I have only read one chapter, 'The Crisis of Confidence in Professional Knowledge' out of Schons 'The Reflective Practitioner', so hopefully he will have redeemed himself a bit in other chapters, and maybe my criticisms are unjust. But I really hated the style of his writing in this chapter. There were too many sweeping generalisations, un-evidenced statements (which then read as 'factual'), and a lack of examination of his own professional knowledge.
I hated all the statements like "We look to professionals for the definition and solution of our problems, and it is through them that we strive for social progress." Do 'we'?? Did people ever really put all their faith in the professions? Is the 'crisis' really anything new? is it just a discursive shift? For instance, there is a perception that patients are now less trusting of their doctors, with patients self-diagnose themselves and conducting research via the Internet before they even meet with a health professional. But is this really a sudden shift, a sudden crisis in confidence that hasn't always existed? My granny never trusted doctors, and avoided them at all costs. And hasn't there always been (e.g. class related) differences in uptake of/trust in professional services?
It is also unclear throughout what Schon is basing this all on. Is it based on research? What research? Or is it just his reflections? There is no mention of any supportive material or counter-arguments.
And what about the article itself - it is a form of academic 'professional knowledge', but Schon doesn't problematise this or address the inherent instability of all academic writing and claims to 'knowledge'. I would have liked to have seen some acknowledgement of his own positionality, and examination of his motives for writing this.
Schon doesn't seem to have any crisis of confidence in his own professional academic knowledge, and how this knowledge is portrayed to the audience. I think he needs to question this, as his style comes across as depersonalised, authoritative, and hence unquestionably 'true'.
All in all, the way the chapter is written makes it come over as careerist and hypocritical. I find this disappointing, as I really liked the concluding point that professionals need to accept/embrace (instead of fearing) artful and unstable demonstrations of professionalism.
Inspiration from Graduation!
16 years ago
