Abstract
Professional work is often heralded as undergoing radical transformation. This paper focuses on partnership between health professionals and families as a specific instance of changes aimed at delivering shared responsibility and joint knowledge work. An ethnographic study of a residential child and family health services provides the empirical basis for a detailed examination of what is signed, by whom, and with what effects. I show how signing and signatures provide fertile starting points for sociomaterial analysis, a rich empirical reference point for what Nicolini calls “zooming in” on particular instances, and “zooming out” to understand their connections to other practices. Schatzki’s practice theory is used as a theoretical basis, drawing also on Kemmis’ notions of practice architectures and ecologies of practices to elaborate such connections. I trace how acts of signing and signatures as artefacts are produced through and reflect partnership, indeed pointing to significant changes in professional work. However I also show that wider ecologies of practices present architectures that challenge diffuse accountability and shared epistemic work.
Highlights
Professional work is often heralded as undergoing radical transformation
I draw on an ethnographic study of a residential child and family health service in Sydney (Australia), and on linked empirical material generated through focus groups held with researchers and practitioners in the UK
I find the concepts of architectures and ecologies useful in achieving what Nicolini (2009, 2012) refers to as “zooming out” —understanding specific events as instantiations and parts of wider sociomaterial assemblages
Summary
The second element of Kemmis’ framework that is most pertinent to this paper is his concept of ecologies of practices (Kemmis et al, 2012) This refers to the www.professionsandprofessionalism.com idea that practices are interconnected, but that these connections shape responsive adaptations and evolutions, just as living things co-exist and respond to each other. Kemmis returns to the idea of the site: practices arise in relation to one another in a particular site, and their interdependence is to a largeextent site-specific In these terms a new regime of accountability, or trainingbased intervention such as the FPM, does not shape practices as some kind of omnipresent external entity. I find the concepts of architectures and ecologies useful in achieving what Nicolini (2009, 2012) refers to as “zooming out” —understanding specific events as instantiations and parts of wider sociomaterial assemblages
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