Challenging the belief in simple solutions: The need for epistemic practices in professional work

Abstract

Context As a contribution to the State of the Science issue on ‘The problem with solutions’, this paper discusses how technology‐mediated and assumedly simple and straightforward solutions to professional problems in fact require extensive work from professionals in order that generalised tools and procedures can be made sense of, adapted and employed in local practice. Theoretical perspective The authors introduce a perspective on epistemic practices in professional work and learning in order to conceptualise and discuss the diversity of the knowledge‐related actions required to perform professional services. They discuss how the growing numbers and diversity of knowledge‐generating actors who aspire to inform professional practice create ‘multi‐charged’ work settings, imbued with multiple objectives and purposes. This development presents new epistemic challenges to professionals, which require extended capacities for knowledge work. Summary The authors give examples from empirical studies conducted in Nordic health care settings, which relate to nurses’ engagement with repositories of clinical procedures and to the development of new medical technologies for clinical use. They show how work performance in both cases depends on a range of epistemic practices (ie, collective ways of exploring, assessing, critically examining and justifying knowledge claims), which are necessary if the general tools and technologies are to be put to work in the local environment. This forms a core dynamic in practitioners’ work‐based learning as it moves between what is known and what remains to be explored or improved. Conclusions The paper argues that the widespread belief in simple or versatile solutions is challenged by research that reveals the diversity of the knowledge practices needed to perform professional services. The paper suggests that professional communities might pay more attention to epistemic practices as means to handle complexity. It raises intriguing questions and discusses implications for medical education.

Professional community and student engagement in higher education: rethinking the contributions of professional staff

“…However, by focusing on the roles of professional staff and the involvement of professional communities in fostering a service culture that enhance student engagement in the university, students will be able to work towards achieving their academic goals with minimum challenges. Emerging discourse in professional communities has revealed that tensions that emerge from different knowledge-generating activities create “multi-charged knowledge settings” especially when multiple objectives are developed at different levels of practice (Nerland and Hasu, 2021). However, through shared norms and values, collective focus on student learning and collaboration between staff (Banerjee et al , 2017), an engagement culture that supports student success can be built in the university over time.…”

“…The role of professional staff in the engagement discourse can be explained in relation to the concept of professional community and how knowledge about student academic support and services are shared among professional communities in the university. A professional community refers to an expert body that relies on distinct instruments, institutional arrangements, strategies, visions and procedures to guide a collective action by generating and sharing knowledge among members (Nerland and Hasu, 2021). Importantly, an expert culture emerges from a professional community when professionals interact, construct and share knowledge within a social setting.…”

Organisational learning in complex epistemic environments: reflections from studies of professional work in Norway

“…In both these examples, we see a need for explorative and investigative practices as well as a need to align new concerns and ways of working with historically established ways of knowing and doing. When approached in specific practice contexts, technologies tend to turn into epistemic objects whose multiple opportunities for interpretation and use spur further investigation and a need for the reconfiguration of the practice and the tool itself (Nerland and Hasu, 2021). These modes of engagement go beyond instrumental use: They form a core dynamic in practitioners’ work-based learning as they move between what is and what is yet to be , or in other words, what is known and what remains to be explored or improved.…”

Experiences and perceptions of academics about student engagement in higher education

“…Previous research has shown that structural conditions, human and social resources influence professional communities in an institutional setting (Louis et al, 1996). Recent literature suggests that professional community refers to expert group of individuals who rely on distinct instruments, institutional arrangement, strategies, visions and procedures that guide a collective action including generating and sharing knowledge among members (Nerland and Hasu, 2021). In broad terms, the collective action among members of a professional community includes shared values, common effort on student learning, reflective dialogue, collaboration in curriculum development and continuous professional development (Banerjee et al, 2017; Wahlstrom and Louis, 2008).…”