title: Discursive dissonance: Critical reflexivity for counselling supervision

authors: Esler, Ireni

subjects: supervision

abstract: When practitioners and supervisors do not share the same counselling language or theoretical orientation, how is shared meaning achieved and relational connection sustained in supervision? How are differences in theoretical orientation negotiated in supervision in ways that open space for collaborative, generative dialogue and critical reflection on the politics of practice? In response to these questions, this thesis presents a critical, reflexive practitioner-inquiry exploring the possibilities and limitations a social constructionist and narrative approach to supervision makes possible for students learning apolitical, humanistic approaches to counselling. Positioned in theoretical landscapes of social constructionism, feminist poststructuralism and Narrative Therapy, this study is a reflection-in-action of a supervisor’s practice. Central to the study’s argument is discursive positioning theory; the associated concepts of relational identity, authorship and agency; and the self as a storying subject. Two student counsellors and two newly qualified counsellors, whose practice was shaped by structuralist, humanistic theories, and who were already engaged in supervision, participated in the study. Employing narrative practices of co-inquiry to generate data, a series of supervision sessions were recorded, reviewed individually by supervisor and practitioner/participant and later discussed in reflective/research meetings. Using a critically reflexive approach to discourse analysis, selected data-texts were explored for moments of discursive dissonance and moments of movement in practice development and professional identity. Research findings highlighted the need for explicit supervision working agreements, theoretical transparency, and encouragement by counsellor training/education providers for students to make fuller use of supervision as a critical learning space. It identifies three processes that might inform supervision when theoretical orientations are non-aligned. These are: supervision as critical reflexivity, supervision as a socio-political conversation, and supervision as a storying practice.

text: Discursive dissonance: Critical reflexivity for counselling supervision When practitioners and supervisors do not share the same counselling language or theoretical orientation, how is shared meaning achieved and relational connection sustained in supervision? How are differences in theoretical orientation negotiated in supervision in ways that open space for collaborative, generative dialogue and critical reflection on the politics of practice? In response to these questions, this thesis presents a critical, reflexive practitioner-inquiry exploring the possibilities and limitations a social constructionist and narrative approach to supervision makes possible for students learning apolitical, humanistic approaches to counselling. Positioned in theoretical landscapes of social constructionism, feminist poststructuralism and Narrative Therapy, this study is a reflection-in-action of a supervisor’s practice. Central to the study’s argument is discursive positioning theory; the associated concepts of relational identity, authorship and agency; and the self as a storying subject. Two student counsellors and two newly qualified counsellors, whose practice was shaped by structuralist, humanistic theories, and who were already engaged in supervision, participated in the study. Employing narrative practices of co-inquiry to generate data, a series of supervision sessions were recorded, reviewed individually by supervisor and practitioner/participant and later discussed in reflective/research meetings. Using a critically reflexive approach to discourse analysis, selected data-texts were explored for moments of discursive dissonance and moments of movement in practice development and professional identity. Research findings highlighted the need for explicit supervision working agreements, theoretical transparency, and encouragement by counsellor training/education providers for students to make fuller use of supervision as a critical learning space. It identifies three processes that might inform supervision when theoretical orientations are non-aligned. These are: supervision as critical reflexivity, supervision as a socio-political conversation, and supervision as a storying practice.

year: 2011

title: Anthony Eden, Neville Chamberlain and the Cabinet Quest for Italy, 1937 to February 1938

authors: Davidson, Gerald Sinclair

abstract: Historians have not yet provided a detailed authenticated account of Anthony Eden's term as Foreign Secretary in the Chamberlain Cabinet and of his resignation. 
Written in the immediate aftermath of Eden's resignation, the Chatham House account reflects the mixture of confusion and speculation manifested by contemporary spectators caught largely unaware, despite rumours, by an event supposedly significant but the precise nature of that significance e1usive. By the time Churchill's version appears, with the aid of hindsight after the holocaust, a rift based on clear-cut policy alternatives is discerned. On one side there is Chamberlain and his ageing sycophants bedazzled by a quest for 'peace in their time', conceived as a mission, therefore unthwartable and increasingly representing a position of weakness; on the other Eden, with harsher principles for dealing with truculent dictators , a martyr to a more resolute cause. The rift is therefore inevitable, and significant in the chronicling of the 'disastrous' policy of appeasement, because it centres on different principles for the execution of foreign policy.

text: Anthony Eden, Neville Chamberlain and the Cabinet Quest for Italy, 1937 to February 1938 Historians have not yet provided a detailed authenticated account of Anthony Eden's term as Foreign Secretary in the Chamberlain Cabinet and of his resignation. 
Written in the immediate aftermath of Eden's resignation, the Chatham House account reflects the mixture of confusion and speculation manifested by contemporary spectators caught largely unaware, despite rumours, by an event supposedly significant but the precise nature of that significance e1usive. By the time Churchill's version appears, with the aid of hindsight after the holocaust, a rift based on clear-cut policy alternatives is discerned. On one side there is Chamberlain and his ageing sycophants bedazzled by a quest for 'peace in their time', conceived as a mission, therefore unthwartable and increasingly representing a position of weakness; on the other Eden, with harsher principles for dealing with truculent dictators , a martyr to a more resolute cause. The rift is therefore inevitable, and significant in the chronicling of the 'disastrous' policy of appeasement, because it centres on different principles for the execution of foreign policy.

year: 1973

title: Manaaki whenua. Manaaki tangata: Care for the land, care for the people: Leading critical school reform with mana whenua and whānau Māori

authors: Ford, Therese

subjects: Critical school reform

abstract: Education disparities between Māori and Pākehā students in Aotearoa, have their origins in colonial education policies and practices which considerably advantaged Pākehā students and compromised the ability of Māori students to engage with learning and succeed.  Despite the promises of equality inherent in the Treaty of Waitangi,  this historical foundation has, for over 150 years, perpetuated intergenerational cycles of education failure for Māori resulting in high levels of endemic social and economic disadvantage in many Māori communities.
This thesis examines the leadership praxis of two Pākehā principals, to understand how, with more respectful connections with Māori communities, they were able to address education disparities and facilitate success for Māori students as Māori. Culturally responsive research methodologies guided two, in-depth case studies which employed mixed methods.
Two collaborative stories, with the voices of mana whenua and whānau Māori, identified the importance of school leaders developing critical levels of consciousness, through authentic, bidirectional relationships with Māori communities.  These relationships enabled the principals to understand the authentic local, pre-colonial iwi histories of the land. This in turn fostered connections between the schools and local Māori communities that enabled them to collaboratively respond to the implications of colonisation.  
The thesis challenges the monocultural, monolingual, unidirectional policies and practices that characterise the current model of colonial education.  It presents instead a decolonising model of critical school reform and a framework for implementation and evaluation.  It contends that honouring the Treaty of Waitangi requires an equity focused response with power sharing relationships, critically led by principals alongside Māori communities.

text: Manaaki whenua. Manaaki tangata: Care for the land, care for the people: Leading critical school reform with mana whenua and whānau Māori Education disparities between Māori and Pākehā students in Aotearoa, have their origins in colonial education policies and practices which considerably advantaged Pākehā students and compromised the ability of Māori students to engage with learning and succeed.  Despite the promises of equality inherent in the Treaty of Waitangi,  this historical foundation has, for over 150 years, perpetuated intergenerational cycles of education failure for Māori resulting in high levels of endemic social and economic disadvantage in many Māori communities.
This thesis examines the leadership praxis of two Pākehā principals, to understand how, with more respectful connections with Māori communities, they were able to address education disparities and facilitate success for Māori students as Māori. Culturally responsive research methodologies guided two, in-depth case studies which employed mixed methods.
Two collaborative stories, with the voices of mana whenua and whānau Māori, identified the importance of school leaders developing critical levels of consciousness, through authentic, bidirectional relationships with Māori communities.  These relationships enabled the principals to understand the authentic local, pre-colonial iwi histories of the land. This in turn fostered connections between the schools and local Māori communities that enabled them to collaboratively respond to the implications of colonisation.  
The thesis challenges the monocultural, monolingual, unidirectional policies and practices that characterise the current model of colonial education.  It presents instead a decolonising model of critical school reform and a framework for implementation and evaluation.  It contends that honouring the Treaty of Waitangi requires an equity focused response with power sharing relationships, critically led by principals alongside Māori communities.

year: 2020