KNOWING IN ACTION Donald A Schon The Reflective

KNOWING – IN - ACTION Donald A. Schon, The Reflective Practitioner, New York, Basic Book, 1983 (C) Antonio Sama

PROFESSIONALS: a definition n PEOPLE WITH EXTRAORDINARY (EXPERT/SOPHISTICATED/SPECIALIST) KNOWLEDGE IN MATTERS OF GREAT (HUMAN) SOCIAL IMPORTANCE [Everret Hughes, 1959] (C) Antonio Sama 2

PROFESSIONALS AND SOCIETY n IN EXCHANGE SOCIETY GRANTS PROFESSIONALS EXTRAORDINARY RIGHTS, PRIVILEGES AND SOCIAL STATUS (C) Antonio Sama 3

PROFESSIONS CLAIM BENIGN INTENT AND AN ETHICAL BASIS, THE EFFECTS OF WHICH ARE SEEN IN PROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOURS AND ATTITUDES AND EXEMPLIFIED BY PUBLISHED, DUTYBASED CODES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT. THESE VIRTUES LEGITIMIZE THE POWER TO ACT WITHOUT REFERENCE TO EXTERNAL AGENCIES (Blane, 1991; Benson, 1992) n (C) Antonio Sama 4

OCCUPATION n AN ACTIVITY OR TASK WITH WHICH ONE OCCUPIES ONESELF; USUALLY SPECIFICALLY THE PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITY, SERVICE, TRADE, OR CRAFT FOR WHICH ONE IS REGULARLY PAID (C) Antonio Sama 5

FROM OCCUPATION TO PROFESSION n A profession arises when any trade or occupation transforms itself through the development of formal qualifications based upon education and examinations, the emergence of regulatory bodies with powers to admit and discipline members, and some degree of monopoly rights. (C) Antonio Sama 6

ROAD TO PROFESSIONALISM n The process by which a profession arises from a trade or occupation is often called professionalisation (C) Antonio Sama 7

PROFESSIONALIZATION Starts with the establishment of the activity as a full-time occupation 2. Progresses through the establishment of training schools and university links 3. Reaches the formation of a professional association 4. Engages in the struggle to gain legal support for exclusion 5. Culminates with the formation of a formal code of ethics. (Wilensky, 1964) 1. (C) Antonio Sama 8

DECLINE OF PROFESSIONALS: EXTERNAL FACTORS n n Existing armamentarium of theories and techniques applied by professionals to remove the troubles that beset society has no longer public confidence. Professional practice is under stronger scrutiny than in the past (C) Antonio Sama 9

DECLINE OF PROFESSIONALS: INTERNAL FACTOR n Professional crisis of confidence focuses on the mismatch of traditional pattern of practice and knowledge to features of the practice situation – complexity, uncertainty, instability, uniqueness and value conflict (C) Antonio Sama 10

FROM SAVIOURS TO PROBLEM MAKERS n n n The concept of the ‘technological fix’ and the solutions advocated on it creates more problems that solves them. The solutions are derived from theories which had been shown to be fragile and incomplete Public predicaments of the society began to seem less like problems to be solved through expertise than like dilemmas, whose resolution could come about only through moral and political choices. (C) Antonio Sama 11

CONFLICT BETWEEN VALUES AND BUREAUCRACY – THE PRESURE FOR EFFICIENCY n n The situations of practice are inherently unstable Professional knowledge is mismatched to the changing character of the situations of practice – the complexity, uncertainty, instability, uniqueness, and value conflicts are increasingly perceived as central to the world of professional practice (C) Antonio Sama 12

TECHNICAL RATIONALITY n n n The application of general principle to specific problems - a feature of modern societies. Professional knowledge as the application of scientific theory and technique to the instrumental problems of practice It is the Positivist epistemology of practice for which research – as natural science research – is the basis for professional practice (C) Antonio Sama 13

KNOWING-IN PRACTICE n n n Competent practitioners usually know more than they can say They know how to do but not how to describe it The evidence of such knowledge is tacit (C) Antonio Sama 14

THEORY EXPOSED AND THEORY IN USE n What we say are the principles leading our action (exposed) The hidden principles that lead our action (in use) [Argyris, 1999] n (C) Antonio Sama 15

REFLECTION IN ACTION n n n Selective management of large amounts of information Spin out long lines of invention on inference Hold several ways of looking at things at once without disrupting the flow of inquiry Spiral of: appreciation, action, re-appreciation Understand through attempt to change, and change through the attempt to understand (C) Antonio Sama 16

FROM PROBLEM SOLVING TO PROBLEM SETTING n n SOLVING choosing the best suited mean for an established end SETTING process by which we define the decision to be made, the end to be achieved, the means which may be chosen (C) Antonio Sama 17

PROBLEM SETTING n Process in which, interactively, we name things to which we will attend and frame the context in which we will attend to them (C) Antonio Sama 18

PRACTICE n Things a professional does (performance in a range of professional situations) n n n Kind of clients s/he has The range of cases s/he is called upon to handle Repetitive or experimental activity by which one tries to increase his/her proficiency (preparation for a performance) (C) Antonio Sama 19

STABLE, REPETITIVE PRACTICE, ROUTINE n Developing a repertoire of n n n Less surprise Knowing-in-practice is increasingly n n Expectations Images Techniques Tacit Spontaneous Automatic Over learned what s/he knows (C) Antonio Sama 20

PRACTICE IN CONTEXT n Between high ground (research based theories) and swamp (practicing with messes) (C) Antonio Sama 21