Perspectives On Professional
Practice and Knowledge
Professional Wisdom: An Alternative to
Technical Rationality
By
Terence O’Sullivan
Wisdom as a Virtue
McBeath and Webb (2002: 1022) state
that “Aristotle distinguishes between two
classes of virtue: intellectual and moral.
Under the former fall wisdom, prudence
and understanding which are acquired by
instruction which needs time and
experience which add up to wisdom…”
How This Lecture Fits with the Unit
This lecture concerns the limitations of
scientific and technical knowledge in dealing with
uncertainty of the social world.
It puts forward an alternative to “technical
practice”.
It is about becoming “a critical person” and a
“wise practitioner”.
Technical Rationality
Schon (1991:21) states that
“According to the model of technical rationality
[…] professional activity consists [of]
instrumental problem solving made rigorous by
the application of scientific theory and
technique.”
Professional Wisdom
Wisdom will be associated with exercising reflective
judgement and becoming a “critical person”.
It is an alternative to “scientific or technical rationality”.
It contrasts with the “anything goes” of post modernism
in that “wisdom” implies that some judgements and some
uses of knowledge are better than others. (Barnett, 1994:
page 144)
Practice wisdom is “a particular type of professional
expertise involving the capacity for wise judgements in
uncertain situations.” (O’Sullivan, 2005: page 222)
Becoming A Critical Person
Barnett, 1997:page 105
critical action
critical
person
critical selfreflection
critical
reason
The argument presented in
O’Sullivan (2005) is that:
‘practice wisdom’ has a place in contemporary
social work.
to have this place ‘practice wisdom’ needs to
be critical, accountable and knowledge based.
‘practice wisdom’ requires three conditions to
be present.
not all experienced practitioners necessarily
have practice wisdom.
Three Requirements of
Practice Wisdom
Practice Wisdom needs to be critical, accountable
and knowledge based and requires,
Distinctive knowledge production processes
Ability to make reasoning explicit
Credible and valuable knowledge
(O’Sullivan, 2005)
Distinctive Knowledge
Production Processes
Critical Control Through
Metacognition
framing processes
representation of
situation
situation
application processes
learning processes
stocks of knowledge
Ability to Make Reasoning Explicit
The need for accountable practice
Two types of reasoning (intuitive and
analytical)
Which type of reasoning is most effective
depends on the task characteristics (including,
degree of uncertainty, number of cues and
time available)
Explaining Intuitive Reasoning
Intuition is the use of tacit knowledge and
emotions to make judgements and decisions
without deliberation
Importance of intuition in rapid decision
making
The need at times of trace back and locate
the basis of intuitive judgements and
decisions
Explaining Analytical Reasoning
Analytical reasoning involves the capacity to
analyse and synthesize information into hypotheses
about particular situations.
Analytical reasoning should be easier to explain
than intuitive reasoning.
To be able to carryout analytical reasoning requires
flexible conceptual frameworks.
The inability to explain reasoning maybe a
symptom of the lack of such frameworks.
Credible and Valuable Knowledge
Credible knowledge as knowledge that is
seemingly worthy of belief by self and relevant
others.
Valuable forms of knowledge are regarded as
those that promote reflective judgment.
The work of Jurgen Habermas helps to analyse
what is meant here by credible and valuable
knowledge.
Knowledge and Human Interests
The Work of Jurgen Habermas
Instrumental forms of knowing
To predict and control nature, the environment and
human beings.
Communicative forms of knowing
To mutually understand the meanings that are
injected into the world by human beings.
Emancipatory forms of knowing
To see ourselves in radically different ways.
Instrumental Knowledge
As has been stated, instrumental forms of
knowing aim to predict and control nature, the
environment and human beings.
Barnett (1994:14) states that although reflection
is a necessary component of communicative and
emancipatory forms of knowing, it is merely a
contingent aspect of instrumental knowing.
Communicative Knowledge
Communicative knowledge is created in situations
where there is ‘unconstrained exchange’ and ‘participants
have to take into account each others viewpoint’.
(Barnett, 1994: 147)
Understandings are arrived at through collective
exchange between freely associating individuals in
contexts free from the distorting effects of power. (Blaug,
1995: 431)
Knowledge achieved through sincere endeavours to
reach agreed understandings, is of value when all those
affected have been encouraged to speak, all have been
listened to and all allowed to question others. (Blaug,
1995: 431).
Emancipatory Knowledge
“Emancipation is achieved through a
combination of knowledge about the social and
psychological environment, a personal
understanding of that knowledge and critical selfreflection, so that through that understanding one
can see new possibilities for one’s own life
world.” (Barnett, 1994 147)
“The value of emancipatory knowledge is its
potential to lead to changed understandings and
free knowers from constrained understandings.”
(O’Sullivan, 2005: 233)
Wise Practice or Evidence Based
Practice
A certain ambiguity about the term “evidence”.
Does it mean “that which proves an unknown fact”.
Or does it mean “ the reasons for believing
something is true”.
The latter meaning allows for a debate about what
constitutes evidence.
Practice Wisdom and Effectiveness
Instrumental knowledge is solely concerned with
effectiveness.
“Social work is a dual-aspect activity.” (Fraser,
1995 cited in Blaug 1995: 427) “While care has an
instrumental component, it is predominantly a
communicative activity.” (Blaug 1995: 427)
The limitations of evidence based practice mean
that the findings of empirical research cannot be
directly used in a routine way as substantive theory
(or in Barnett’s terms un–reflected instrumental
knowledge).
The limitations of evidence based practice
The results of empirical research have an important role in
informing practitioners conceptual frameworks.
There is general agreement on the scarcity of proven
techniques in social work (Trinder and Reynolds, 2000).
But disagreement over whether this is due to the intrinsic
nature of social work or lack of sufficiently scientific approach.
Schon states that “in the varied topography of professional
practice, there is a high, hard ground where practitioners can
make effective use of research-based theory and technique,
and there is a swampy lowland where situations are confusing
“messes” incapable of technical solution.” (1995: 42)
Three Dispositions Towards
Knowledge
Absolute knowledge exists and its source is
some outside authority.
It is not possible to formulate rational and
dependable knowledge and feels excused from the
responsibility of trying.
Acknowledges the need to abandon the search
for ultimate truth but not the need to pursue
understanding.
(adapted from Fook at al., 2000: 218)
Organisations and Wise Practice
Wise practice involves balancing, weighing, integrating
what is known and making judgments.
How far does increased regulation of social work
practice undermine practitioner capacity to act wisely?
Do organisational culture, ethos and practice affect
practitioners’ capacity to act wisely?
How far has the growth of managerialiam been
detrimental to the possibility of acting wisely?
How can organisations build, enable and sustain wise
practice?
End Words
“Making well-considered decisions requires a sound
awareness of the problem and the ability to anticipate the
consequences of possible decisions and actions. It does
not mean acting on the basis of feeling or intuition alone
[…]. Rather, it suggests that [well considered decisions]
be subject to the same process of critical reflection
through the framework of ethical reasoning as are all our
thoughts and observations. This, we suggest, is mature
professionalism.” (Gray and McDonald, 2006: 17)
Gray and McDonalds ‘Mature professionalism’ maybe
another name for practice wisdom.
A Wise Person in the Situation
“Therefore, saying that workers should stick to evidence
and well developed, tested models of practice is only
partially helpful in practice, because they have to
discover and ease themselves into a situation … and
embody their knowledge within their personality in an
interpersonal relationship as they become the 'wise
person' in that situation. (Payne, 2007; 91-2)
List of References
Barnett, R. (1994) The Limits of Competence: Knowledge, Higher Education and Society,
Buckingham: Open University.
Barnett, R. (1997) Higher Education: A Critical Business, Buckingham: Open University.
Blaug, R. (1995) ‘Distortion of the Face to Face: Communicative Reason and Social Work Practice‘,
British Journal of Social Work 25(4): 423-39.
Fook, J., and Ryan, M. and Hawkins, L. (2000) Professional Expertise: Practice, Theory and Education
for Working with Uncertainty, London: Whiting and Birch.
Gray, M. and McDonald, C. (2006) ‘Pursuing Good Practice? The Limits of Evidence–based Practice’,
Journal of Social Work 6(1): 7-20.
McBeath, G. and Webb. S. A. (2002) ‘Virtue Ethics and Social Work: Being Lucky, Realistic, and not
Doing ones Duty’, British Journal of Social Work, 32, 1015-1036.
O’Sullivan, T. (2005) ‘Some Theoretical Propositions on the Nature of Practice Wisdom’, Journal of
Social Work, 5(2): 221-242.
Payne, M. (2007) 'Performing as a 'wise person' in social work practice' Practice, 19(2) pp. 85-96.
Rooney, D. and McKenna, B. (2008) ‘Wisdom in public management: looking for a Sociology of Wise
Practice’, Public Administration Review, 68(4) 708-721.
Schon, D. A (1995) The Reflective Practitioner: how professionals think in action, Aldershot: Arena.
Trinder, L. and Reynolds, S. (eds) (2000) Evidence-based Practice: A Critical Appraisal, Oxford:
Blackwell Science.