Regional Formation and Development Studies

The aim of this paper is to substantiate the process of enabling learning by students when facing radically new information in business and management studies. Starting from the introduction and the research methodology, the paper follows by referring to Piaget’s theory, which presents the accommodation process by explaining the formation of new thinking structures necessary for learning radical new information. The Seven steps educational process (SESEP) is then presented by using secondary analysis. The principles of the SESEP model were described by the authors in their previous study while researching the development of education students’ competence in using potential learning environments. Secondary analysis allows for a concentrated discussion, revealing how the SESEP enables students (who are studying for a master’s degree in education) to learn when they are facing radically new information. The results of interviews with experts (experienced teachers in business and management studies) are presented, which show the possibility to transfer the SESEP into a model for enabling learning by students when facing radically new information (ENARNI) in business and management studies. The discussion of the results leads to a more detailed justification of the model.

This article presents findings and discussions generated on the basis of the Danish-Swedish development project CareSam. The article will on the one hand focus on how work in groups consisting of representatives from different levels in the elderly care sector at one time served as learning spaces and cultural encounters in which established notions of older people and elderly care were challenged and discussed. Inspired by action research these challenges were brought forth through discussions of and through insight in practical experiences. On the other hand it will focus on the tendencies to narrow the diversity of perceptions of elderly people and their care, which were also seen in the project and led to stories in which the meaningfulness of care work were honored. Departing from the interviews presented in the CareSam film and parts of the empirical material produced in connection to the work in the project-groups this paper will ask whether it is possible to represent care work for elderly people with all the ambiguities it holds: How can we as researchers represent both meaningfulness and straining dimensions of care work? Can we avoid either supporting Florence Nightingale-ideals or cementing negative cultural perceptions of help-needing elderly and the people who support them in everyday life? In answering these questions and thereby reflecting on our own work process we apply a caring, a learning and a political perspective. Hereby the article wishes to formulate a methodological point: The CareSam cross sector collaboration produced important experience near knowledge, but also lead to present somewhat one-sided understandings of elderly care. Applying theoretical perspectives to analyze the empirical material and the working process, nuances the understanding and makes it possible to maintain immediately conflicting dimensions in this kind of work.