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Preaching what we practice. What does this mean? . We usually say ‘practice what you preach’ so this is an interesting and almost counter-intuitive reversal It questions conventional arrangements and hierarchies of knowledge and status many of which are not often questioned
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What does this mean? • We usually say ‘practice what you preach’ so this is an interesting and almost counter-intuitive reversal • It questions conventional arrangements and hierarchies of knowledge and status many of which are not often questioned • But is it also affirming another set of orthodoxies? • Should we always assume that we should preach what we practice? Would that be a good thing?
Questioning conventions • Thinking and doing • Those who make policy and those who are subject to it (Children, carers.....) • Those with power or access to power and ‘others’ • But the question of power is very complex • The power of practitioners ? What power do they have?
Children’s services today • Learning from the bottom up rather than top down • Locating your policies in everyday practice realities • Stopping the disconnect between the policy makers and the practitioners • Encouraging innovation • Getting government to ‘keep out’
Where has this come from? • Command and control legacy of new Labour • Key moments ...death of Peter Connolly, research based critiques, rolling back the state impulses of politicians
Confidence and Trust • What’s the difference? • Why are systems that are only concerned with confidence so problematic when dealing with services for those who are vulnerable? • Building services based on confidence and trust
Safer systems in children’s services • Those who practice should be more involved in designing safer systems • Indeed, systems design is everyone’s business • Developments today – examples of safer systems ..... • Innovation and experiment – hand back power to workers.....
Going back, going forward • A number of ethical issues in contemporary discourses on practice with children and families today • The abuse of neuroscience , early intervention and child protection has created a ‘perfect storm’ • Inequality, shame and distancing • Expanding our moral imaginations in very tough times