The UK pharmacy profession has undergone considerable change as a result of
changes within the NHS. As a regulated profession it has an annual continu
ing education/continuing professional development requirement for all membe
rs. This article focuses on individuals in community (largely retail) pharm
acy who were identified Dy hey stakeholders as demonstrating more effective
practice than others. These we term 'leading edge practitioners' (LEPs). F
rom a sample of those identified as LEPs and a corresponding (control) grou
p not so identified from one health authority we explore differences betwee
n the two groups with respect to approaches to learning and teaching Data c
ollection consisted of three critical incidents per respondent, a questionn
aire and a psychometric test (KAI). Half of the statistically significant q
uestions identifying LEPs were learning and teaching related. Just under ha
lf of the respondents told of critical incidents concerning learning or tea
ching and the style of some LEPs' narratives was distinct, providing eviden
ce of different emotional learning from that of control group respondents.
The study provides empirical evidence for the levels of organizational teac
hing identified by French and Bazalgette.