Exploration of professional and social identities of Allied Health students: A Joint Research Project involving Stellenbosch Honours Psychology and Fourth Year UWC Social Work and Occupational

Therapy Students

SANPAD PROJECT INVOLVING UWC AND STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITIES

World wide concerns in higher education

• At one time, issues of identity and citizenship were seen as incidental to most higher education activities.

• Currently, though, theorists in the field of higher education world-wide understand that it is part of the role of the university to prepare graduates to play a role in a rapidly changing and globalising world – a role which goes beyond the application of technical skills as narrowly understood

• The question of how to make higher education more inclusive has been a central concern in South African post-apartheid policy documents, which reflect an intention to embrace values such as democracy, openness and a human rights approach to education (Department of Education, 2001).

• However, there remains a disjuncture between these policy intentions and the actual experiences of students and staff in the higher education sector.

South African concerns in higher education

The continuing impact of apartheid-designed segregated higher education institutions and lack of imaginative attention to issues of difference in teaching and learning remains a stumbling block for achieving participatory parity amongst students in this sector.

SA concerns in higher education

• The higher education sector in South Africa currently has an overall attrition rate of over 50%. The sector is only catering successfully for under 5% of the black (and coloured) age group (Scott et al., 2007)

• Key factors seen to be within the higher education sector’s control are affective factors arising from institutional culture and teaching and learning processes followed in HEIs

The importance of addressing the problem in the current context

• There is an urgent need for innovative approaches to curriculum design which traverse both institutional and professional boundaries so that students and educators have the opportunities to engage in genuine encounters across differences.

• These encounters are necessary for students to be able to develop the graduate attributes to function effectively as professionals in the twenty first century, engaged in complex social problems which demand multi-pronged responses

What can be done about the identified problems

• In order to begin to address these issues and to provide a laboratory for wider-scale educational innovation, for three years we have run an interprofessional, interuniversity course entitled ‘Community, Self and Identity’

• Students in psychology at Stellenbosch

University and in social work and occupational therapy at University of the Western Cape participated in a course which offered a combination of face to face workshops and online workgroups.

• A range of participatory techniques, blended

learning, theatre, art, film, workshops and presentations were used to support students to explore their own, and their colleagues’ personal, social and professional identities.

Community,Self and Identity module as example of addressing these concerns

The Community, Self and Identity Project;An Inter-institutional, inter-disciplinaryteaching & research collaboration between:

• Vivienne Bozalek (Social Work Dept, UWC)• Ronelle Carolissen (Psychology Dept,

Stellenbosch University)• Poul Rohleder (Psychology Dept, Anglia Ruskin

University• Lindsey Nicholls (Occupational therapy Dept,

Brunel University)• Leslie Swartz (Psychology Dept, Stellenbosch

University)• Brenda Leibowitz (Centre for Teaching and

Learning, Stellenbosch University)

And Linda Biersteker (ELRU), elearning team UWC and facilitators UWC and Stellenbosch

THE COMMUNITY, SELF AND IDENTITY PROJECT

Aims• Explore the strengths and challenges of working across

boundaries of race, class, gender, institution, profession in a collaborative inter-institutional teaching project in the human service professions

• Explore how we could extend critical reflexivity in students (and educators)

• Explore value of innovative curriculum (face-to- face and e-learning formats of instruction)

Team process

Action research

2005-2006

PlanningFundraising

2006-2009

ImplementationReflection

2006

2007

2008

2009

Development and implementation of module

• Planning: second semester of 2005

• First pilot: first term of 2006

• Reflection on pilot and changes made

• Second pilot: first term of 2007

• Third pilot: first term of 2008

• 2009 – plans for higher educators course

Project Activities: Outline

• Training on E-learning site

• Beginning February: First face-to-face workshop at UWC

• Ongoing online activities in workgroups

• End February: 2nd face-to-face workshop at UWC

• Collaboration in workgroups in preparing a group project

• Mid-March: Final face-to-face workshop at SUN

• Individual Reflective Essay.

• (Evaluation and consent)

The Project: Participants 2008Item Stellenbosch Western Cape

Discipline Psychology Social Work OT Total

No. of students 17 54 22 93

Age Not known Not known Not known

Gender Female 17 46 18 81

Male 0 8 4 12

Race African 0 28 8 36

Coloured 6 18 11 35

White 9 0 0 9

Indian 0 0 2 2

Not specified

2 8 1 11

Language African 0 23 7 30

Afrikaans 7 7 2 16

English 8 21 13 42

Other 3 3 0 6

(Dutch, Norwegian)

Not known

First workshop at UWC

• Input on Participatory Learning Techniques

• Students divided into 17-19 groups of 6 to 7 students

• Students engaged small group experiential exercises involving two participatory learning techniques – community mapping and rivers of life

PLA techniques:Community mapping

Step 1Draw a picture/map of your home and neighbourhood

including the resources that are there.Step 2Identify and label three things that you would like to change

(could be physical or relate to attitudes, social issues). Put these in order by choosing to give the one you feel is most important the most tokens.

Step 3 Share in your group, explaining your picture/map and the

reasons for wanting things to change.

“I have learnt about more about another culture and community. In South Africa, as we grow to learn about ourselves and others, we are constantly reminded of the

diversity that is unique to our country- the eleven languages; the turbulent histories; and the many races to name but a few. Our diversity is a fact. However, it is not

often that we are literally thrown together with people from diverse backgrounds to actually have first-hand experience of diversity” (‘Samantha’)

Learning about South African communities

WHY DO THE PROJECT?

E-learning component of course

Some challenges with elearning

• Access• Computer literacy• Pre-existing online identities (facebook vs no

experience)• Creating a safe emotional ‘space’ that is delinked from

time and place

2nd Workshop• Input by Bernie Searle on her

identity as a coloured woman• Small group discussions on race

and ethnicity• Preparing for group project

Final Workshop

• Student presentations

• Lecture on difference by guest speaker/play by Remix Theatre Group

• Student evaluation forms and Research consent forms

Remix Theatre Company

TELL ME YOUR RACE THEN I WILL GIVE YOU YOUR IDENTITY

Learning about Professional roles

Conclusion

In a multi-dimensional society, it is important to embrace that people, even professionals, are individuals and have different ideas about life, but that everyone has an unique and important contribution to make. (This is the main lesson we learned from being a part of this programme). It does not mean that we cannot have our own opinion, the importance is accepting our own identities while acknowledging and respecting others. Like the puzzle, every piece is a different colour, but together it forms a whole. All the pieces have one purpose, to form a puzzle. All of us differ, but we all share the same goal – to help people in need.

Student Feedback 2008

Would you recommend repeating the idea of learning with students from another university?

84 yes; 1 no

Would you recommend repeating the idea of learning with students from another discipline?

83 yes; 1 no

Would you recommend using a mix of workshops and electronic communication? 72 yes; 6 no; 2 unsure

• Student feedback on the course was overwhelmingly positive. The course was embedded within a rigorous research framework and the research team has published extensively, including co-publishing with students.

• Notwithstanding some concerns we have about the depth of student learning in a short course, we believe that a participatory approach which requires students to explore their own multiple identities is preferable to a techniques-based approach in which cultural competence is taught as a set of skills.

Results and Ways Forward

Publications of the Research Team

Bozalek, V. & Biersteker, L. (2009) ‘Exploring Power and Privilege using Participatory Learning and Action Techniques’ Social Work Education, iFirst Article:1-22.

Bozalek, V., Rohleder, P., Carolissen, R., Leibowitz, B., Nicholls, L., & Swartz, L. (2007). Students learning across differences in a multi-disciplinary virtual learning community. South African Journal of Higher Education, 21(7):812-825.

Leibowitz, B., Bozalek, V., Rohleder, P., Carolissen, R., & Swartz, L. (in press). “Whiteys Love to Talk About Themselves”: Discomfort as a pedagogy for change. Race, Ethnicity and Education.

Leibowitz, B., Rohleder, P., Bozalek, V., Carolissen, R., & Swartz, L. (2007). “It doesn’t matter who or what we are, we are still just people”: Strategies used by university students to negotiate difference. South African Journal of Psychology, 37(4), 702-719.

Rohleder, P., Bozalek, V., Carolissen, R., Leibowitz, B., & Swartz, L. (2008). Students’ evaluations of e-learning as a tool in a collaborative project between two South African universities. Higher Education, 56(1), 95-107.

Rohleder, P., Swartz, L., Bozalek, V., Carolissen, R., & Leibowitz, B. (2008). Community, self and identity: Participation action research and the creation of a virtual community across two South African universities. Teaching in Higher Education, 13 (2), 131-143.

Rohleder, P., Swartz, L., Carolissen, R., Bozalek, V., & Leibowitz, B. (2008). “Communities isn’t just about trees and shops”: Students from two South African universities engage in dialogue about ‘community’ and ‘community work’. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 18 (3), 253-267.

Rohleder, P., Fish, W., Ismail, A., Padfield, L. & Platen, D. (2007). Dealing with diversity in a virtual learning community across two South African universities. South African Journal of Higher Education. 21(7):893-918.

Swartz, L., Rohleder, P., Bozalek, V., Carolissen, R., Leibowitz, B., & Nicholls, L. (2009). “Your mind is the battlefield”: South African trainee health workers engage with the past. Social Work Education, 28(5):488-501.

Future publications

In Press:• Leibowitz, B., Bozalek, V., Rohleder, P., Carolissen, R., &

Swartz, L. (in press). “Whiteys Love to Talk About Themselves”: Discomfort as a pedagogy for change. Race, Ethnicity and Education.

• Leibowitz, B., Bozalek, V., Carolissen, R., Nicholls, L., Rohleder, P. & Swartz, L., & (In Press) Bringing the Social into Pedagogy; Unsafe learning in an uncertain world. Teaching in Higher Education

• Edited book HSRC Press is being compiled

Conference Presentations• Forthcoming• Bozalek, V., Leibowitz, B., Swartz, L. Carolissen, R., Rohleder, P. & Nicholls, L. Community,

Self and Identity: A cross-institutional collaborative teaching and learning research project promoting inclusivity.SANORD 2ND International Conference ‘Inclusion and Exclusion in Higher Education’ Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa 7-9 December 2009

• 2009• Leibowitz, B., Bozalek, V., Carollissen, R., Swartz, L., Nicholls, L. & Rohleder. P. (2009). The

Community, Self and Identity Project (South Africa). Paper presented at the American Education Research Association (AERA) 2009 Conference on 13 – 17 April, 2009, in San Diego, United States of America.

• Bozalek, V., Leibowitz, B., Swartz, L. Carolissen, R., Rohleder, P. & Nicholls, L. Community, Self and Identity: Innovative Pedagogical Practices in a Cross-Disciplinary, Cross-Institutional Endeavour NSWC2009 1st Joint National Social Workers Congress ASASWEI & NASW Conference, Drakensburg, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa 14 – 16 October 2009

• Rohleder, P., Swartz, L., Bozalek, V., Carolissen, R., Leibowitz, B., & Nicholls, L. (2009). “We as the new generation should not allow the past to shape our present and future”: South African trainee health workers discuss race and apartheid. Paper submitted for presentation at the 6th biennial conference of the International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP) on 8-11 July, 2009, Lausanne, Switzerland.

• Swartz, L., Bozalek, V., Carolissen, R, Leibowitz, B., Nicholls, L., & Rohleder, P. (2009). Educating for (New) South African Citizenship: Engaging Trainee Health Workers with Issues of Difference. Paper submitted for presentation at the 16th International Conference on Learning on 1-4 July, 2009, Barcelona, Spain.

Conference Presentations• 2008• Bozalek, V., Biersteker, L., Swartz, L., Leibowitz, B., Carolissen, R., Nicholls, L., & Rohleder, P. (2008) Depicting

Difference through Community Mapping: Using PLA Techniques in Higher Education Contexts. Paper presented at the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) 2008 conference on 1-4 July 2008, Rotorua, New Zealand. [Award for most scholarly paper at conference].

• Bozalek, V., & Smolders, T. (2008) Community, Self and Identity: Learning about Differences and Inequalities across Disciplines in Higher Education Institutions in South Africa and Europe. Paper presented at International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) Conference, 20-24 July, Durban, South Africa.

• Bozalek, V., Swartz, L., Carolissen, R., Leibowitz, B. Rohleder, P., & Nicholls, L. (2008). Pedagogical practices that foster conversations across disciplinary and institutional boundaries. Paper presented at the ISSoTL 5th Annual Conference Celebrating Connections ~ Learning, Teaching, and Scholarship October 16~19/2008, Edmonton~Alberta~Canada

• Carolissen, R., Bozalek, V., Swartz, L., Rohleder, P., Nicholls, L., & Leibowitz, B. (2008) Teaching community as pedagogy of hope in an interdisciplinary space: the community, self and identity project. Paper presented at the 2nd Annual Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning on 20-21 May 2008, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

• Carolissen, R., Swartz, L., Rohleder, P., Bozalek, V., Nicholls, L., & Leibowitz, B. (2008) Using participatory action research to teach community in a diverse and interdisciplinary community: the case of the community, self and identity project. Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Community Psychology on 4-6 June 2008, Lisbon, Portugal.

• Leibowitz, B., Bozalek, V., Carolissen, R., & Swartz, L. (2008) Bringing the Social into Pedagogy. Paper presented at the Higher Education Close Up 4 Conference on 26-28 June 2008, Cape Town.

• Leibowitz, B., Carolissen, R., Rohleder, P., Swartz, L., Bozalek, V., & Nicholls, L. (2008). Engaging students in the health and social sciences across disciplinary and institutional boundaries. Paper presented at the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference on 18-21 June 2008, University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada.

• Leibowitz, B., Rohleder, P., Bozalek, V., Carolissen, R., & Swartz, L. (2008). “It doesn’t matter who or what we are, we are still just people”: Strategies used by university students to negotiate difference. Paper presented at the annual joint conference of the Linguistics Society of Southern Africa (LSSA), the South African Association for Language Teaching (SALT) and the South African Applied Linguistics Association (SAALA) convened by Stellenbosch University on 17-19 January 2008.

• Nicholls, L., Rohleder, P., Bozalek, V., Swartz, L., Carolissen, R., & Leibowitz, B. (2008). “Apartheid was your past …not mine”; experiences of denial, shame and unending grief in teaching an inter-racial and inter-professional course across two South African Universities. Paper presented at the OPUS Conference – Organizational and social dynamics: International Perspectives from Group Relations, Psychoanalysis and Systems Theory on 21-22 November 2008, London, United Kingdom.

Conference Presentations

• 2007• Bozalek, V., & Biersteker, L. (2007). The value of participatory learning techniques

for educating human service professionals in higher education. Paper presented at the SANPAD Poverty Conference on 26-29 June 2007, Durban.

• Bozalek, V., Carolissen, R., Leibowitz, B., Nicholls, L., Rohleder, P., & Swartz, L. (2007) Crossing boundaries: Interdisciplinary collaboration in allied health and social sciences. Paper presented at the South African Association of Health Educationalists 4th Annual Regional Health Sciences Education Conference on 1-2 June, Cape Town, South Africa

• Carolissen, R., Swartz, L., Leibowitz, B., Bozalek, V., & Rohleder, P. (2007). “Community psychology is for poor, black communities”: pedagogy and community psychology teaching in South Africa. Paper presented at the 1st Annual Conference on Teaching and Learning on 22-23 May, Stellenbosch, South Africa [award for best presentation at conference

Contacts• Vivienne Bozalek

(Director of Teaching and Learning, UWC): vbozalek@uwc.ac.za

• Leslie Swartz (Psychology Dept, SUN): lswartz@sun.ac.za

• Brenda Leibowitz (Centre for Teaching and Learning, SUN): bleibowitz@sun.ac.za

• Ronelle Carolissen (Psychology Dept, SUN): rlc2@sun.ac.za

• Lindsey Nicholls (Occupational therapy Dept, Brunel University, UK): lindsey.nicholls@brunel.ac.uk

• Poul Rohleder (Psychology Dept, Anglia Ruskin University, UK): poul.rohleder@anglia.ac.uk