Page 167 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Cooperation Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 167
lational expertise as a prerequisite for effective multi-professional collaboration ...
addressing the different factors that lead to ESL. Cooperation is seen as
a key active solution in second-chance education where learners require
comprehensive support since they often face multiple problems inside and
outside the learning process (European Commission, 2013). Concerning
this issue in the EU, Edwards and Downes (2013) state in their NESET re-
port it is important to enhance professional expertise in inter-profession-
al work, which means for expert practitioners developing their relation-
al expertise and, for those practitioners without the necessary knowledge
base, undertaking additional training to meet the minimum qualifications
entailed.
If we think back to the descriptions of common knowledge and re-
lational agency, we could argue that, when combined with relational ex-
pertise, they form a set of conceptual resources that are vital for success-
ful cross-boundary collaboration to occur (Hoopwood & Edwards, 2017).
When professionals work on ESL while also applying their relational ex-
pertise, they dedicate their time to developing an understanding of the mo-
tivations, practices and knowledge of different professionals (e.g. teach-
ers, counsellors, heads of ESL teams). Collaboration in inter-professional
teams is optimal when practitioners understand what is important for oth-
ers when working on ESL – meaning that via the interactions among them
common knowledge emerges as a resource that mediates both their inter-
pretations and responses to complex problems. Different professionals from
different fields may entail many different viewpoints, which help expand
understanding of the ESL problem at hand and a broader and more spe-
cialised set of responses to it are considered and put into action (Hoopwood
& Edwards, 2016; Edwards, 2012). Based on aforementioned, we may ar-
gue that relational expertise plays a crucial role in inter-professional teams’
work on ESL.
How to develop relational expertise
Due to relational expertise’s valuable contribution to multi-professional
work and the fact it can be learnt, it is extremely important that every pro-
fessional is given opportunities to learn about and develop it. A great con-
tribution in this sense was made by the Teaching and Learning Research
Programme – TLRP (Smith et al., 2008) in Great Britain, which studied the
professional learning process after the Children Act of 2004 called for prac-
titioners from different backgrounds to work together on preventing so-
cial exclusion among children. It is one of very few programmes seeking to
167
addressing the different factors that lead to ESL. Cooperation is seen as
a key active solution in second-chance education where learners require
comprehensive support since they often face multiple problems inside and
outside the learning process (European Commission, 2013). Concerning
this issue in the EU, Edwards and Downes (2013) state in their NESET re-
port it is important to enhance professional expertise in inter-profession-
al work, which means for expert practitioners developing their relation-
al expertise and, for those practitioners without the necessary knowledge
base, undertaking additional training to meet the minimum qualifications
entailed.
If we think back to the descriptions of common knowledge and re-
lational agency, we could argue that, when combined with relational ex-
pertise, they form a set of conceptual resources that are vital for success-
ful cross-boundary collaboration to occur (Hoopwood & Edwards, 2017).
When professionals work on ESL while also applying their relational ex-
pertise, they dedicate their time to developing an understanding of the mo-
tivations, practices and knowledge of different professionals (e.g. teach-
ers, counsellors, heads of ESL teams). Collaboration in inter-professional
teams is optimal when practitioners understand what is important for oth-
ers when working on ESL – meaning that via the interactions among them
common knowledge emerges as a resource that mediates both their inter-
pretations and responses to complex problems. Different professionals from
different fields may entail many different viewpoints, which help expand
understanding of the ESL problem at hand and a broader and more spe-
cialised set of responses to it are considered and put into action (Hoopwood
& Edwards, 2016; Edwards, 2012). Based on aforementioned, we may ar-
gue that relational expertise plays a crucial role in inter-professional teams’
work on ESL.
How to develop relational expertise
Due to relational expertise’s valuable contribution to multi-professional
work and the fact it can be learnt, it is extremely important that every pro-
fessional is given opportunities to learn about and develop it. A great con-
tribution in this sense was made by the Teaching and Learning Research
Programme – TLRP (Smith et al., 2008) in Great Britain, which studied the
professional learning process after the Children Act of 2004 called for prac-
titioners from different backgrounds to work together on preventing so-
cial exclusion among children. It is one of very few programmes seeking to
167
