Learning to master profession-specific knowledge practices: A prerequisite for the deliberate practitioner?

Abstract

Professions are entrusted responsibilities for vital services in society, based on their collective knowledge and values. Mastering the ways of knowing and acting that define expertise in a given profession is thus important for participating in relevant ways. This chapter introduces concepts and perspectives from Social Studies of Science as resources to explore the relationship between knowledge practices and deliberate conduct in the professions. Next, the perspective is used to discuss how students in higher professional education can be introduced to profession-specific knowledge practices, and how they, through these processes, may also develop competencies as deliberate practitioners. Examples are taken from a larger Norwegian project that examines the induction of students in the professional cultures of law, engineering, and school teaching respectively. It is argued that to be able to take a critical and reflective stance towards various models and standards for professional work, practitioners need to become acquainted with the epistemic principles that underlie their emergence. This, in turn, requires engagement with key epistemic practices in the profession.