Contributing to Learning to Change: Exploring Learning from Experience for Professionals

Learning to change is difficult, complex, and takes time. Why is this so? How can such learning to change be facilitated? Exploring learning to change, from a viewpoint which values having an explanatory conceptual understanding (theory) that will inform action (practice), both for learners seeking to engage with change for their own practice, and for a facilitator of such learning, this study focuses on testing the efficacy of a professional development design, involving two processes: (1) exploring whether the design, when used with two different groups of professionals, encouraged them to engage in a reflective research approach in their own practice; (2) engaging with my own practitioner experience, comparing my theorising about the experience with that reported in the literature. It yields stories which are shared on the basis of one of my findings: sharing reflective stories prompts reciprocal sharing, and shared reflective thinking may challenge perspectives and perceptions, triggering additional learning, for professionals, educators, or anyone grappling with change processes in a professional environment.