1 Introduction
Doctorate learner journeys involve a passage into the unknown, with the potential for transformative learning at the other end (Meyer, Land, & Baillie, 2010). In this journey, learners engage with concepts and experiences by using novel approaches, crossing thresholds, and unleashing new ways of thinking, previously unconsidered or accessible (Meyer, Land, & Baillie, 2010). Described as a ‘disorienting dilemma’, the trigger into the liminal zone challenges existing beliefs (Mezirow, 1978, 1990). Learners must be open to the processes of the threshold concept and to a discarding or releasing of previous beliefs for transformative change to occur, towards a state of ‘discernment’ (Boyd & Myers, 1988). Crossing the concept threshold (Wisker, Robinson, & Kiley, 2008) presents challenges because of the unfamiliar and ‘troublesome’ nature of the journey, resulting in variability of time periods in a state between existential positions known as ‘liminality’ (Meyer, Land, & Baillie, 2010; Ybema, Beech, & Ellis, 2011). Introduction into the liminal space occurs due to the acquisition of new knowledge, which challenges previous understandings of identity, self, and the world and leads to shifts in epistemology and ontology (Meyer, Land, & Baillie, 2010).
Educators, rather than learners, usually identify threshold concepts through experience and learner observations (Heading & Loughlin, 2018). Although the Doctor of Physiotherapy (DPT) module team imagined the behaviours, skills, knowledge, and attitudes relevant to threshold concepts, initial articulation proved difficult. Staff facilitated learners through the liminal zone, during module delivery, without knowing clearly where and how learners might experience complex, troublesome, and transformative knowledge. The threshold concept considered in this chapter can be described as ‘epistemic stance’ as a lens for reflexivity in professional development. The threshold concept facilitates progression towards a fluid, sophisticated epistemic stance in practice, known as bricolage (Kempenaar & Shanmugam, 2022; Shaw & DeForge, 2012).
The learner’s liminal journey is aligned with the hero’s journey, which follows a narrative of internal growth and change, from one way of being to another (Campbell, 2003; Land, 2019; Vogler, 2007). The hero’s story begins in act one, with five distinct stages, including the ‘ordinary world’, ‘call to adventure (inciting incident)’, ‘refusal of the call’, ‘meeting with the mentor’, and ‘crossing the threshold’. After passing into act two, the hero passes through an additional four stages of ‘tests, allies, enemies’, ‘approach to the inmost cave’, ‘central ordeal (midpoint, death, and rebirth)’, and reaps the ‘reward’. The third and final act involves the hero’s journey on ‘the road back’, a ‘resurrection (climax)’, and the ‘return with elixir (denouement)’ (see Figure 10.1).
The hero’s journey and the threshold concept (adapted from Vogler, 2007; Meyer, Land, and Bailie, 2010, p. IX)
2 Pre-Liminal
2.1 Learner Experience
The learner encounters troublesome knowledge in the pre-liminal state which cannot fit into prior beliefs (Meyer & Land, 2003, 2005). Pre-liminality is a stage of the learner journey characterised as instigative, as it instigates towards a liminal state (Meyer, Land, & Baillie, 2010). Commonality can be discerned between my learner journey and that of a fictional character archetype. These links are made through the three-act structure of the hero’s path, with ‘separation’ from the old way of being, ‘descent’ into uncertainty and unforeseen challenges of troublesome knowledge, and the ‘initiation’ and ‘return’ from the depths of the liminal zone (Vogler, 2007). At the start of the story, in their ‘ordinary world’, the hero lives their usual routine prior to encountering the problem which instigates their adventure (Vogler, 2007). My world on entering the doctorate modules might be described as more turbulent than ordinary. I entered the pre-registration physiotherapy degree with the COVID-19 pandemic chasing my tail. Lockdown resulted in the closure of my university campus and the transition of classes from in-person to online, including practical tutorials. The pandemic could be considered a liminal time for not only learners, but educators, health practitioners, and for the population. Students in my course faced incredible challenges with the impact of isolation on mental and physical health and loss of income during lockdowns. Friendships I made face-to-face, on campus, became strained through pandemic related isolation and stress. With the changes to my education, I suffered anxiety and uncertainty
Doctorate modules began earlier than expected, in September 2020, due to a programme reorganisation. I walked into a class for the first time since before COVID-19 ricocheted throughout my life. My stomach churned with nerves as I prepared to enter my first doctorate class, with unclear expectations of what would be involved. I felt an imposter throughout my first trimester as a psychology graduate in a physiotherapy degree filled with students from sports therapy and physiology backgrounds. Going into the professional development and research modules, I worried about my ability to perform at doctoral level. I feared failure. However, I did not find myself to be alone with this, in a class of many self-identified perfectionists, as is not uncommon in the physiotherapy profession (Richardson, Miller, Papa, & Santurri, 2022).
An electric energy of excitement, hope, anticipation, and apprehension zapped between us all as we met the people who would be front and centre in our lives throughout the rest of our degree. Staff seemed to sense our nerves, and through providing a warm and supportive atmosphere, eased us into our first classes. Our first trimester blended together into a stream of reflective discussions, interactive tasks, and writing sessions. I settled into the rhythm of the professional development module, which differed from my previous experience in the pre-registration classes. My master level pre-registration modules involved a fast pace, high stress, little learner control, and a steep learning curve as we progressed through the accelerated materials. Students wore uniforms, seeming to encourage a value of conformity. The professional development classes felt relaxed in comparison, in an environment encouraging trust, honesty, openness, and acceptance of individual differences. Module content introduced us to the links between physiotherapy practice and the philosophy of ontology and epistemology. The topics created a ‘call to adventure’ as we identified our ontological and epistemological stance and the limitations that came with it (Vogler, 2007).
Individual differences, such as hope, optimism, self-efficacy, motivation, emotional security and resilience, can interact with wider social and cultural influence in the learning environment to determine engagement and outcomes of liminality and liminal creativity (Land Rattray & Vivian, 2014; Rattray, 2016). Promotion of liminal creativity occurs through an environment embedded with co-creation and co-exploration (Atkinson & Robson, 2012; Sanders & Stappers, 2008; Soja & Hooper, 1993). Creating a suitable environment to support learners to become co-creators required a recalibration of power dynamics, enhancing learner agency and equalising the roles of educators and learners, to allow learners to feel ‘safe’ in the uncertainty of liminality (Kempenaar & Shanmugam, 2022; Mason, 2015).
Admittedly, at the beginning of the modules, I felt unexcited by the idea of the philosophical discussions. I once found pleasure in reflective practice. However, I retained a mental intolerance and reluctance to engage after a negative experience during my counselling training. At that time, I wanted to get a sense of what my future might look like if I pursued the psychology route in a clinical context. A counselling and psychotherapy course seemed to be a good opportunity to explore this option. Learners used role play to develop and practice skills, as is standard in counselling education. I found difficulty in relating to many of the other students, feeling different in personality and background. When placed in the role of ‘patient’, the student ‘counsellor’ often seemed out of touch with my emotions, and I often felt they turned the experiences I shared into a narrative about them. I might have found myself telling a story, nothing in the extremes of emotive or sensitivity, but something that might help the ‘counsellor’ to fulfil that role. My attempt to share with the other students in role play often led to tears on their part, crying when I, the ‘patient’, did not find the subject upsetting. It made me feel awkward and disconnected from others, as I could not understand their response. Not wanting to repeat the counselling course experience, I worried how the DPT class might compare. I wanted to skip group reflective discussions and move on to research, my true passion. In a sense, like Vogler’s (2007) hero, I wanted to refuse the call to adventure.
Despite my discomfort with the class topics, I wanted to achieve my learning outcomes for the DPT modules, and cautiously participated in class discussions, finding benefits from critical feedback. Students and staff did not
2.2 Staff Experience
From a staff perspective, students accepting vulnerability and having the confidence to take the leap are essential elements of the pre-liminality stage. While some students seemed to arrive with such a mindset, others needed a bit more support at this stage. As the teaching occurred in a group setting, we also had to consider the collective journey of the students and understand each individual’s ‘ordinary world’ prior to the course. Students at the course came from different walks of life including different socio-economic backgrounds, professional disciplines, cultures, and gender and they also differed in their aims and goals to attend the Doctorate programme. Therefore, staff felt it was important to understand each student’s motivation to develop a deeper relationship and gain trust with them individually and as a collective. Having three different staff members (e.g. age, gender, discipline, teaching experience) enabled us to develop meaningful relationships with the students and allowed students to approach different staff members that they felt comfortable with at the time. We observed that students did not necessarily have a preferred staff member throughout their whole journey; instead they developed trust with the whole team and approached staff members who could support their emerging challenges whether it was affective and/or cognitive. Furthermore, disclosing our own individual epistemic stances, values, and experiences helped students to understand that it is okay to have your own unique voice in your field. We felt
Another aspect of our role at this stage was to create a safe and welcoming environment where new and challenging concepts can be introduced and discussed. We did this by deliberately reducing power dynamics (e.g. changing the classroom set up and sitting within the circle and not at the top of the room to support the sense of a shared journey) and encouraging student agency (e.g. asking critical questions instead of delivering fixed content). During discussions on students’ affective experiences, they highlighted feeling alone, like an impostor, and fearing failure. These feelings align with the hero’s journey, in act one, with the ‘refusal of the call’ to adventure (Vogler, 2007). In reality, such feelings were a common theme in student cohorts. Staff shared their vulnerability and acknowledged similar experiences, detailing how they harnessed, rather than avoided, these feelings. We felt these discussions were crucial to develop students’ trust in us and in the process they were going through. These facilitative approaches aimed to prepare students to accept their authentic selves and develop enough self-awareness to ‘cross the threshold’ into liminality (Vogler, 2007).
3 Liminal
3.1 Learner Experience
Liminal entry brings different degrees of uncertainty, fear, and engagement while attending to ‘troublesome’ knowledge (Meyer & Land, 2005). The passage has been likened to a labyrinth, with one’s route often anything but straightforward (Land, 2019). Thompson and Mitchell (2019) connect the zones of development (Vygotsky, 2012) to the threshold concepts framework (‘TCF’; Meyer, Land, & Baillie, 2010). Transformation involves a two-way interaction between ‘spontaneous’ everyday experience and ontological and epistemological academic concepts (Vygotsky, 2012). Spontaneous and non-spontaneous concepts meet to create internalised, comprehensive knowledge, aligning with the TCF as old ways of understanding undergo remodelling in the liminal space (Meyer & Land, 2005; Thompson & Mitchell, 2019; Vygotsky, 2012). Like Dorothy in the ‘Wizard of Oz’, the doctoral programme, acting as a hurricane, swept my epistemological stance into an internal storm. Through a battle between the new troublesome information, the exposure to ontology and epistemology, and my old spontaneous experience, I experienced a shift of self. All major memories were pulled out and examined in a new light. Anxiety increased as I worried my rigid thinking led to false interpretations and out-of-proportion
DPT staff supported my liminal journey by acting like allies in battle, creating a safe environment to discuss, openly and honestly, my uncertainty, in groups and one-to-one meetings. In my written reflections, staff encouraged deeper reflections, provided critical feedback, and development opportunities. Staff made themselves easily accessible to students by creating group chats and promoting regular communication. The liminal journey and any negative feelings associated were emphasised to be a ‘normal process’ in learning. I would not, however, describe all of my emotions to be negative. Although liminality has negative associations, it is a space that, under the right circumstances, fosters creativity, exploration, and relations without constraints of the prior boundaries or delineations (Lam et al., 2018). Entering the liminal zone allowed an academic connection to my hobby of creative writing. I explored the story of how my world understanding came to be and the consequences of this on my view of self and others through a written narrative account. If I had not found pleasure in this aspect of the professional development modules, you, the reader, might not have had the delight of reading my reflection.
Like the hero, I approached my ‘inmost cave’ and faced the ‘ordeal’ of a battle (Volger, 2007). The battle course followed a chaotic, zigzag pattern, with affective highs and lows. I learned how my naive realist view might impact my future physiotherapy treatment if I neglect the fact patients’ might view the world differently or have a more complex philosophy than my naive realist understanding allows. As a person-centred healthcare practitioner, the patient’s best interests must be at the heart of my reasoning, and I must not let my bias compromise practice or patient empowerment. Vogler (2007) describes the hero’s ‘reward’ as a celebration of overcoming the challenge. My reward marks the turning point in self-awareness, of acceptance of self with the reflective flexibility to engage and adapt in situations requiring an alternative perspective. The crown of my journey might be considered to be the creative inspiration and outlet reflective practice fostered.
3.2
As our professional philosophy is underpinned by critical realism, we were aware that there is no one right way to support the students throughout their journey. This was also reinforced by our observations of the students’ reactions and experiences of the content and load (both cognitive and affective) of the module. Students embraced their liminality journey in the zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 2012) at a different pace, spending different amounts of time in each stage, which was one of the biggest challenges for us in a structured classroom environment. Sometimes key turning points occurred outside of the class setting as each individual had their own space to consider the discussions that happened in a group setting. Good staff-student ratios were deemed to be crucial to accommodate and adapt to these individual needs and support each student through the different liminal stages to successfully emerge on the other side of the liminal zone. Having a team of staff also allowed us to support each other in this sometimes emotional journey. This was done through staff discussion and reflections between classes, which created a safe space for the staff to debrief, adapt and re-plan complementing the dynamic and reflective nature of the module.
Acting as ‘allies’ (Vogler, 2007), we aimed to create a cognitive scaffolding through active discussions and asking questions to explore core beliefs, values, and assumptions in sessions. Week by week, students came in more ready to explore and delve into a different segment of their own knowledge, experiences, practice, and essentially themselves. We started to notice that students approached the discussions differently, instead of trying to come up with straight answers, they asked further critical questions. We also observed a shift in feelings and openness to the students’ journey. From being afraid, shy, and in some cases reluctant to actively engage with the introduced concepts, students started to critically observe their previous experiences and current practice both in their personal and professional lives. In just the way Vygotsky (2012) describes the two interactions between ‘spontaneous’ everyday experiences and academic concepts, the exploration of these topics acted as a student guide to understanding ontological and epistemological stances. Ambiguity, confusion, and frustration emerged as their reflections evolved. To support these affective experiences, staff members engaged in one-to-one support to create a safe space to let the student verbally express their concerns and uncertainties. In the collective environment, staff supported affective experiences through a suitable, welcoming environment, with materials inspiring transformational processes (Levi, 2008). We actively tried not to solve the students’ challenges but saw our role to help to normalise the process they went through. This was done by engaging in non-judgmental listening and asking
4 Post-Liminal
4.1 Learner Experience
The post-liminal state has been described as a consolidation of threshold understanding into the ‘zone of actual development’ (Meyer & Land, 2005; Thompson & Michell, 2019; Vygotsky, 2012). It is a challenge to define my post-liminal state. I feel, back to the ‘Wizard of Oz’ analogy, that my world has irreversibly changed, with colour-filling perspectives I had not known to be black and white. However, new personal and professional interactions often serve to remind me of my realist outlook and inability to change what seems to be an integral part of my makeup. No matter how hard I try to move forward, I am held in a state somewhere between black and white and colour, on the threshold of my epistemological evolution. I find myself once again entering a new liminal zone and still in the process of understanding my ontological journey. Despite the turmoil experienced due to a heightened self-awareness, I control my behavioural responses in situations presenting challenges to my objectivist stance, adapting to the requirements of the circumstances as needed. It might be the case that I surpassed the post-liminal space and stepped into a new phase of liminality, towards the fluid epistemological stance of bricolage (Kempenaar & Shanmugam, 2022; Shaw & DeForge, 2012). I might fool the observer into believing a transformation into post-liminal has been achieved, but do not feel this myself. My interpretation does not stand alone, with others critiquing the experience of the post-liminal space (Baillie, Bowden, & Meyer, 2013).
In line with Vogler’s (2007) model, I entered the third act of my story and began my travels on the ‘road back’ from my liminal journey. I am currently encountering the consequences of taking the ‘reward’ of self-awareness and have not returned to my ordinary world. It might be that I have not completed the final steps, with a test of ‘resurrection’ and ‘return with the elixir’ ending the hero’s tale (Vogler, 2007). However, unlike the hero, I wonder if a return to ‘ordinary’ life would be possible. What has been learned cannot be unlearned. I am unsettled and suspect that, although a threshold has been crossed, my journey is far from over as I progress on a new liminal journey. Where a hero’s story ends, mine does not, and this might be the point where our paths diverge. Figure 10.2 depicts a visual representation of where my learner reflection fits
Adaption of ‘The hero’s journey’ figure (Vogler, 2007) and the threshold concept (Meyer, Land, and Bailie, 2010, p. IX) with student and staff reflections
The fact I progressed to this point of reflection, through the threshold concept analogy of the learning journey, highlights the safe environment facilitated by staff on the DPT programme. Students, at least from my perspective, shared past experiences, values, and belief systems openly, developing growth in their ability to demonstrate reflexivity and fluidity of epistemic stance. I do not believe this level of group reflection to be achievable had the environment not fostered trust, exploration, and student-staff partnerships, empowering us, the learners. My cohort’s liminal experience might have been even better had
4.2 Staff Experience
While we acknowledge that liminal journeys are not always linear and one person might be going through different stages simultaneously, we observed some certain characteristics that seemed to be universal. Students at the post-liminal state overall demonstrated increased self-awareness, heightened critical thinking, and a more reflective approach towards their personal and professional lives. In the case of our students, the ‘elixir’ that they returned with from their liminal journey is these key ingredients to reach or get a step closer to bricolage as a stance within their profession. As LB’s reflection highlighted (see Figure 10.2), living with this ‘elixir’ can still be challenging at times and we saw our role as staff members to support students to embrace these new outlooks and more layered approach of thinking. As with the irreversible nature of crossing the threshold from liminal to post-liminal, we cannot go back to our prior state of understanding. Students adapted and learned to be comfortable with the uncomfortable (i.e., the complexity of epistemic cognition and its effects on professional practice). We also made sure that no one was left behind in their ‘inmost cave’ of liminality (Vogler, 2007). Feelings and cognitive expressions (the level of sophistication) were key indicators of this. Compared with the liminal zone, featuring intense levels of uncertainty, students in the post-liminal zone seemed more at peace, self-exploring with negative emotions replaced by curiosity and openness to new ideas. As a final step for us as staff, we also aimed to encourage further reflexivity in the students’ practice and prepare them for potential future journeys into the unknown, in the hope that this time students feel more prepared.
5 Conclusion
This chapter offers a critical reflection on learner epistemological liminal journeys from both a student and staff members of the DPT programme in GCU. Novel aspects of the chapter focus on doctoral student professional
A key lesson has been identified for staff as they move forward with new cohorts of students highlighting the importance of shared understanding and safety in student uncertainty, while supporting the affective and cognitive load associated with liminality. No recipe or one ingredient, in our experience, can ensure success of this goal. We encourage experimentation and the flexible mindset to adapt to each student group, as needs will differ. Students and staff must be open to vulnerability as they embark on the journey associated with their selected threshold concept. Staff can help to support students to prepare for liminality by utilising a variety of facilitation approaches, such as group discussion, individual and collective reflections, and verbal and written exercises. While applying these approaches, staff created a safe environment through non-judgemental listening, accepting the person for who they are, independent of their shared experiences. Staff, while acting as ‘mentors’, might be interpreted as ‘villains’ by students as they contribute alternative viewpoints conflicting with student core beliefs. However, this feedback is necessary to promote the progressions of student liminality. In doing this, staff should aim to model the behaviour they wish to observe from students, by carefully considering how words used when sharing experiences and providing feedback, as well as body language, might be interpreted. When applying these lessons, staff should consider the staff-student ratio, length of the partnership, and how best to incorporate co-creative communication within this dynamic.
Acknowledgement
Thanks to Vogler for his kind permission to re-use the image.
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