Constructing and scaffolding intuition for students entering the People Professions.  

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1921/jpts.v20i3.2045

Keywords:

Keywords: Intuition, reasoning, people professions and construct.

Abstract

Abstract: Intuition is a regarded as a below awareness method of reasoning information which, then brought to the consciousness, allows for rapid judgements (Cook, 2014; Fook, 2012) Intuitive reasoning is a profound aspect of decision making in the People Professions, professionals who are at the forefront of working with children, young people and families where there is often high stress, risk and profound vulnerabilities. More recently, the work of these professionals has attracted a significant amount of attention, emphasised by tragic high-profile cases. This research explores how academics construct and teach intuition to students entering the People Professions. This research presents an eclectic and generalised set of ideas of how academics construct intuition, what impacts this and some emerging approaches to teaching intuition (Sipman et al, 2019).  

 

Methodology: This research focuses on a pilot study whereby data was collected through a focus group of academics (n=5) who all teach students entering the People Professions. The focus group has been transcribed and analysed by way of Critical Discourse Analysis.

 

Conclusion: Initial suppositions suggest multiple inter-connected factors influencing the construction and teaching of intuition by academics, with bias and reflexivity being dominant themes. These are critically analysed in detail throughout this paper.

Author Biography

Robin Sturman-Coombs, University of Northampton

Robin Sturman-Coombs, qualified Social Worker, works as a Senior Lecturer in Social Welfare. Research interests relate to the teaching and practice of Intuition and Attachment.

References

Akinci, A. and Sadler-Smith, E. (2012). Intuition in Management Research: A Historical Review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 14,1,104-122

Argyris, C., & Schön, D. (1978) Organizational Learning: A theory of action perspective. Reading: Addison Wesley.

Atkinson, T. and Claxton, G. (2004) The Intuitive Practitioner: On the value of not always knowing what one is doing. Maidenhead: Open University Press

Bernard, C., Fairclough, A., Fletcher, J., & Ahmet, A. (2014). A Qualitative study of marginalised social work students’ views of social work education and learning. British Journal of Social Work, 44, 7, 1934-1949

Berliner, W. (2020) How curiosity is key to learning. Early Years Educator. 22 ,1, 38–44

Bondi, L., Carr, D., Clark, C and Clegg,.C. (2011) Towards Professional Wisdom: Practical deliberations in the People Professions. Basingstoke: Ashgate

Crotty, M. (2015) The Foundations of Social Research. London: Sage

Cook, L. & Gregory, M. (2020) Making sense of sensemaking: Conceptualising how child and family social workers process assessment information. Child Care in Practice, 26, 2, 182-195

Ebsen, F (2018) Decision-making in social work. Nordic Social Work Research, 8, 1, 1-5

Fook, J. (2016) Social Work- A Critical Approach to Practice. London: SAGE

Fairclough, N. (2013) Critical Discourse Analysis: the critical study of language. London: Routledge

Ferguson, H. (2018) How social workers reflect in action and when and why they don’t: the possibilities and limits to reflective practice in social work, Social Work Education, 37, 4, 415-427.

Ferguson, H. (2021). The death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes raises hard questions – we must address them all. [Accessed 25 June 2022 at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/03/the-death-of-arthur-labinjo-hughes-raises-difficult-questions-we-must-address-them-all]

Fook, J. (2016) Social Work: A critical Approach to Practice. (3rd ed.) Sage: London.

Galdas, P. (2017) Revisiting bias in qualitative research: reflections on its relationship with funding and impact. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16,1-2

Harteis, C. & Gruber, H. (2008) Intuition and professional competence: Intuitive versus rational forecasting of the stock market. Vocations and Learning: Studies in Vocational and Professional Education, 1,1, 71–85

hooks, b. (2010) Teaching Critical Thinking. Abingdon: Routledge.

Isenman, L. (2018) Understanding Intuition: A journey in and out of science. Academic Press: London

Kahneman, D., Slovic, P. and Tversky, A. (1982) Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kemp, S. (1998). Should two years of practice experience be essential to teach required practice courses? Yes! Journal of Social Work Education. 34, 3, 329-334

Klein, W. C. & Bloom, M. (1995) Practice wisdom. Social Work, 40, 6,799 –807

Laird, S. and Tedam, P. (2019) Cultural Diversity in Child Protection. London: Red Globe Press.

Luoma, B. (1998) An exploration of intuition for social work practice and education. Social Thought, 18, 2, 31-45.

McLaughlin, H. (2012) Understanding Social Work Research. (2nd ed.). London: SAGE.

Munro, E. (1999). Common errors of reasoning in child protection. Child Abuse and Neglect, 23,8, 745– 758

Nader L. (1972/1969) Up the anthropologist: Perspectives gained from “studying up” in: D. Hymes(Ed.) Reinventing Anthropology. New York: Pantheon Books.. pp. 284–311

Potter, J. (1996). Representing Reality: Discourse, rhetoric and social construction. London: Sage.

Rawlings, A. Paliokosta, P. Maiesy, D. Johnson J. Capstick, J and Jones, R. (2014) A Study to Investigate the Barriers to Learning from Serious Case Reviews and Identify Ways of Overcoming these Barriers. London: Department for Education

Råheim, M. Magnussen, LH. Sekse, RJ. Lunde, Å. Jacobsen, T. Blystad, . (2016) Researcher-researched relationship in qualitative research: Shifts in positions and researcher vulnerability. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Health and Well-being.14,11,1-12

Ringel, S. (2003) The reflective self. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 23,3-4, 15-28

Sadler-Smith, E. (2016) ‘What happens when you intuit?’: Understanding human resource practitioners’ subjective experience of intuition through a novel linguistic method. Journal of Human Relations , 9,5, 1069–1093

Samson, P. (2015) Practice wisdom: The art and science of social work. Journal of Social Work Practice, 29,2, 119-131

Schon, D. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in action. London: Temple Smith.

Sicora (2010). Self-evaluation of social work practice through reflection on professional mistakes. Practice makes “perfect”?. Revista de Asistenta Sociala, 4,4,153-164

Sicora, A., Taylor, B., Alfandari, R., Enosh, G., Helm, D., Killick, C., Lyons, O., Mullineux, J., Przeperski, J., Rölver, M., & Whittaker, A. (2021). Using intuition in social work decision making. European Journal of Social Work, 24 5, 772-787

Silverman, D. (1993) Interpreting Qualitative Data. London: Sage.

Sipman, G. Tholke, J. Martens, R. and McKenney, S. (2019) The role of intuition in pedagogical tact: Educator views. British Educational Research journal, 45, 6, 1186-1202

Thompson, N. (2017) Theorising Practice. (2nd ed) London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Van Dijk, T. A. (1993). Principles of critical discourse analysis. Discourse & Society, 4, 249-283.

Walpert, L. (1993). The Unnatural Nature of Science. London: Faber & Faber

Wilkins and Mendhi. (2021) A randomised controlled trial of a ‘checklist’ intervention to mitigate confirmation bias and improve forecasting accuracy in social work. What works for children’s social care. [Accessed 13 June 2022 at https://whatworks-csc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/WWCSC_Social-Worker-Decision-Making-report_July21_Accessiblev2.pdf]

Published

2023-10-17

How to Cite

Sturman-Coombs, R. (2023). Constructing and scaffolding intuition for students entering the People Professions.  . The Journal of Practice Teaching and Learning, 20(3), 56-73. https://doi.org/10.1921/jpts.v20i3.2045

Issue

Section

Articles
Received 2022-10-31
Accepted 2023-03-14
Published 2023-10-17