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This article extends currently reported theory and practice in the use of learning goals or targets with students in secondary and further education. Goal-setting and action-planning constructs are employed in personal development plans (PDPs) and personal learning plans (PLPs) and are advocated as practice within the English national policy agenda with its focus on personalisation. The article argues that frameworks widely used for goal setting and action planning by UK educational practitioners, in particular SMART targets or goals, have yet to be rigorously examined in the light of relevant theory and practice. Doing so is important given contemporary emphasis on the dimensions of the learner experience regarded by "learning to learn" practitioners as underpinning effective learning in the modern classroom. The article draws from social cognitive theory and achievement goal theory, including Zimmerman's criteria for appropriate goals, to suggest an alternative framework for goal or target setting--"well-formed outcomes", a construct from the field of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). In comparison with SMART targets, the authors argue that well-formed outcomes offer a more rigorous and holistic approach, by taking greater account of the learner's identity, affective dimensions (feelings and emotions), social relations and values, as well as encouraging mental rehearsal. (Contains 1 note and 1 figure.)

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP)--an emergent, contested approach to communication and personal development created in the 1970s--has become increasingly familiar in education and teaching. There is little academic work on NLP to date. This article offers an informed introduction to, and appraisal of, the field for educators. We review the origins of NLP, and summarise its nature as a method of, and conceptual framework for, education and teaching, with brief examples of applications. We argue that NLP offers an innovative praxis, underpinned in principle by Bateson's epistemological thinking, which informs a distinctive methodology known as "modelling". The credibility of the field relies, in our view, on its ability to address seven critical issues. These form a possible research agenda and a focus for dialogue between NLP practitioner and academic communities. (Contains 11 notes.)

This article explores and appraises Gregory Bateson's theory of "levels of learning" and its implications for Human Resource Development, with reference to issues of organizational learning. In Part One, after briefly reviewing Bateson's biography, the origins and contents of the theory are described. In Part Two, three particular features of the theory are explored, together with their implications for Human Resource Development: (i) The significance of the recursive relationship between the levels; (ii) It not being a stage theory of learning; "higher" levels of learning are neither superior to, nor necessarily more desirable than, lower levels; and (iii) Its emphasis on the notion of "context". In Part Three, the discussion emphasizes the holistic nature of Bateson's theory, in that the levels of learning combine cognitive, embodied, and aesthetic dimensions. Some limitations of the theory are reviewed and then concluded by considering its perspective on the question, "do organizations learn?" (Contains 13 notes, 1 table and 1 figure.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to enrich the conceptual vocabulary of organisational learning by discussing the relevance of the interdisciplinary work of Gregory Bateson, an original and challenging twentieth century thinker. Design/methodology/approach: The paper debates a number of principles identified by Bateson, which reflect patterns that appear in stories (including, for example, Sufi teaching stories) as well as in practical experiences of organisational learning. Findings: Bateson's ideas have the potential to overturn assumptions about organisational learning and to offer new perspectives on the subject. The belief is that Bateson's thinking implies, for example, that communication is multi-layered and paradoxical; that learning is always political; that organisational learning is emergent and transient; and that stories can provide more effective encapsulations of the complexities of organisational learning than rational analyses. Originality/value: The paper offers fresh views on the conceptualisation of organisational learning that may assist practitioners to "think outside the box", together with some practical insights and good stories.

This article examines an application of appreciative inquiry (AI), a contemporary approach to organizational change that is increasingly evident in the business world, as a participative means of school improvement. AI appears relevant to contemporary themes in literature on school improvement such as self-evaluation, capacity-building and distributed forms of leadership. AI is introduced and its literature reviewed, with reference to its growing use both in business and in American schools. The authors then report on "Imagine Meadfield", the first known large-scale appreciative inquiry undertaken in an English secondary school, with particular reference to the experience of the head teacher (first author) who led this process. The article critically reviews this experience in order to assess the potential of AI for school improvement. (Contains 3 figures.)

An organizational consulting model that uses the ancient concept of chakras and energy flows was used to guide a collaborative inquiry into workers' experience of the organization. The model enabled participants to describe their organizational experience, construct a narrative about it, formulate intended changes. (Contains 32 references.) (Author/JOW)

Presents two approaches to assessing learning organizations: (1) Focus, Will, Capability, Performance System and (2) organizations as energies. Describes ways in which behavior change is measured in each approach. (SK)

Assessment of learning organizations is not a scientific but a political endeavor, better served by heuristic measures. These measures assess conditions in which there is high probability that learning is occurring, enable participants to assess the learning climate, and make the learning climate a focus of inquiry. (SK)

Describes research into the operation of peer learning communities on the MSc course in Change Agent Skills and Strategies at the University of Surrey. Argues for acknowledgment of significant qualitative differences in current usage of the term "learning community" in relation to higher education courses. Indicates educational advantages of, and institutional barriers to, a peer learning community. Includes key principles. (AEF)

Interviewing is the most frequently used qualitative research method for gathering data. Although interviews vary across different epistemological perspectives, questions are central to all interviewing genres. This article focuses on the potential for the wording of interview questions to lead and unduly influence, or bias, the interviewee's responses. This underacknowledged phenomenon affects the trustworthiness of findings and has implications for knowledge claims made by researchers, particularly in research that aims to elicit interviewees' subjective experience. We highlight the problem of the influence of interview questions on data; provide a typology of how interview questions can lead responses; and present a method, the "cleanness rating," that facilitates reflexivity by enabling researchers to review and assess the influence of their interview questions. This clarifies the researcher's role in the production of interview data and contributes to methodological transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The professionalization of occupations has led to the increased demand for specialized knowledge in many fields, in response to which Higher Education (HE) institutions have provided professional education programmes. The purpose of this paper is to address a need for research into the history and current position of professional education in Human Resource Development (HRD) in the UK and to consider the problem of the extent to which HRD can be regarded as a profession. The paper reports findings from a mixed methods study comprising an audit of the postgraduate HRD programme provision in UK universities and a symposium at which the perspectives of key informants were captured. There is evidence of declining use of the term 'HRD' in programme titles, and of contestation and conflict between the professional education of HRD and Human Resource Management (HRM). The paper argues for regarding HRD as symbiotic in relation to HRM, rather than as a distinct profession. It identifies the implications of this conceptualization for professional education in the field and discusses the relevance of experience in the UK for HRD internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]