Speaking truth to academics: The wisdom of the practitioners

Abstract

Academic scholars, both as researchers and teachers, need the ideas and insights of reflective practitioners on the real world of the public service. Public servants can “speak truth to academics” in the broad sense of providing information, analysis and counsel concerning the public service and candid commentary on scholarly writings. Conceptualizing the public servant as a theorist involved in research through reflection‐on‐action highlights the importance of the scholarly practitioner as a source of learning. This article profiles several public servants whose contributions to the scholarly literature on public administration have had substantial influence in the academic community. Among the factors limiting such contributions are time constraints, the scarcity of publication outlets and lack of senior‐level support. Incentives to write for publication include personal interest and motivation and invitations to contribute to a conference, book or article or to collaborate with someone else. Practitioner contributions to scholarly writing can be fostered by such means as co‐authorship with academics, communities of practice and senior‐level encouragement. Academic scholars can help foster the systematic accumulation of knowledge in the public service and its transfer beyond government. Sommaire : Les universitaires, qu'ils soient chercheurs ou enseignants, ont besoin des idées et des perspectives de praticiens qui réfléchissent sur le monde concret de la fonction publique. Les fonctionnaires peuvent « révéler la vérité aux universitaires » au sens large du terme en fournissant des informations, des analyses et des conseils sur la fonction publique et des commentaires francs sur les publications savantes. Le fait de concevoir le fonctionnaire comme un théoricien engagé dans la recherche grâce à la réflexion sur l'action souligne l'importance du praticien universitaire comme source d'apprentissage. Cet article dresse le profil de plusieurs fonctionnaires dont les contributions aux publications érudites sur l'administration publique ont eu une influence considérable dans le milieu universitaire. Parmi les facteurs qui restreignent de telles contributions, on note les contraintes de temps, la rareté des débouchés pour les publications, et le manque de soutien de la part de la haute direction. Les motivations qui encouragent la rédaction d'articles en vue de publication comprennent l'intérêt personnel, les invitations à contribuer à une conférence, à un livre ou à un article, ou bien la collaboration avec quelqu'un d'autre. Les praticiens peuvent être incités à contribuer à la recherche si on leur donne la possibilité d'être coauteurs avec des universitaires, de participer à des communautés de praticiens et de recevoir les encouragements de la haute direction. Les universitaires peuvent contribuer à l'accumulation systématique de connaissances dans la fonction publique en les faisant passer au‐delà du gouvernement.

Public voices from anonymous corridors: The public face of the public service in a Westminster system

“…In the Canadian context, there is an older tradition of public service leaders contributing to debates through the authorship of academic articles (see Kernaghan ). From the 1970s to the 1990s, several clerks of the Privy Council and secretaries of the Treasury Board – both during their term of office and soon afterwards – contributed pieces to journals such as Canadian Public Administration and the Canadian Journal of Political Science (e.g., Johnson , ; Robertson ; Veilleux and Savoie ; Tellier ; Clark , ).…”

Twinned careers: Public sector practitioners in public administration teaching and research

“…Though several American scholars have written about the role and presence of practitioner‐scholars in academic teaching and research (Cepiku ; Godwin and Meek ; Imperial, Perry, and Katula ; Posner ), comparable Canadian interest in the topic has been sparse. Kernaghan () was one of the first to write about this group and their contribution to the discipline and his work remains among the few to examine the contribution made by these individuals to the field and the motivations and impediments they faced in making these contributions. More recently, Gow and Wilson () examined the question of the relationship between scholarship and practice, principally from the perspective of group influence on decision‐making.…”

Public servants’ appreciation for themes in public administration scholarship

“…Many of the practitioners involved at CAPPA‐affiliated schools reported being active researchers (O’Neill and Wilkins ). Likewise, authors have argued that the gap between practitioners and academics is small in Canada (Kernaghan ; Gow and Wilson ), and that prominent Canadian academics are able to point out the practical repercussions of their studies (Borins ). To vouch for public servants’ interest for academic research, at the end of his tenure as editor of Public Administration Review , James Perry (: 157) commented that the articles published in the “Theory to practice” section suggesting usable lessons for practitioners from the empirical research were among the most downloaded in that academic journal.…”