Abstract
In an attempt to answer longstanding questions of what makes students ready for learning, sustain their engagement and meet their life-long goals, I provide a critical commentary on the themes found in a unique educational framework.
I have continuously questioned why my published Mode Neutral pedagogy encourages learning to occur in my praxis as a Higher Education Academic and Operating Department Practitioner in the hospital perioperative setting. Signs of engagement, expression and commitment to learning promote individual identity alongside a visible presence. Unconditional teacher responses, and the balance of structured content and proactive communication remove barriers to learning and raise opportunities for strengthening individuals' emotional intelligence.
These aspects of human existence precede the learning elements of motivation, aspiration and belonging. The Mode Neutral Pedagogy method integrates these elements in the pre-learning phase and beyond to create a self-efficacy learning experience. The learner’s ‘sense of being’ is fundamental to this pedagogy as it fosters connectedness and a nascent self-concept, attitude and development for learning.
Those who adopt all or aspects of Mode Neutral continue to identify five intrinsically linked themes that explain why students do well throughout a Mode Neutral experience. These dominant five themes are referred to as Five Levers - they illustrate the combined effect of Identity, Presence, Co-Presence, Emotional Intelligence and Immersion on the learner’s achievements. The Five Levers discovery is unique and essential to educational development, and synthesis of new learner acquired knowledge. Pedagogical models that do not proactively consider this sense of being may place barriers in front of the learner's lifewide and lifelong learning.
There are also some limitations to this approach. In particular, transferability of the Five Levers framework is untested in other disciplines other than healthcare. It is unclear whether my personality, pre-disposition values and other attributes act as the 'glue' in Mode Neutral, rather than the presumed Five Levers. Nevertheless, this thesis provides evidence of Mode Neutral’s impact on healthcare practice for those working in hospitals.