Dear Sue, Pip and friends,

Many thanks for the portfolio reply. It is an area that needs careful 
consideration in order to present it in such a way that an already 
colonized education system with its western values of knowledge can 
move to understand its self and empower Japanese/ eastern forms of 
knowing to emerge with equal authority and scholarship.

Yesterday I was working with students in their hospital placements for 
work experience. My area is mental health and the healing curriculum 
students are officially using the skills taught on that curriculum. 4 
years ago this was seen almost as a joke with faculty and the work 
place ridiculing the ideas with one student in one hospital, this year 
we had 48 students in 5 different hospitals.

I can not express enough the joy I feel when I see the students apply 
the skills they have learned in the classroom in the real world. The 
mental health system of Japan is a tough place and struggles with 
stigma and cultural issues that afflict many countries. When I first 
started I was daunted by the prospect of serving in this black hole of 
despair and human suffering. Working in a chemically induced soup of 
hopelessness takes it toll on the soul. I accept this as my feelings 
and fear of failure and inadequacy that is always sitting on my 
shoulder like the chatter box of chaos casting self doubt on every word 
and situation.  Yet in every treatment I see the humanness and joy of 
the patients as their eyes light up with warmth form compassionate 
human contact. Even staff came forward as asked to be treated which is 
a quantum leap forward!.

So as Sue says small step by step actions can bring a concept and idea 
along way if sustained over time. Is it possible to make a values claim 
or declare a standard of judgment?  One that understands the values of 
compassionate human touch and words that are safe.  By safe I mean in 
the sense that the tone delivery and content is non judgmental, 
accepting and supportive. In Buddhism this is  part of the 8 fold 
pathway of right mindfulness and actions. Such mindfulness recognizes 
that the power of words to cause pain by their embedded values of both 
love and hate. It is such a basic teaching that another saying is often 
used: If words can not improve the silence , do not speak.   A great 
concept but rather limiting in discourse that relies in the word. 
Perhaps what is missing in the contact that can be achieved through 
visual medium? Yesterday I saw this in action as the students were 
exceptional, their body language was open, soft and aware, The students 
were compassionate and warm with their touch. Their whole beings 
radiated compassion and joy.. Many patients cried but it was healing 
cry of human beings whom had been lost in a world of sensory 
deprivation and chemical induced dependency. The insanity and some 
times compassionless world of  my academic life seemed universes away 
with its petty arguing over power , status, key note papers and who is 
referencing who. Yet its tendrils of power still reached out to the 
healing space in the hospitals. For in the hard reality of academic 
writing I would be asked to provide the proof or evidence of the above.
1.Is my account proof or have I lost my objectivity with my passionate 
commitment to teach others to create healing spaces? Where is the 
validity or rigor in my claim?
2. Will my students’ accounts be proof, or are they attached to their 
process of applying what they learned in theory: in practice?
3.Would accounts from the patients be seen as proof, with every one of 
the officially declared as mentally challenged?

Research into mental health issues is highly problematic and the 
evidence that could have been filmed or caught on tape is not allowed 
due to the inability to obtain informed consent form the clients. This 
rightly protects the already limited human rights of the  clients from 
exploitation.
It’s a sort of paradox really for without the authority of the academia 
which I carry as the “ Teacher”, I would not be able to even get a foot 
in the door. So in a sense the authority and power created an 
opportunity and space, my intentions and hopes used that opportunity to 
find a way to work with the space to produce the out comes mentioned 
above. It would therefore suggest that even what we feel is negative 
and non productive actually has a place in teaching and space creation.

So will the wonder of this process of love and compassion shown 
yesterday in a small place in a rural mental hospital in Japan be lost 
unheard, unrecognized? Or are we talking about a different knowledge 
path that is osmotic in process grounded in the context of local 
situations and unable to be  applied to a larger context.?. To bring 
such a conversation with its findings  to public attentions for 
discussion and sharing is problematic. Journals with their controls of 
peer reviewers seem at times to be lotteries , combined with the 
fixation of what is a scholarly paper. The chances are high that such 
stories would not be published. Or if they are it is by journals that 
are not seen as internal peer publications of repute. So once again the 
importance of such a space that Jack has created and others hold and 
share is presented to us.

Love to all
Je Kan


Quoting Susan Goff <[log in to unmask]>:

> Hi Brian
> Thanks for this.
> I read a kind of "appreciative" frame in your approaches... I like
> appreciative inquiry and agree that it shifts the energies of change
> environments, and I also share the concerns that the lack of critique (which
> I think is different to problem solving) means that systemic liabilities can
> go unaddressed - I need more experience in the practice to really get some
> handle on it. I too took up water colour painting for a while - it is such a
> mysterious and dynamic form of expression. Thanks for digressing!
>
> Regards the criterion that you articulate, (thank you - I think time needs
> to be given for us to know these things, and also collaborative learning
> within our immediate communities that are exercising such judgements, so
> that we can develop the distinctions we need to make regards "what has
> changed" for example.
>
> If we take the current discussion in point, some of us felt that it was not
> getting very far as they saw it through their specific distinction making
> lenses, whereas others were seeing much that was changing through different
> lenses. We did not have a chance to really communicate about this, until the
> interventions of judgement were made, which in reference to Foucault's
> thinking for example, illuminated the sacred that was being crossed. We
> would not have felt what was being crossed so clearly, had it not been
> crossed. And look at the amazing relationships that are suddenly forming
> with such intimacy and courage!
>
> So, we had to go through this "interesting time" to make a leap within the
> discourse - and the form of interaction is inalienable from the emergence of
> knowing that is coming about. For this reason, I am really keen not to lose
> the intentions, frames, senses of power and legitimacy that were so present
> to you and Peter, and others who were feeling frustrated... As I see them,
> they are not just yours, but expressions of cultural truths that you carry
> and that are different to the cultural truths that others carry, also
> embodying forms of power and felt rights to act. Together they  make dynamic
> systems with potential for transformation.
>
> Sometimes, on the other hand, it may also be good to note that which does
> not change, which remains constant, has no need to change, or remains vital
> in new tones but is at core unchanged. In times of resource diminishment,
> stillness, silence and absence are sometimes usefully powerful as
> counter-systems to hold movement, vocality and presence. How does this sound
> to you?
> Susie
>
>
> On 25/10/06 7:42 PM, "Brian wakeman" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> Yes thank you for sharing the ideas below.
>>
>> There are aspects of 'invitational theory' that I
>> like, and have used 'unawares'.
>>
>> This is probably a digression.......but
>>
>> In semi-retirement I've had the opportunity to use
>> watercolours. On a Tuesday morning at The Way in
>> Dunstable, a Christian community centre, we have three
>> art groups: one for complete beginners,(some of whom
>> have never picked up a paint brush since school in
>> some cases 50 years ago!) and two groups I facilitate
>> for "Continuers".
>>
>> Our mornings are invitational, encouraging folks (40
>> in the three groups) to have a go......we are all
>> learners....there are no criticisms, lots of
>> encouragement and a few suggestions.  We show the
>> groups our paintings, or demonstrate and then talk
>> about the the topic, colours, etc etc etc. We try to
>> bring lots of inspiration, enthusiasm and ideas.
>>
>> I observe the participants developing their standards
>> of judgement by watching other artists, through
>> discussion, by their learning of tips and techniques
>> passed on,  by what they appreciate and like,and by
>> glancing through the various watercolour books we
>> bring, and the videos we watch together.
>>
>> Of course unlike school or HE courses...  there is no
>> assessment......the important criteria are enjoyment
>> and friendship.
>>
>> Practitioner research / action research has always for
>> me been about change, improvement and development in
>> work in school classrooms, as a senior manager, and
>> latterly as tutor working with trainee teachers.
>>
>> Criteria of worth or value have been
>> -"What has changed?".
>> -"What do we need to do next?"
>> -"How have we been able to improve
>> teaching/learning/organisation?"
>> -"What have we learned, or developed?"
>>
>>
>> Regards to all,
>>
>> Brian
>> --- Pip/Bruce Ferguson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all
>>>
>>> Warm greetings especially to Susie and Je Kan
>>> through recent conversations,
>>> but to you all.
>>>
>>> This email is a response to Je Kan's request about
>>> the assessment of
>>> portfolios: "I am completely stumped as to how to
>>> teach other teachers to
>>> use and assess portfolios. and  contest the
>>> critical allegations that they
>>> are scrap books filled with the musings of children
>>> who ramble in their
>>> reflections with unfocused emotionalism.. I find a
>>> solution even more
>>> stressful when you have different cultural ideas as
>>> the what is or is not
>>> knowledge."
>>>
>>> When I was involved in staff development at a
>>> polytechnic, I taught a course
>>> called "Reflective Practitioner", a one-week course
>>> as part of a 12-week
>>> (spread over 3 years) programme, happening while
>>> busy staff were still
>>> teaching.  It encouraged them to use journals as a
>>> form of systematic,
>>> critical reflection, and this approach might be of
>>> help to you in the
>>> portfolio assessment also, Je Kan.  One of my
>>> students, a nurse-educator,
>>> put in her journal:  "It is reflection that is able
>>> to change experience
>>> into learning and intelligent action" (Moana
>>> Shortland, 2000) which I
>>> thought was a wonderful quote.  Below, I have copied
>>> in a HERDSA Gold Guide
>>> reference (located from www.herdsa.org.au,
>>> publications) which we found
>>> useful as it provides some examples of how
>>> assessment of what can be quite
>>> subjective reflections, occurs.  You might also be
>>> interested in the writing
>>> of Peter November, a Commerce lecturer at Victoria
>>> University of Wellington,
>>> who has used journals extensively and written about
>>> the method critically,
>>> for a number of years.  E.G. "Journals for the
>>> Journey Into Deep Learning: A
>>> Framework" in HERD, Vol 15, No. 1, 1996, pp.115 -
>>> 128.  He's a very
>>> interesting guy and well worth contacting - try
>>> [log in to unmask] or some
>>> combination around that, or visit Victoria
>>> University's website if you want
>>> to get in touch.
>>>
>>> HERDSA Gold Guide:
>>> Making Connections: Using Student Journals as a
>>> Teaching/Learning Aid
>>> Roy Ballantyne and Jan Packer
>>> This Gold Guide defines the student journal as a
>>> learning exercise in which
>>> students express in writing their understandings of,
>>> reflections on,
>>> responses to or analysis of an event, experience or
>>> concept. It is seen as a
>>> teaching device which assists students to formulate,
>>> clarify, evaluate and
>>> reframe their thoughts, feelings and actions in the
>>> light of their own
>>> experience and the information encountered in their
>>> study. The guide has
>>> information and ideas to enable staff to evaluate,
>>> adapt, create and refine
>>> journal writing techniques for their own purposes.
>>> It discusses the
>>> benefits, dangers and difficulties involved in the
>>> use of journal writing as
>>> a teaching tool, ways of designing journal writing
>>> tasks, and forms of
>>> assessment for which they can be used. A wide
>>> ranging sample of illustrative
>>> strategies is given.
>>> 53 pages,   1995
>>>
>>> The other thing that you might find quite novel and
>>> VERY useful, as we did
>>> at Waikato Polytechnic, is a theory that was built
>>> up in the States by a guy
>>> called William Watson Purkey.  It's called
>>> Invitational Theory, and was
>>> hugely effective in introducing our wide range of
>>> lecturers - both in terms
>>> of different cultural and different discipline
>>> groups - to educational
>>> theory that they could quickly grasp, apply and
>>> self-critique on.  Best to
>>> go to the Invitational website,
>>>
>> http://www.invitationaleducation.net/publications/journal/index.htm
>>>
>>> But the theory uses everyday language to capture
>>> quite complex
>>> relationships, such as whether our educational
>>> practice is 'intentionally
>>> inviting', 'unintentionally inviting',
>>> 'unintentionally disinviting' or
>>> 'intentionally disinviting' (why anyone would
>>> practise that last one beats
>>> me, but I guess it happens!) There is also a
>>> component to the theory that
>>> asks us to reflect on whether and how we are
>>> practising invitational theory
>>> in policies, programmes, through people, places and
>>> processes - perhaps
>>> check Purkey's own explanation of the basic tenets
>>> of the theory in one
>>> journal,
>>>
>> http://www.invitationaleducation.net/publications/journal/v11p5.htm
>>> and whether we are being personally and
>>> professionally inviting with
>>> ourselves and others.  There is a sound basis to
>>> this theory and the online
>>> journals provide great examples of how educators
>>> around the world are using
>>> it.  We were introduced to it by Dr Patsy Paxton, a
>>> South African (now Kiwi)
>>> who taught it to us in an Educational Theory course,
>>> and was a living
>>> example of what she taught.  I have rarely known a
>>> more 'intentionally
>>> inviting' person!  She is now the Academic Director
>>> at Auckland University
>>> of Technology.
>>>
>>> Anyway, some thoughts there for you, Je Kan and
>>> others.  They relate, if
>>> interpreted narrowly, to journals but I believe the
>>> same principles are
>>> readily extended to portfolio assessment, which was
>>> also common at the
>>> polytechnic (especially in the creative arts area,
>>> but not exclusively so).
>>> We managed to get permission for people whose
>>> preferred means of
>>> communication was verbal rather than written, to do
>>> their journals on tape
>>> rather than in books (awfully time consuming to
>>> mark, but awesome
>>> nonetheless!) And on the final day's presentation,
>>> where people who had
>>> shared their reflective journal on the days the
>>> course met then had to
>>> present their final 'my philosophy of teaching'
>>> based on their reflections,
>>> we had people who chose to dance their learning;
>>> present it by poster and
>>> explanation etc.  My enduring memory was of working
>>> with a tough-as-guts
>>> building lecturer who thought the whole course was
>>> wussy as hell and was
>>> hard work throughout, who on his final day brought
>>> in his guitar and
>>> mouthorgan and did a spoof on Bob Dylan's "The Times
>>> They Are A-Changing"
>>> sending up his resistance to the process, but what
>>> he had learned out of it.
>>> It remains a highlight of my teaching career!
>>> Go well, all.
>>> Pip Ferguson
>>>
>>
>>
>> Brian E. Wakeman
>> Education adviser
>> Dunstable
>> Beds
>>
>



Rev Je Kan Adler-Collins
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Fukuoka Prefectural University Faculty of Nursing
Tagawa City
Fukuoka Prefecture
Japan