Practice wisdom is needed because the challenges people face in life, work and society are not simple and require more than knowledge, actions and decision making capabilities. In professional practice wisdom enhances people’s capacity to succeed and evolve and to assist their clients in achieving positive, relevant and satisfying outcomes.
Practice Wisdom: Values and Interpretations brings diverse views and interpretations to an exploration of what wisdom in professional practice means and can become: academically, practically and inspirationally. The authors reflect on core dimensions of practice wisdom like ethics, mindfulness, moral virtue, particularisation and metacognition. The chapter authors tackle the trials that practice wisdom seekers encounter including the demand for resilience, perseverance, finding credibility and humility in practice wisdom, and linking wisdom into evidence for sound professional decision making. Readers are invited to consider what the place of practice wisdom encompasses in pursuing good practice outcomes amidst the turmoil and pressure of professional practice today. Do the imperatives of evidence-based practice and accountability leave enough space for wise practice or is wisdom seen by modern practice worlds as unnecessary, antiquated, unrealistic and redundant? Without a doubt these questions are answered positively in this book in support of the place and value of practice wisdom in professional practice today.
Joy Higgs, AM, PhD, Emeritus Professor at Charles Sturt University, Adjunct Professor at the University of New South Wales and Director of the Education, Practice and Employability Network, Australia.
Preface Acknowledgement
Part 1: Understanding Practice Wisdom
1. Appreciating Practice Wisdom Joy Higgs
2. Wisdom, (Moral) Virtue and Knowledge David Carr
3. Social Practice Wisdom Bernard McKenna
4. Mindfulness and Practical Wisdom Diane Tasker and Joy Higgs
5. Practice Wisdom and Professional Artistry: Entering a Place of Human Flourishing Angie Titchen
6. A Place for Phrónêsis in Professional Practice: A Reflection of Turbulent Times Allan Pitman and Elizabeth Anne Kinsella
7. Resilience, Self-management and Agency: Living Practice Wisdom Well Rachael Field
Part 2: Practice Wisdom and Society
8. Contested Practice: Being “Wise” in an Age of Uncertainty Nita L. Cherry
9. Practice Wisdom and the Sociological Imagination Jan Fook
10. A Lived Experience of Aboriginal Knowledges and Perspectives: How Cultural Wisdom Saved My Life Sandy O’Sullivan
11. Practical Wisdom and Ethical Action Karolina Rozmarynowska
12. Developing Wise Organisations Bernard McKenna
13. Learning Practice Wisdom from Elders: Wisdom Moments and How to Recognise Them Barbara Hill, Aunty Beryl Yungha-Dhu Philip-Carmichael and Ruth Bacchus
14. Bringing Spirituality and Wisdom into Practice John Wattis, Melanie Rogers, Gulnar Ali and Stephen Curran
Part 3: Practice Wisdom in Practice
15. Practice Wisdom Development Joy Higgs
16. Master Mariners and Practice Wisdom Bradley Roberts and Joy Higgs
17. Learning Embodied Practice Wisdom: The Young Sapling Learning from the Old Tree Angie Titchen and Niamh Kinsella
18. Practice Wisdom of Expert Inquirers Phillip Dybicz
19. Skill Acquisition and Clinical Judgement in Nursing Practice: Towards Expertise and Practical Wisdom Patricia Benner
20. Health and Human Service Professionals and Practice Wisdom: Developing Rich Learning Environments Lester J. Thompson
21. The Place of Wisdom in Clinical Practice: Taking a Vygotskyian Approach Rodd Rothwell
22. Wisdom and Ethico-Legal Practice: Ways of Seeing and Ways of Being Deborah Bowman
23. Valuing Critical Reflection and Narratives in Professional Practice Wisdom Laura Béres
24. Embodied Wisdom in the Creative Arts Therapies: Learning from Contemporary Art Joy Paton and Sheridan Linnell
25. Wise Practice for Teaching: Messages for Future Generations of Teachers Janice Orrell
Notes on Contributors
All those interested in professional practice including: graduates, employers, academics, researchers, educators, members of society, scholars., industry leaders. Scholars, educators and practitioners interested in teaching and studying practice wisdom.