Policy framework for a knowledge society : families and knowledge

My thesis examines the link between families, harm and knowledge in a society where knowledge is increasingly the central organising principle (Bohme 1997: 449-450; Stehr 1994: 6), and represents the capacity for action (Stehr 1994: 8). I observed as a consultant in the 1990s that practitioners in family work were able to articulate what works but often unable to articulate why and therefore unable easily to replicate what works. This time coincided with increasing commentary on complexities of living, capacity of families to cope, identification of the scale of family harm, and use of the term 'the knowledge society'. My aim is to identify why what works, works with families exhibiting harmful behaviours and families acquiring knowledge from learning everyday life skills so as to lead less harmful and more fulfilling lives. And by such explanations inform, replicate and scale up practice to benefit more families exhibiting harm. I conceptualise the outcome as a sequence of family, community and policy work in an ecological framework (Bronfenbrenner 1979) within a knowledge society. My method was a year-long action research project with a family support service in New South Wales. I engaged in reflective practice with workers, and a parallel literature review that supported additional reflective practice. I found growing complexity of life requires growing knowledge. I found a distinction between everyday and abstract life worlds, and with families principally acting in the everyday life world. It is a world from which some families and their members seek to escape, often by means of harmful behaviours of neglect, abuse and violence. I substantiated the link that the family support service of my study sees between relationships, behaviours and affects; and I linked this in turn with its therapeutic engagement of the whole family — adults and children, male and female, victims and perpetrators. This engagement involves a process of learning (Rogers 1967: 280) to acquire fulfilling behaviours. It is a process of adult and experiential learning of relationship skills, drawing on under-used reserves of families. Relationship skills form a basis of acquiring other life skills since most require relationships with others to perform life skills. Combining the sequence of family, community and policy work with workers engaging in reflective practice of their work creates capacity for community institutions to replicate and scale up what works and why. Understanding this sequence may assist community institutions to inform policymakers of benefits common to all policy interests of such replication and scaling up. I conceptualise a policy framework of families and knowledge in a knowledge society and two lower level frameworks of process and content of life skills. Implications of these for practice, policy, and theory include a greater distinction between everyday and abstract knowledge and skills; recognition of a sequential process of information, learning, and knowledge; and inclusiveness and fluidity in learning in diverse adult learning settings and in family support professions.