Module 9

Question 1

Developing a practice framework

Answer 1

▪ Practice frameworks provide a foundation
for practice
▪ Combination of knowledge, values and skills
▪ Guide practice – purposeful and assists in decision-making
▪ Practitioner should be able to articulate their practice
framework
- Use of self

Question 2

Requirements of practice framework

Answer 2

▪ Consistency with purpose, values and ethics of
the profession
▪ Key concepts, principles and assumptions should be clearly described and defined
▪ Provides practical guidance and direction to the change process
▪ Rests on an empirical foundation (i.e. based on facts and observations)
▪ Helps the worker analyse and understand complex situations (Sheafor & Horenjsi, 2015)

Question 3

Characteristics of practice frameworks

Answer 3

▪ No ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ frameworks
▪ Changes and is adapted over time as you progress
through your practice career
▪ Adapted to different circumstances – yours or the
context of your practice
▪ Some people find it useful to use a metaphor to outline
the various elements and how they fit together

Question 4

Critical reflective practice

Answer 4

▪ Critical reflective practice key to the development
of practice framework
▪ Need for more explicit connections across
knowledge, theory and skills
▪ Combines:
▪ reflexivity
▪ reflectivity
▪ critical thinking

▪ Critical thinking: ‘[T]he art of thinking about your thinking
while you are thinking in order to make your thinking
better: more clear, more accurate or more defensible’
(Paul, 1993, as cited in Cournoyer, 2011, p. 52)

▪ Reflection: ‘[T]he continual re-evaluation of personal beliefs,
assumptions and ideas in the light of experience and data and
the generation of alternative interpretations of those
experiences and data’ (Knott & Scragg, 2010, p. 5)

• Distinction between ‘reflective practice’ and ‘critical reflective practice’
• Emphasis on how power is understood
• A purely reflective stance holds the potential for any type of change, including maintenance of existing power relations. A critical reflective
  approach holds the potential for emancipatory practices, in that it first questions and disrupts dominant structures and relations and lays the ground for change.

Question 5

Use of self

Answer 5

▪ Self is the mechanism for practice
▪ Need for self-awareness
▪ How we behave
▪ How we affect others
▪ How we build relationships
▪ Questions: Who am I? Why am I the way I am? How does this affect my practice?

Idea of ‘self’:
▪ Identity – way of understanding ourselves
▪ Concept of being – incorporates the physical/organic, social/relational, spiritual/existential and mental/emotional
▪ Being can be integrated with thinking and doing;
moral values of the practitioner (Pawar &
Anscombe, 2015)

Question 6

Requirements of practice framework

Answer 6

▪ Consistency with purpose, values and ethics of the
profession
▪ Capable of being communicated to others – its concepts,
principles and assumptions should be clearly described and
defined
▪ Make sense to laypersons – that is, most clients and
volunteers should be able to understand the framework’s
connection to their concerns and life experiences
▪ Help the worker analyse and understand complex and
often chaotic situations
▪ Provide guidance and direction during the various
phases of the change process
▪ Rest on an empirical foundation – that is, are based
on facts, careful and systematic observations