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• Three UK secondary school pupil-clients and five educators were interviewed following participation Dance Movement Psychotherapy. • Phenomenological analysis revealed two thematic motifs and a series of subthemes emerged: unexpected empowerment and external contingency. • Findings highlight key challenges and opportunities for practitioners of arts psychotherapies. This study explored eight secondary school participants' subjective experiences of Dance Movement Psychotherapy [DMP], and how these perceptions relate to prior expectations and/or perceived outcomes from the therapy. How pupils and staff experience psychotherapeutic provision is of particular importance to engagement and process, with implications for therapeutic outcomes and – accordingly – the success and proliferation of such services within educational settings. A qualitative methodology based on Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was utilised to explore these topics from the phenomenological lived experience of three pupil-clients and five staff involved. Experiences of 'unexpected empowerment' were most prominent along with related subthemes, and a differing notion of 'External Contingency' and its subthemes. Where clients did not expect to be provided with structured solutions or advice, their experiences of unexpected empowerment optimised the insight-based aspects of DMP. Alternatively, for a client anticipating a process resembling being led in a solution-oriented 'package', the client found it difficult to overcome dependency on – and seeking from – external influences as a resolution for subjective wellbeing. These results are discussed in the context of creative psychotherapies and wider social structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic and professional development is widely regarded as important for academics. The experience of it is explored in this paper through phenomenological interviews with academic developers and participants on one programme in a UK Higher Education Institution. The importance of a credible, holistic approach to academic and professional development is evident, with participants and staff stressing the role of these programmes in not only facilitating a route into the academy for aspiring, early career and 'practice academics', but also as stimulus for an interest in higher education as a legitimate discipline for research. It is concluded that an approach to the development of academics that incorporates all aspects of academic practice rather than focusing in on teaching and learning could benefit both the individuals and the students who they teach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a considerable growth in research considering the role of peer feedback within higher education over the last 10 years (Gielen, Dochy, & Onghena, 2011). However, there are mixed opinions regarding what peer feedback involves and its value in relation to enhancing student learning outcomes. Furthermore, for those supporters of holistic assessment designs advocating greater student involvement and agency in the assessment process (Boud & Associates, 2010), there is a tension regarding the extent to which students should be required to participate in peer feedback activities (Nicol, 2008). In developing this argument, it is known that although peer feedback can be a positive experience for students (De Grez, Valcke, & Berings, 2010), impacts on learning can also be variable, reflecting the interplay of individual and contextual factors. Adopting an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach, this article examines with students how they make sense of and use peer feedback opportunities. Informed by a personal learning styles pedagogy (PLSP; Evans & Waring, 2009, 2014), two peer feedback pedagogical interventions involving postgraduate students were implemented at two U.K. higher education institutions. Using a mixed methods approach, the role of individual and contextual variables in affecting students' perceptions of the value of peer feedback and the PLSP approach are explored. Informed by current peer feedback debates, recommendations to inform practice are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]