New stories of mastery: constructive learning in the face of complex dilemmas of practice

Abstract

This paper suggests that complex practice dilemmas call for thick stories of masterful practice that don't ignore the tensions and ambiguities involved. The paper draws on an Australian study of policing as a fruitful example. Academic commentary suggests policing is beset with practice dilemmas unique in their complexity. However, empirical studies suggest that stories of mastery dominating police culture are heroic, simplistic accounts from which the doubts and tensions of dilemma have been removed. The study reported here explored interviews with 50 serving police officers for indicators of whether they describe their work in similarly limited ways. In total, 351 separate dilemma statements were identified and a further 252 statements offered glimpses of how officers deal with dilemmas. These statements offer multiple clues as to what more comprehensive stories of complex practice mastery might look like. It is suggested that workplace learning and continuing education should actively encourage the construction of such stories. Similarly, for other domains of practice, it is suggested that stories of masterful practice describe, in plain language, constructive engagement with the wicked and unresolvable, in order to be helpful in an age of super-complexity in which liquid learning presents both challenges and opportunities.

Keywords:

• complexity
• practice dilemmas
• thick stories
• practice mastery
• policing

Summary

This paper presents readings of interviews with fifty police officers in Melbourne, Australia. Their words bring abstractions of commentary into the plain language of people doing a job that has been described as uniquely complex. Their accounts were offered spontaneously, providing glimpses that were compelling because they were unsolicited.

It has been argued that effectively holding the tensions of practice dilemmas demands attention to collective practice development, not just individual development. This includes reconsideration of the power of talk and story, and systematic review of the conversations that maintain the organisation for better or worse. At the very least, the personal struggle of the individual to cope effectively with dilemma needs to be owned as the struggle of the organisation. Being able to recognise the colloquial language of dilemma might be one of the ways to start doing that.