On the nature of practice

Michael Whan wrote this paper when practising as a social worker at the Watford Child and Family Psychiatric Clinic in England. In it, Whan draws an important distinction between technical and practical ‘know-how’ in helping professions and makes use of Aristotle’s concept of ‘phronesis’ to re-assert social work as a form of practical, moral engagement. In doing so, he helps us think about important issues of objectivity and subjectivity in ‘people work’, as well as our relentless quest for certainty and the place of values and moral action in good social work practice.