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20 MAY 2009
NO 1438
Knowing, doing and being
Like many of the other human caring professions, everyday Child and Youth Care (CYC) practice is complex, unpredictable, and value-laden. It is also highly relational work that is deeply embedded within very specific local contexts. Engaging with children, youth, families and communities in collaborative and respectful ways; taking practical actions to create the conditions for young people to experience meaning, worth and connection; supporting them to imagine hopeful futures for themselves; and bringing oneself fully to the therapeutic relationship are all hallmark characteristics of CYC practice. Those who do this work and those who prepare practitioners for the field recognize the need for dynamic conceptual frameworks that can adequately represent the complexities of everyday CYC practice, while also offering a practical tool for critical reflection and analysis.
Building on the work of others who have highlighted the thoroughly interpretive and ethical dimensions of CYC practice (Garfat, 2004; Nakkula and Ravitch, 1997; Ricks and Bellefeuille, 2003; Stacey, 2001) and drawing from other strands of postmodernism, including social constructionism (Gergen, 2000) pragmatism (Fishman, 1999), hermeneutics (Schwandt, 2002; VanderVen, in press) and narrative approaches (Freedman and Combs, 1996; Pendlebury, 1995; White and Epston, 1990) I hope to plant some.fresh seeds to animate and extend current conceptualizations of everyday CYC practice: To begin I introduce the concept of praxis. It is defined here as ethical, self-aware, responsive and accountable action, which reflects dimensions of knowing, doing and being. Next, as a way to contextualize my contribution I provide a very brief history of the field of CYC. This includes a brief consideration of other related postmodern perspectives as well as a critique of some of the conceptualizations of CYC practice that have recently been advanced. The final section, representing the main contribution, includes a series of tables that explicate various ways of knowing, doing and being. A graphic illustration of some of the specific contexts and ecological influences that give shape and meaning to everyday CYC practice is also included. By outlining some of the conceptual underpinnings of the field and by locating them within a postmodern, non-linear perspective, my hope is to offer a potentially useful resource for guiding, advancing, analyzing and researching everyday CYC practice.
JENNIFER WHITE
White, J. (2008). The
knowing, doing and being in context: A praxis-oriented approach to Child and Youth Care. In Bellefeuille, G. and Ricks, F. (Eds.). Standing
on the precipice: Inquiry into the creative potential of Child and Youth Care practice. Edmonton, Alberta. MacEwan Press.
REFERENCES
Fishman, D. (1999). The case for pragmatic psychology. New York: New York University Press.
Garfat, T. (2004). Meaning-making and intervention in Child and Youth Care practice. Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care, 3, 1. pp. 9-16.
Gergen, K. (2000). An invitation to social construction. London: Sage Publications.
Nakkula, M. and Ravitch, S. (1998). Matters of interpretation: Reciprocal transformation in therapeutic and developmental relationships with youth. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Pendlebury, S. (1995). Reason and story in wise practice. In H. McEwan and K. Egan (Eds.), Narrative in teaching, learning, and research (pp. So-65). New York: Teachers College Press.
Ricks, F. and Bellefeuille, G. (2003). Knowing: The critical error of ethics in family work. Child and Youth Services, 25, 1-2. pp 117-130.
Schwandt , T.(2002). Evaluation practice reconsidered. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.
Stacey, K. (2001). Achieving praxis in youth partnership accountability. Journal of Youth Studies, 4, 2. pp.208-231.
VanderVen, K. (in press). If theory and practice were the same – then what? A new approach to designing professional education. In S. Ravitch and M. Nakkula (Eds.).Teaching, learning and doing: Interdisciplinary approaches to educational inquiry and professional development.
White, M. and Epston, D. (1990). Narrative means to therapeutic ends. New York: W W Norton and Company.
