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Listen to thisWelcome to From the Soapbox. I'm honored that CYC-Net has offered me the opportunity to prepare a monthly column as a successor to my former “Views from the Field" in the Journal of Child and Youth Care.
In From the Soapbox I plan to address a variety of
topics – and in doing so perhaps be a bit provocative, as it often seems
to me that there's no better way to move our emerging profession forward
in its mission than to offer different perspectives and to encourage
debate about them.
For my first column, I will outline briefly some prime issues which I
think the field needs to continue to consider. Subsequent columns will
elaborate more specifically on some of these areas:
Outcomes. To some the notion of 'outcomes' is somewhat suspect, but to me the concept has great utility. In general what is the purpose of, what results do we want from, the work we uniquely consider to be within the purview of Child and Youth Care ? A consideration of outcomes, flexibly conceived, gives our activity direction and focus although of course these can always be changed.
Practice. What constitutes sound practice with the context of child and youth work ? What issues arise as we attempt to define best practice ? What is the core of our work that differentiates it from other human service disciplines and professions and how can it best be delivered ? What systems need to be addressed when considering practice issues ?
How can we not only promote positive practices, but also eliminate those practices that are so obviously are detrimental ?
Epistemology. As the philosophers among us know, the issue of the nature of knowledge is called epistemology. What is the nature of knowledge or the epistemology in an applied field such as Child and Youth Care work ? If we reframe the way we view knowledge in the field, will that improve the way we work? How is knowledge developed, recorded, integrated into previous knowledge, and transmitted ? As a 'soapbox' comment, I think that the 'epistemology of child and youth work' is a prime area for future study and possibly for reconceptualizing the nature of professional education.
Research. Closely related to the issue of the epistemology of Child and Youth Care work is the utilization of research. What kinds of research models can best provide useful knowledge that can improve practice and encourage positive outcomes ? What is the relationship between 'theory' and practice' and between 'quantitative ' and 'qualitative' research ?
How can we move empirical and theoretical knowledge out of the journals, translate it into practice principles, and enable it to be properly applied in practice ?
Practitioner preparation. Given the above concerns, then how can we best prepare practitioners in all functions (direct work, supervision, administration, etc.) to deliver our unique service effectively ? This to me is a very knotty and challenging issue. There is lots of training and education – yet the transfer into actual changed or modified practice may be non-existent to minimal. What does this imply? Do we need to rethink and reframe our 'practitioner preparation'?
Promotion. As we all continue to work on various fronts to advance the nature of and implementation of this work, then how can we enable others to know about it ? This is promotion in the marketing sense and I think it is crucial to our future and our survival, for that matter. Human service professions, in general, have not utilized marketing concepts such as promotion as well as they might – for some reason being 'caring' and proactive in communicating assertively what is being done and perhaps what is needed, are seen as dichotomous. I don't agree. I think we need to give a great more attention to public relations, communication, advocacy “in general getting our message out to people both within and outside of the field.
