TRANSFORMING THE PRACTIONERS: AN EXPLORATION OF THE APPLICATION OF THRESHOLD CONCEPTS TO A MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MASTERS COURSE IN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP

The authors will present a case study that details the impact of the application of a Threshold Concept approach (Cousins, 2010; Myers and Land, 2006) on the experience and performance of Practioner-Students on a professional development Masters Program. (The Masters in Christian Leadership offered by Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick in 2010-2011). The students were professional educators and mostly Principals in second level education in Ireland. The case study describes an intensive module: the ‘Integrating Seminar’ that ran over a two week period at the end of the taught component of the Masters Program (June 2011). This module was structured to create a learning environment that would support the production of a range of novel solutions to complex, topical and realistic issues facing Practitioners. In doing to, it encapsulated the key principles of Threshold Concepts by facilitating a transformative space in which participants went through a liminal (and troublesome) space, leading ultimately to more integrated and profound understanding. The Integrating Seminar was a pedagogical vehicle designed to encourage the assimilation of the academic knowledge and research components of the three multi-disciplinary streams that constituted the Masters in Christian Leadership (Theology, Psychology and Educational Practice & Leadership, taught over twelve course modules), with the professional experience of the students. The aim was to induce ‘novel knowledge’ that could be used by the students to address and evaluate a series of realistic and complex problems with a range of solutions/action plans. The Case Study highlights the importance of detailed structure in the design of such pedagogical tools in order to optimize the student experience of the threshold concept approach. Importantly, the authors explore the student and lecturers feedback on those experiences.