Transforming Professional Practice in Education

Focusing on teaching and learning in educational institutions, Transforming Professional Practice in Education explores the value of enhancing dialogue to improve both professional relationships and practices. Offering a critique of the present state of education, this book focuses on the belief that education should be about being and becoming human, and how everyone implicated in education learns through dialogue with others, and that humans are relational beings who develop and flourish within reciprocal relationships.

The authors offer an alternative to reductive and systems-driven procedures by building a case for psychologically robust educational methods. They provide an authoritative and theoretically well-grounded rationale for psychological approaches to professional practice to promote debate about the purposes of education. Rich with practical examples, the chapters discuss the risks of professional isolation, ethics vs morals in education, the nature of relationships in education, and interventions that would ground these ideas in practice.

This book is important reading for clinical, educational, and other applied psychologists. It is also of value to those within educational institutions, such as SENDCos and those responsible for the safety of children and young people, who are seeking to develop their understanding of how dialogue enhances professional encounters, and who are looking for alternative ways of engaging with education, which improve mental health and wellbeing.

Simon Gibbs is Professor Emeritus of Inclusive Educational Psychology and Philosophy at the University of Newcastle.

David Leat is a professor of Curriculum Innovation at the University of Newcastle.

Wilma Barrow is a senior lecturer in Educational Psychology at the University of Newcastle.