The way we think about physiotherapy is overdue a radical shake-up. A couple of months ago, Charles Jennings wrote an interesting piece about the way our use of knowledge is changing, and these ideas have some important implications the way next generations of physiotherapists are learn their craft. Jennings' piece is titled 'Learning in the Collaboration Age' (link), and it focuses on the role collaboration is playing in learning. Jennings contrasts what he calls 'old' ways of acquiring knowledge (often characterised as 'knowing that'), with what is becoming increasingly common these days (knowing how, knowing why). Jennings argues that 'Although experiential and social learning … [Read more...] about Radical new ways to think about physiotherapy
Beyond Motherhood and Apple Pie
This second blogpost from Dina Brooks extends her argument about the role of the CPN in reaching out to the wider physiotherapy community. In my last blog, Reflections of a quantitative researcher on the CPN Salon, I suggested that we needed to build bridges not walls and encouraged CPN to have more connections with the biomedical quantitative physiotherapy world. Although there was general buy-in to the idea, I was vague in my last blog and wanted to follow up by getting more specific and expanding on the why and how I see this connection happening. Specifically, I wanted to address the risks to the CPN, reasons why the CPN is best positioned to reach across the divide and make … [Read more...] about Beyond Motherhood and Apple Pie
Critical Studies in Physiotherapy
2017 looks like being another busy and exciting year for the CPN. As well as our first CPN Salon (mini-conference), being held at the lovely Cape Town restaurant Ottimo Cibo on the day after the WCPT conference, we will be launching our first collaboratively written book. We're currently working on possible titles, with our favourite being Mobilising physiotherapy: A critical physiotherapy reader, but the final decision will be made soon. We already have full drafts of all 15 chapters, and the editorial team (Barbara Gibson, Dave Nicholls, Jenny Setchell and Karen Synne Groven) are working through their recommendations and edits. We have chapters that look critically at physiotherapy … [Read more...] about Critical Studies in Physiotherapy
CPN update – November 2015
We have our monthly CPN Executive video conference on Friday this week, and it's been a while since we updated you on some of the things we're doing and some of the projects that we're involved in, so here's a quick summary: Friday's meeting will be the first with two new members. Viviana Guerrero and Michael Rowe joined Barbara Gibson, Simon Kirkegaard, Gwyn Owen, Dave Nicholls, Jenny Setchell and Nicky Wilson on the Exec last month. Viviana is a doctoral candidate and Senior Research Assistant at Griffith University’s Centre of National Research on Disability and Rehabilitation in Australia. (You will have seen some of her work recently with the Spanish translations we've been able … [Read more...] about CPN update – November 2015
Connectivities…an experiment in collaborative thinking and writing
Connectivities - a call for your ideas Connecting over connectivities Over the next few days, I want to try a short experiment to test out our nascent Critical Physiotherapy Network and see just how powerful this social networking business really could be. Our 30 Days of September project showed that the most popular task for our group was going to be 'Explaining philosophy to physios.' Well, with that in mind - and always thinking that philosophy should be practically useful to people in their everyday lives - I've got a project that I want to kick off, and see whether we can do something radical in physiotherapy. The project is to bring together people across the Network to … [Read more...] about Connectivities…an experiment in collaborative thinking and writing
Idea 29: Create learning families (2 mins)
Every day during September we will post up an idea for you to vote on. The most popular ideas will become the things that the inaugural Organizing Committee of the Critical Physiotherapy Network focuses on in 2015. So please make sure you cast your vote at the bottom of each post. This comes from Richard Horwood...one of our New Zealand members: Given the diverse geographical locations and backgrounds of the group, and therefore the 'differences' culturally, it might it be worth the organising committee looking at filtering members into 'learning families' (a few each from here and there) to help break down some of the barriers to 'productive' thought. It would be easier to share … [Read more...] about Idea 29: Create learning families (2 mins)