Workshop - Knowledge in action

Session Nr.1: "Nursing knowledge in action" 

UiT campus Narvik has two on-going education development projects for qualifying nurses to meet current changes and challenges in the municipalities in Northern Norway’s rural areas. Primary industries are not any longer the backbone of community life. Young people are leaving the region in search of other possibilities, while the Elderly are left behind. National health and care recommendations put increased responsibility for advanced health care on municipalities. In addition, with far distances and changing weather patterns registered nurses become key personnel in the local health care systems.

Nurses need to have developed “knowledge in action” on demand. One of our studies is to develop a training program for execution of professional leadership. The other study emphasizes simulation as a method to teach future nurses to behave safely and holistically in critical situations.

We use implementation research. The first study uses focus-groups with students practicing in nursing homes and in-home nursing, followed up by separate focus-groups with professional supervisors. In addition we have interviewed nursing leaders. The other study is based on students’ training nursing skills in a simulation laboratorium. Training continues in nursing homes and with a special wilderness acute program with researchers (us) as instructors. Interviews are done. Both studies use strategic samples.

The preliminary outcome of the on-going studies is more focused and goal-oriented training of nursing students. The students develop increased professional qualifications as well better communication and leadership skills. As teachers in nursing we already experience that the gap between practice and school is reduced.

Session Nr.2: "Indigenous Wellbeing in university Spaces: experience of Indigenous students at the Australia national University" 

The question of Indigenous understandings of wellbeing has been widely debated in the fields of Indigenous policy and service delivery in Australia. Scholars such as Vicki Grieves (2007, 2009) and Lorraine Muller (2014) argue that Indigenous understandings of wellbeing are based on Indigenous spirituality, ontologies and epistemologies. They suggest that this Indigenous understandings of wellbeing inform best practice for delivering social services for Indigenous Australians. However, these perspectives do not fully address the issue of the spatial context in which understandings of wellbeing are enacted and social services delivered.

This paper aims to address the issue of Indigenous Australian conceptions of wellbeing in the context of University education. It will examine the role of an Indigenous student support unit (ISU) in providing a space in which Indigenous wellbeing is enacted, supported and strengthened. The findings are based on discussions with Indigenous students who were enrolled at a major Australian university and used the services of the ISU.

I will argue not only that the ISU offers a culturally safe space which supports Indigenous student wellbeing, but also that students enact their understanding of wellbeing in engaging with and extending this space in the university. The results of this project have implications for how universities, ISUs and other social services may create and support spaces informed by Indigenous knowledge and understandings of wellbeing.

Session Nr.3: "Urolksperspektiv i utdanning"

The objective of this study is to explore indigenous people’s perspectives in the education of nurses in Norway. The method: 25 out of 26 nursing education institutions in Norway has been included in the study. Each school curriculum has been analyzed with an aim to map out how it reflects Sami culture, health issues, and its approach towards illness. Findings: Most school curriculums have learning outcomes on general cultural issues. No schools have learning outcomes on Sami culture and language knowledge. Only one school has a description on specific Sami culture issues. Eight out of eighteen schools has literature on Sami cultural issues, and five of these schools are outside of the Sami core areas. Less than half of the schools in the Sami core areas does not have literature on Sami culture. Conclusion: There is a lack of focus on indigenous people’s perspectives in the nursing school curriculums in Norway. We recommend that the Sami perspective is emphasized and included in the development of a new framework plan

Session Nr.4:"The Role of social work in developing an ongoing, inter-disiplinary and decolonizing University - Indigenous community relationship"

Since 2013, the Social Work Program at the Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane Australia) has supported students to undertake their placement in an Australian Aboriginal community in rural Queensland. As a commitment to reciprocity, decolonization and social justice, a ‘place-based’ approach to work integrated learning was developed in partnership with the Community.  This ‘place-based’ model elicits community-identified interests from the community through dialogue and the use of a participatory action research framework. These community-identified interests then form the basis of placements and projects undertaken by students from various disciplines across the university. Social work students on placement are provided with university funded accommodation to ensure sustained community engagement and project facilitation throughout the 13 weeks of semester. At the end of semester, students prepare a handover report from their projects and present their work to the Community.  Subsequent engagement with the Community is dependent on an explicit re-invitation by the Community to continue placing students for project work. Such an approach requires a ‘loosening’ of the institutional structures and expectations of courses, semesters, individual student learning, and accrediting profession policies, and an emphasis on community invitation and direction, emergent knowledge, reciprocal openness, and sustained commitment.  Negotiation is now occurring to extend the placement process to a second university, the University of the Sunshine Coast

Session Nr.5: "Stepping up and stepping out: Co-constructing with community Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social work curriculum"

Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing are core social work curriculum and regarded as central to decolonising Australian social work education. In order to achieve accreditation, Australian Schools of Social Work need to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content within their programs.  Achieving this objective requires multiple strategies including the development of new teaching and learning resources.

How these resources are constructed is however just as important as what they aim to teach students. The processes adopted by social work educators need to reflect the culturally responsive practices that are expected from our social work graduates. The presentation reports on a curriculum development project which co-constructed with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community two filmed case studies that demonstrate authentic social work engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  The aim was to undertake a process that reflects the core principle of epistemological equality, recognition that Aboriginal knowledges are equal to Western knowledges.

An extensive community consultation process was undertaken involving a range of stakeholders, including community Elders, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous social workers, academics and students. As a result critical changes were made to the stories, incorporating issues such as gender, stereotyping, identity, family and community obligations and the use of language. The key insights and understandings that emerged from this pedagogy showcase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander “doing” in action.