Knowledge, Truth and Reflexivity

Abstract

• Summary: The authors argue that social work is as much a practical-moral activity as it is a technical-rational one. In order to pursue these themes, they explore the place of realist knowledge in social work and their alternative position on the complexities and ambiguities of practice. • Findings: Social work has long been troubled by the adequacy of its claims to professional status and about its possession of appropriate levels of knowledge and expertise. The dominant responses to this have been managerialist and procedural, or rational and technical, as represented in the evidence-based practice movement. This article acknowledges the contribution of such approaches, but argues that they are unrealistic in that they fail to recognize the practical-moral dimensions of social work and the role of emotion and normative judgement in assessment and intervention. • Applications: The problem of judgement is an essential area for exploration. The range of rationalities upon which social workers depend in making their judgements requires rigorous analysis and debate within the profession. This article opens up a discursive space in which to rethink our understanding of knowledge making in social work.

Cross-European Perspective in Social Work Education: A Good Blended Learning Model of Practice

“…In order to be successful, the educational programs should combine, in a balanced manner, the theoretic elements with the practical approaches employed. Numerous researchers have attempted to illustrate in their studies the importance of using theory in social work education practice as a modality of enhancing the quality of social work practice [37,38]. Theory and practice in social work are interdependent.…”

Knowing what we know about knowledge in social work: The search for a comprehensive model of knowledge production

“…This places the onus on social workers to use their subjective, reflective skills to interpret and judge the relevance, reliability and weight of competing knowledge claims in particular situations or in relation to specific problems (Doherty & White, ; Sheppard, ; Sheppard, Newstead, Di Caccavo, & Ryan, ; Taylor & White, , ; White, ). More recently, claims for greater reflexivity have entreated social workers – practitioners and researchers – to develop greater awareness of their impact on the situations, people or phenomena with which they are dealing (Sheppard, ; Sheppard et al., ; Taylor & White, , ; White, ).…”

Determining the skills for child protection practice: emerging from the quagmire!

“…This, then, could be viewed as an essential skill for effective decision making. It would seem to demand from practitioners the ability to be selfaware and refl ective, and, indeed, refl exivity is deemed a necessary skill by Taylor and White (2001). Willumsen and Skivenes 'Workers must convey, in honest, jargon-free terms, the reason for their involvement' 'The skill of applying intuition to judgements is not, addressed' 'New information could be ignored unless it supported their existing view' (2005) identifi ed additional dimensions to decision making; they analysed child protection processes in Norway and concluded that decisions may only be seen as legitimate if there has been proper collaboration with the affected parties.…”