Practice-based learning and professional education: Pursuing quality and sustainability

Abstract

This chapter discusses some ways in which practice-based learning experiences can be used in sustainable ways within professional education. It proposes that learning through engagement in authentic practice-based experiences is increasingly seen as an essential component of initial occupational preparatory programs offered through universities. Yet, how those experiences are organised and enacted, and integrated with the other experiences that comprise students' curriculum will be central to the quality of the learning outcomes they secure. In particular, it is proposed that a scholarly teaching practice needs to be developed by those who organise and enact these experiences (i.e. university teachers) that effectively engages, supports and integrates the contributions arising from student engagement in practice settings. It is proposed that existing concepts and practices within educational science may not always be helpful in guiding the effective utilisation of these experiences in educational programs, because its base is limited and new challenges are emerging. Hence, academics need to develop their understandings and these practices, and thereby inform both their practice and that science. This case is made through considering the nature and contributions of learning through practice, how that relates to the provision of professional education and ways in which the utilisation of these experiences can be sustainable and effective. In doing so, it draws upon the findings of a recent national teaching fellowship program involving 20 projects across a range of disciplines within six Australian universities that comprised university teachers engaging in projects that addressed practice-based concerns.