, and treatment and thus enjoy a high degree of professional autonomy, associates are largely stripped of this cultural machinery in the workplace, and their work becomes vulnerable to client influence. As a result, client influence on professional work appears to decrease with a lawyer's seniority. [source]

Proto-professionalism: how professionalisation occurs across the continuum of medical education

MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 1 2005
Sean R Hilton
Introduction, Professionalism and its assessment across the medical education continuum have become prominent topics in recent years. We consider the nature of professionalism and how it emerges and relates to the work carried out by doctors and doctors-in-training. Thesis and Discussion, We suggest 6 domains in which evidence of professionalism can be expected: ethical practice; reflection/self-awareness; responsibility for actions; respect for patients; teamwork, and social responsibility. Furthermore, we propose that a defining characteristic is encapsulated by the Greek term phronesis, or practical wisdom. Phronesis is acquired only after a prolonged period of experience (and reflection on experience) occurring in concert with the professional's evolving knowledge and skills base. The prior period we have termed as one of ,proto-professionalism'. Influences on proto-professionalism are considered in terms of moral and psychosocial development and reflective judgement. Conclusion, Curricula that develop meta-skills will foster the acquisition and maintenance of professionalism. Adverse environmental conditions in the hidden curriculum may have powerful attritional effects. [source]

Professionalism and the Millbank Tendency: The Political Sociology of New Labour's Employees

POLITICS, Issue 1 2003
Paul Webb
This article analyses party employees, one of the most under-researched subjects in the study of British political parties. We draw on a blend of quantitative and qualitative data in order to shed light on the social and political profiles of Labour Party staff, and on the question of their professionalisation. The latter theme is developed through a model derived from the sociology of professions. While a relatively limited proportion of party employees conform to the pure ideal-type of professionalism, a considerably greater number manifest enough of the core characteristics of specialisation, commitment, mobility, autonomy and self-regulation to be reasonably described as ,professionals in pursuit of political outcomes'. [source]

Integration of Professionalism and Volunteerism in Building the Foundation of the "International Institute of Breast Pathology" A Worldwide Collaboration

THE BREAST JOURNAL, Issue 2 2008
Shahla Masood MD
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Doctors in a Wired World: Can Professionalism Survive Connectivity?

THE MILBANK QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2002
David Blumenthal
The Information Revolution Has Raised Myriad questions about how the health care system will function in the future (Gingrich and Magaziner 2000; National Research Council 2000). The consensus seems to be that new information technologies will significantly affect almost every aspect of health care, from the way that employers and individuals purchase health insurance to the way that doctors and patients provide and receive care (National Research Council 2000). Although peer-reviewed evidence to support these predictions is scarce, the available data suggest that the major health care actors are actively experimenting with the new capabilities to exchange information. A February 2002 survey by Harris Interactive (www.Harrisinteractive.com) found that 137 million Americans were users of the Internet and the World Wide Web and 110 million reported going on-line at least three times a month to look for health care information (Landro 2002). An earlier survey by the Pew Charitable Trusts reported that of those Americans who used the Internet for health care purposes, 92 percent found the information useful. The information revolution has the potential to reduce the asymmetry of information between patients and doctors and thereby to undermine a central pillar of physicians' claim to professional status: the possession of distinctive competence based on technical know-how selflessly applied and collectively monitored. A close analysis of the information revolution's likely effects suggests that for some patients with some conditions, their access to more and better information will indeed reduce the magic, mystery, and power of the medical profession. However, the information revolution also offers opportunities for physicians to bolster the cognitive and moral bases of professionalism. To seize those opportunities, physicians must master new roles and skills and avoid unacceptable conflicts of interest. [source]

Abel: English Lawyers Between the Market and State: The Politics of Professionalism

THE MODERN LAW REVIEW, Issue 1 2005
Gerard Hanlon
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Can Unannounced Standardized Patients Assess Professionalism and Communication Skills in the Emergency Department?

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 9 2009
Sondra Zabar MD
Abstract Objectives:, The authors piloted unannounced standardized patients (USPs) in an emergency medicine (EM) residency to test feasibility, acceptability, and performance assessment of professionalism and communication skills. Methods:, Fifteen postgraduate year (PGY)-2 EM residents were scheduled to be visited by two USPs while working in the emergency department (ED). Multidisciplinary support was utilized to ensure successful USP introduction. Scores (% well done) were calculated for communication and professionalism skills using a 26-item, behaviorally anchored checklist. Residents' attitudes toward USPs and USP detection were also surveyed. Results:, Of 27 USP encounters attempted, 17 (62%) were successfully completed. The detection rate was 44%. Eighty-three percent of residents who encountered a USP felt that the encounter did not hinder daily practice and did not make them uncomfortable (86%) or suspicious of patients (71%). Overall, residents received a mean score of 60% for communication items rated "well done" (SD ± 28%, range = 23%,100%) and 53% of professionalism items "well done" (SD ± 20%, range = 23%-85%). Residents' communication skills were weakest for patient education and counseling (mean = 43%, SD ± 31%), compared with information gathering (68%, SD ± 36% and relationship development (62%, SD ± 32%). Scores of residents who detected USPs did not differ from those who had not. Conclusions:, Implementing USPs in the ED is feasible and acceptable to staff. The unpredictability of the ED, specifically resident schedules, accounted for most incomplete encounters. USPs may represent a new way to assess real-time resident physician performance without the need for faculty resources or the bias introduced by direct observation. [source]

Maintaining Diversity in Information Agencies: Accountability, Professionalism, Job Performance, Policies, and Standards

BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (ELECTRONIC), Issue 4 2000
Irene Owens
First page of article [source]

Professionalism and Public Service: Essays in Honour of Kenneth Kernaghan Edited by DAVID SIEGEL and KEN RASMUSSEN

CANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION/ADMINISTRATION PUBLIQUE DU CANADA, Issue 1 2009
Donald J. Savoie
First page of article [source]

Professionalism and anatomy: How do these two terms define our role?

CLINICAL ANATOMY, Issue 5 2006
Wojciech Pawlina
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

The Assessment of Emergency Physicians by a Regulatory Authority

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 12 2006
Jocelyn M. Lockyer PhD
Abstract Objectives To determine whether it is possible to develop a feasible, valid, and reliable multisource feedback program (360° evaluation) for emergency physicians. Methods Surveys with 16, 20, 30, and 31 items were developed to assess emergency physicians by 25 patients, eight coworkers, eight medical colleagues, and self, respectively, using five-point scales along with an "unable to assess" category. Items addressed key competencies related to communication skills, professionalism, collegiality, and self-management. Results Data from 187 physicians who identified themselves as emergency physicians were available. The mean number of respondents per physician was 21.6 (SD ± 3.87) (93%) for patients, 7.6 (SD ± 0.89) (96%) for coworkers, and 7.7 (SD ± 0.61) (95%) for medical colleagues, suggesting it was a feasible tool. Only the patient survey had four items with "unable to assess" percentages ,15%. The factor analysis indicated there were two factors on the patient questionnaire (communication/professionalism and patient education), two on the coworker survey (communication/collegiality and professionalism), and four on the medical colleague questionnaire (clinical performance, professionalism, self-management, and record management) that accounted for 80.0%, 62.5%, and 71.9% of the variance on the surveys, respectively. The factors were consistent with the intent of the instruments, providing empirical evidence of validity for the instruments. Reliability was established for the instruments (Cronbach's , > 0.94) and for each physician (generalizability coefficients were 0.68 for patients, 0.85 for coworkers, and 0.84 for medical colleagues). Conclusions The psychometric examination of the data suggests that the instruments developed to assess emergency physicians were feasible and provide evidence for validity and reliability. [source]

The Difficult Client-Acceptance Decision in Canadian Audit Firms: A Field Investigation,

CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 2 2001
Yves Gendron
Abstract Auditing is often depicted in scientific and professional literature as being subject to conflicting forces, such as mechanization versus flexibility, and professionalism versus commercialism. This paper examines how auditors actually make the client-acceptance decision in the midst of these forces. The investigation was conducted via a field study at three Big 6 firms located in Canada. The results show that in all firms the client-acceptance decision process in action is largely flexible, being characterized by a high degree of informal communication and the adaptation of the client-acceptance written policies and decision aids to circumstances. Furthermore, while commercialism in one firm (A) has a significant influence on the decision process, in the two other firms (B and C) the decision process is mostly consistent with professionalism. This result conflicts with the concerns that North American regulators have recently expressed about auditors' professionalism. [source]

Contesting the Curriculum: An Examination of Professionalism as Defined and Enacted by Australian History Teachers

Learning from Difference: Considerations for Schools as Communities

CURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 3 2000
Carolyn M. Shields
In today's highly complex and heterogeneous public schools, the current notion of schools as homogeneous communities with shared beliefs, norms, and alues is inadequate. Drawing on Barth's (1990) question of how to use ifference as a resource, I take up ideas from feminism, multiculturalism, and inclusive education to consider the development of community in schools. I argue that despite the valuable contributions of these theoretical perspectives, each lso includes the potential for increased fragmentation and polarization. As we consider how to use differences as a foundation for community, it is important ot to reify any particular perspective, thus marginalizing others and erecting new barriers. Explicitly embracing the need to identify and respect difference, being open to new ideas without taking an exclusionary position, and committing to ongoing participation in dialogical processes may help schools to develop as more authentic communities of difference. Among the dominant issues identified in today's climate of turbulent educational reform are concerns about how to restructure schools to ensure equality of student opportunity and excellence of instruction (Elmore, 1990; Lieberman, 1992; Murphy, 1991). Many proposals include modifying present leadership and governance structures, overcoming the hegemony of existing power bases, developing mechanisms for accountability, enhancing professionalism, and co-ordinating community resources. One of the suggestions frequently made to address these issues is to change from a focus on schools as organizations to a recognition of schools as communities (Barth, 1990; Fullan, 1993; Lupart & Webber, 1996; Senge, 1990). However, despite the widespread use of the metaphor of community as an alternative to the generally accepted concept of schools as rational or functional organizations, there seems to be little clarity about the concept of community, what it might look like, how it might be implemented, or what policies might sustain it. Indeed, theories about schools as communities have often drawn from Tönnies (1887/1971) concept of gemeinschaft,a concept which perhaps evokes a more homogeneous and romanticized view of the past than one which could be helpful for improving education in today's dynamic, complex, and heterogeneous context (Beck & Kratzer, 1994; Sergiovanni, 1994a). More recently, several writers (Fine et al., 1997; Furman, 1998; Shields & Seltzer, 1997) have advanced the notion of communities of otherness or difference. These authors have suggested that rather than thinking of schools as communities that exist because of a common affiliation to an established school ethos or tradition, it might be more helpful to explore an alternative concept. A school community founded on difference would be one in which the common centre would not be taken as a given but would be co-constructed from the negotiation of disparate beliefs and values as participants learn to respect, and to listen to, each other. In this concept, bonds among members are not assumed, but forged, and boundaries are not imposed but negotiated. Over the past eight years, as I have visited and worked with a large number of schools trying earnestly to address the needs of their diverse student bodies, I have become increasingly aware of the limitations of the concept of community used in the gemeinschaft sense with its emphasis on shared values, norms, and beliefs, and have begun to reflect on the question framed by Barth (1990): ,How can we make conscious, deliberate use of differences in social class, gender, age, ability, race, and interest as resources for learning?' (p. 514). In this article, I consider how learning from three of these areas of difference: gender, race, and ability, may help us to a better understanding of educational community. This article begins with some illustrations and examples from practice, moves to consider how some theoretical perspectives may illuminate them, and concludes with reflections on how the implications of the combined reflections on practice and theory might actually help to reconceptualize and to improve practice. While it draws heavily on questions and impressions which have arisen out of much of my fieldwork, it is not intended to be an empirical paper, but a conceptual one,one which promotes reflection and discussion on the concept of schools as communities of difference. The examples of life in schools taken from longitudinal research studies in which I have been involved demonstrate several common ways in which difference is dealt with in today's schools and some of the problems inherent in these approaches. Some ideas drawn from alternative perspectives then begin to address Barth's question of how to make deliberate use of diversity as a way of thinking about community. Taken together, I hope that these ideas will be helpful in creating what I have elsewhere called ,schools as communities of difference' (Shields & Seltzer, 1997). [source]

Service Personnel, Technology, and Their Interaction in Influencing Customer Satisfaction,

DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 1 2006
Craig M. Froehle
ABSTRACT Managing both the technologies and the personnel needed for providing high-quality, multichannel customer support creates a complex and persistent operational challenge. Adding to this difficulty, it is still unclear how service personnel and these new communication technologies interact to influence the customer's perceptions of the service being provided. Motivated by both practical importance and inconsistent findings in the academic literature, this exploratory research examines the interaction of media richness, represented by three different technology contexts (telephone, e-mail, and online chat), with six customer service representative (CSR) characteristics and their influences on customer satisfaction. Using a large-sample customer survey data set, the article develops a multigroup structural equation model to analyze these interactions. Results suggest that CSR characteristics influence customer service satisfaction similarly across all three technology-mediated contexts. Of the characteristics studied, service representatives contribute to customer satisfaction more when they exhibit the characteristics of thoroughness, knowledgeableness, and preparedness, regardless of the richness of the medium used. Surprisingly, while three other CSR characteristics studied (courtesy, professionalism, and attentiveness) are traditionally believed to be important in face-to-face encounters, they had no significant impact on customer satisfaction in the technology-mediated contexts studied. Implications for both practitioners and researchers are drawn from the results and future research opportunities are discussed. [source]

Teaching and assessment of Professional attitudes in UK dental schools , Commentary

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL EDUCATION, Issue 3 2010
J. Field
Abstract The General Dental Council expects professionalism to be embedded and assessed through-out the undergraduate dental programme. Curricula need therefore to accommodate these recommendations. A stroll poll of UK dental schools provided a basis for understanding the current methods of teaching and assessing professionalism. All respondent schools recognised the importance of professionalism and reported that this was taught and assessed within their curriculum. For most the methods involved were largely traditional, relying on lectures and seminars taught throughout the course. The most common form of assessment was by grading and providing formative feedback after a clinical encounter. Whilst clinical skills and knowledge can perhaps be readily taught and assessed using traditional methods, those involved in education are challenged to identify and implement effective methods of not only teaching, but also assessing professionalism. A variety of standalone methods need to be developed that assess professionalism and this will, in turn, allow the effectiveness of teaching methods to be assessed. [source]

Teaching Communications and Professionalism through Writing and Humanities: Reflections of Ten Years of Experience

STRINGS ATTACHED: NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT, COMPETITIVE GRANT FUNDING AND SOCIAL CAPITAL

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2009
Helen Irvine
This paper first investigates the impact of New Public Management (NPM) practices, particularly competitive grant funding, on Bushcare New South Wales (NSW), an Australian environmental volunteering organisation. Secondly, identifying such local volunteering organisations as repositories of valuable social capital, it explores the link between volunteering and social capital. Using mixed methods and institutional theory, the study reveals that an increased level of professionalism and accountability is required of Bushcare groups, and that local coordinators face a challenge in balancing local, regional and national priorities without sacrificing Bushcare's mission. These dynamics, it is proposed, have potentially serious social capital implications. [source]

Consent as Resistance, Resistance as Consent: Re-Reading Part-Time Professionals' Acceptance of Their Marginal Positions

GENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 6 2006
Penny Dick
The part-time employee has traditionally occupied a marginal position in organizations. The recent increase in the numbers of part-time professionals, however, has been seen as offering potential for the status of the part-time employee to improve. Evidence to date suggests that this improvement has not taken place and that the part-time professional is also marginalized. Interestingly, research suggests that part-time professionals may not experience their subordinate positions as problematic, often believing that the drawbacks of reduced hours working are a legitimate consequence of their ,choice' to work part-time. Such ,choices' are frequently attributed to part-timers' prioritization of non-work activities. In this article, using a Foucauldian approach to identity, we argue that choices need to be understood as both situated in time and space and constituted through discourse. Using these ideas we provide a re-reading of part-timers' consent to their marginalization, arguing that their responses to their positions at work can also be understood as resistance to some of the dominant norms of professionalism. We set out the conditions that might be implicated in translating subjective resistance into more material actions. [source]

Overcoming Fragmentation in Professional Life: The Challenge for Academic Development

HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2002
Stephen Rowland
This paper portrays the fragmented nature of higher education, experienced in terms of a number of fractures. I have chosen to concentrate here on five of these fractures or fault lines: the diverse assumptions about the nature of higher education; the separation between teachers and learners; the separation between academic staff and those who manage them; the split between teaching and research; and the fragmented nature of knowledge itself. Policy initiatives have tended to aggravate these fractures. I suggest that the task for academic development is to work within these fractures, to attempt to create coherence in academic practice. To do this, we need to develop a series of critical conversations between teachers and learners, between academics and managers and between the disciplines. Such conversations might be seen as contributing to the development of a new academic professionalism. The first and foremost subject of this thinking together must concern the purposes of higher education itself. [source]