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I would like to welcome
you all this afternoon.

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My name is Cindy Forehand.

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I'm the Dean of the graduate College,

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for those that don't know me

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and I am pleased to
welcome you to the second

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of our four university scholar
presentations for this year.

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This is our 42nd year

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of the Academic University
Scholar program.

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So it's a a wonderful tradition
to have these lectures.

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If you haven't eaten all the
food already waiting for us,

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please feel free to get up
and do that at any point.

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So the University Scholar
Award recognizes our faculty

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for outstanding and sustained
excellence in research,

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scholarship, and the creative arts.

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Today we recognize Professor Jan Fook

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who is professor and chair in
the department of Social Work.

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Dr. Fook received her MSW
from the University of Sydney

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and her PhD from the University
of Southampton in the UK.

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She's an elected fellow of
the Academy of Social Sciences

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in the UK and has held nine international

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professorial appointments including

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at the University of Southampton

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and the University of London.

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Among her past appointments
have been professorial posts

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in both social work and in education.

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Dr. Fook has traveled
extensively delivering lectures

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and workshops across Europe,
Asia, and North America.

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She's most well known for her
work on critical social work,

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practice research,
interprofessional working,

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and critical reflection.

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She was formally director

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of the Center for Professional Development

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at Latrobe University in Australia,

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head of the division
of Social Work Studies

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at the University of Southampton,

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director of the school of Social work

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at Dalhousie University in Canada

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and director of the
Interprofessional Institute

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at Southwest Academic Network in London.

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Immediately before coming to Vermont,

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professor Fook was consultant
in continuing education

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into the Southwest London
Teaching Partnership.

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She has published 18
books as author or editor

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and over a hundred book
chapters in journal articles.

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Her most recent books include
Practicing Critical Reflection

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in Social Care Organization
from Rutledge Press,

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Learning and Critical Reflection,

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Experiences of Transformative
Learning, also from Rutledge,

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and a fourth edition

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of Social Work, a Critical
Approach to Practice

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from Sage has just been published

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and a manuscript entitled

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Academic Practice and
Transformative Social Work

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is in Press.

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There is much more we could
say about her accomplishments,

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but we like to share lighter information

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at these introductions as well.

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So we've learned some interesting things

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about professor Fook

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including that she has
continuously owned dogs

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since she was 10 years old and
now owns two rough collies,

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which I'm told are Lassie dogs.

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For those of you doesn't
know what a rough collie is.

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Their names are Buzz and Dixie.

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This love of animals
likely explains the fact

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that she has co-edited three popular books

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about women and their animal companions,

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A Girl's Best Friend, Cat
Tails, and Horse Streams.

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As if these were not
enough side interests,

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Jan's also an award-winning
tapestry artist,

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an accomplished pianist and
a passionate rose cultivator

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though currently roseless.

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And with that I'm pleased
to introduce Professor Fook

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for her inaugural
university scholar lecture

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titled An Accidental Academic Career

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Finding and Sustaining Meaning.

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At the conclusion of the talk,

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if it's not six o'clock

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with all of our issues getting started,

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she'll take questions
for about 10 minutes.

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Thank you.

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(audience clapping)

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Thank you so much Dean Forehand.

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I don't know who you got
those fun facts from.

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[Cindy Forehand] It's a secret.

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I'm now very sorry

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because I did want to
start the talk with photos

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of Buzz and Dixie and
I could've obviously,

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but it's gonna start
slightly more seriously

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and we can talk about dogs later.

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So, and I have to show you this,

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I have, I'm going to read this,

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but it's so big because I
did try reading something

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when we had the celebration
for the award of this

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and I couldn't read it.

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So I've learned.

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It's called learning from experience,

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which you're gonna find
out more about later.

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An Accidental Academic Career.

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It is a truth universally acknowledged

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that making decisions
about one's life path

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may not be straightforward.

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This is especially the case
for someone of my background

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and racial and cultural heritage,

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although it did not seem so
at the beginning of my career.

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As a child of migrants,

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it was always understood that
I should attend university.

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The choice of what I should study

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was clearly determined not by
me but by my mother no less.

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I studied social work
because a social worker

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is what my mother always wanted to be.

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And as a young third generation
Australian born Chinese

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lower middle class
woman born in the 1950s,

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this choice did not seem so unreasonable,

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as apparently the only other
choices for people like me

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at the time were nursing or teaching.

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Actually I'd always wanted to be a teacher

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from a very young age.

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My reasons were not so high minded.

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I think I just found home
life was pretty boring

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and school seemed relatively exciting.

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That can tell you how
boring my home life was.

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Unfortunately, I was very ambivalent

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about social work study.

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I just have to make an apology

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to all the social work students
here now for saying that.

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I think I might have said it
to some of you already anyway.

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So I didn't find it was very interesting

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or intellectually challenging

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and my most exciting memory

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is of starting a community garden

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in a down at hill area
in inner city Sydney.

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The resident sex workers

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and people without addiction issues,

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all who really liked me,

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obligingly kept watch over
the garden during the day.

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Not surprisingly, I did
not get very good grades

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in my social work degree.

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And so my barely articulated
dream at the time

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of possibly going on to postgraduate study

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and a career as a university academic,

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I assumed was out of the question.

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So I began work as a
social work practitioner,

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but I didn't find much fulfillment.

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I think now that if I'd stayed
in social work practice,

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I probably would've ended up
like some of my colleagues

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that I knew running a
stall at a flea market,

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which I'm still interested
in doing by the way.

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However, fortuitously a
lecturing position came up

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at the local college and my canine partner

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actually urged me to apply.

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He's very good at urging
me to apply for jobs.

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I have to say.

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Well it goes without saying
that I took to the work

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like a duck to water, to
coin a well worn cliche.

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I clearly recall being totally unfazed

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by teaching policemen who
couldn't get over my last name

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sounding like a very common
Australian swear word

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and the local butcher who
also happened to be a student

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who asked in my first class

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what could I possibly know about welfare.

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And I hope he was referring
to my youthful looks

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and not my intellect.

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But none of this put me off.

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So began a pathway which still
seems to me to be accidental.

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I reveled in being able

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to undertake my own independent research

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and I soon became intoxicated by the idea

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that I could make a difference

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simply through researching topics,

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which involved a glaring
gap or a misconception

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in current thinking.

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For me at the time,

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this major misconception
became very apparent

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partly due to the nature of the coursework

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that I undertook in my postgraduate study.

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This was in the early 1980s in Australia

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and it was very fashionable,
at least in Australia,

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to pour strident critiques

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over individualized therapeutic work

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and to imperiously
proclaim that all problems,

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personal and social were due
to flaws in the social system.

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I saw my all white
sociologists male lecturers

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propounding this philosophy
loudly and controvertible

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to our less white female
social worker students.

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Many disparities were obvious.

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So whilst I totally agreed
with this basic premise

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of structural causes of
problems and I still do,

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I could not help but think
there must be more to the story.

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Surely there was still a need
to help those hapless victims

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of the flawed social system.

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Didn't we still need bandaids

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whilst also stopping more
wounds from being inflicted?

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So I embarked on an ambitious project,

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which was to write a new
model for social work practice

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with individual people,

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which was based on a structural
analysis of social problems.

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I felt that people could
be more effectively helped

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by addressing their immediate concerns

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and at the same time not blaming
them as individual victims.

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Resisting the blame, made sure that people

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did not suffer added stigma

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and this kind of stance also aimed

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to locate an understanding
of their experiences

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in the social system as well.

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I published that work
called Radical Casework.

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Well I did, this was the second one.

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I've obviously missed a PowerPoint.

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So this is the entertaining
part of the evening

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where you see that the
PowerPoints won't match

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what I'm talking about.

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So I did publish a work
called Radical Casework.

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That was my first work.

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This is the second book which
I will refer to in a minute.

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So Radical Casework was
actually subsequently hailed

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as one of the most
influential social work books

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for several decades and some years later

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I updated the approach

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and wrote another social
work practice textbook

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based on critical approaches.

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So that's it there.

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Excuse my photography, it's not the best.

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Alan did inform me that that was okay.

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So he can be blamed.

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So this approach which has
gone into its four editions,

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as you can see, it takes a
critical understanding of power

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and power relations incorporating
post-modern thinking

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and applies these ideas

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to social work practice more broadly.

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And I use the term critical here

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primarily to refer to an understanding

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of how power relations and therefore

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how inequitable power
arrangements are created

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and sustained at both
personal and social levels.

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This type of analysis acts
as a basis for social change

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along more equitable lines and
so it can be transformative.

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So this book is still in
print after a fourth edition

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as you see and it's
after more than 20 years.

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I do confess I've not been very rigorous

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in updating it after 20
years, but there it is.

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It's seen as a classic these days.

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So I'm hoping I'm making
a sideline contribution

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with keeping that going.

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What I learned from both

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before and after creating these works

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was that people needed help

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to actually translate broader theories

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into concrete practices.

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Analysis did not automatically
translate into practice

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and this was the genesis of my questioning

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of the relationship
between theory and practice

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and my querying of how and why we tended

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to privilege theory over
practice or vice versa.

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This again seemed too simplistic

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and this theme was to underlay
much of my subsequent work.

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Meanwhile, I was becoming
a little more familiar

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with academic culture in social work.

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I came relatively late to feminism,

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but I do remember questioning quite often

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why as a women's profession we seem

261
00:12:45,750 --> 00:12:50,220
to be aping the ways of the
elite men's professions.

262
00:12:50,220 --> 00:12:52,710
Now this came forcibly to mind for me

263
00:12:52,710 --> 00:12:56,220
when a female colleague,
she wanting to undertake

264
00:12:56,220 --> 00:12:59,310
some PhD research was advised

265
00:12:59,310 --> 00:13:01,590
by the older white male professor

266
00:13:01,590 --> 00:13:04,440
not to research field education

267
00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:07,113
as this was not important in his opinion.

268
00:13:08,250 --> 00:13:12,500
I still feel my heckles
rising as I think about this.

269
00:13:12,500 --> 00:13:14,040
It was many years ago,

270
00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:17,250
but it still gets me
going 'cause most of us

271
00:13:17,250 --> 00:13:19,105
in professional education know

272
00:13:19,105 --> 00:13:20,982
that is often field education

273
00:13:20,982 --> 00:13:25,080
which is the most memorable
and most formative part

274
00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:27,900
of the education experience.

275
00:13:27,900 --> 00:13:30,360
I became increasingly aware of how much

276
00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:32,220
of what we took for granted

277
00:13:32,220 --> 00:13:34,240
about how to act professionally

278
00:13:36,030 --> 00:13:38,610
and about what was seen
as appropriate knowledge

279
00:13:38,610 --> 00:13:41,490
and ways of developing
it was gender biased

280
00:13:41,490 --> 00:13:44,373
and less relevant for
a woman's profession.

281
00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:48,030
I particularly started to think about

282
00:13:48,030 --> 00:13:52,080
what was a sort of research
which would be most valuable

283
00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:55,050
and relevant to the
social work profession.

284
00:13:55,050 --> 00:13:57,270
And in this way I developed the concept

285
00:13:57,270 --> 00:13:58,470
of practice research.

286
00:13:58,470 --> 00:13:59,730
Now this will be interesting.

287
00:13:59,730 --> 00:14:01,053
Let's see what comes up.

288
00:14:05,070 --> 00:14:07,830
Let's just make sure that
you're watching you know.

289
00:14:07,830 --> 00:14:09,360
Let's see what happens with there.

290
00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:10,680
Here you go.

291
00:14:10,680 --> 00:14:11,913
We're back on track.

292
00:14:14,010 --> 00:14:16,260
So the concept of practice research

293
00:14:16,260 --> 00:14:18,120
is an approach to research

294
00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:20,700
which identifies those four things.

295
00:14:20,700 --> 00:14:23,640
So basically it's focusing on problems

296
00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:26,550
which are identified through practice

297
00:14:26,550 --> 00:14:30,300
and which uses relevant methods to do so.

298
00:14:30,300 --> 00:14:32,310
And this is not about discounting

299
00:14:32,310 --> 00:14:36,270
or privileging any methods
or approaches or even people,

300
00:14:36,270 --> 00:14:39,150
but rather asks researchers,
whoever they are,

301
00:14:39,150 --> 00:14:42,025
whether they're service users,
practitioners, academics

302
00:14:42,025 --> 00:14:44,595
or policy makers to think through

303
00:14:44,595 --> 00:14:46,710
what methods are most relevant

304
00:14:46,710 --> 00:14:50,340
to study the practice phenomenon at hand.

305
00:14:50,340 --> 00:14:52,230
A practice research approach

306
00:14:52,230 --> 00:14:56,580
is mindful of matching
methods to research problems

307
00:14:56,580 --> 00:14:59,790
rather than unthinkingly
using a particular method

308
00:14:59,790 --> 00:15:02,463
or approach because it is most popular.

309
00:15:03,390 --> 00:15:06,750
The approach also helps
produce research whose findings

310
00:15:06,750 --> 00:15:09,900
are directly applicable to practice.

311
00:15:09,900 --> 00:15:11,010
I'm happy to report

312
00:15:11,010 --> 00:15:14,220
that I organized the
first international forum

313
00:15:14,220 --> 00:15:18,540
on this topic back in the UK in 2008

314
00:15:18,540 --> 00:15:21,660
and this group has
continued to meet regularly

315
00:15:21,660 --> 00:15:25,290
and to produce statements on
practice research since then.

316
00:15:25,290 --> 00:15:27,330
So every two years these statements

317
00:15:27,330 --> 00:15:31,353
are published internationally without me.

318
00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:35,130
So it's kind of nice to feel
that you can start things off

319
00:15:35,130 --> 00:15:36,753
and other people run with them.

320
00:15:38,250 --> 00:15:40,244
Anyway, whilst I was
developing my thinking

321
00:15:40,244 --> 00:15:43,260
about the importance of practice research,

322
00:15:43,260 --> 00:15:45,440
I realized how very little work there was,

323
00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:49,560
which actually studied
social work practice.

324
00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:52,617
I therefore embarked on a large
piece of practice research

325
00:15:52,617 --> 00:15:55,590
about professional
expertise in social work.

326
00:15:55,590 --> 00:15:57,273
Now let's see what comes up.

327
00:15:59,580 --> 00:16:00,413
Okay,

328
00:16:01,590 --> 00:16:06,590
this was a five year
qualitative longitudinal study

329
00:16:06,630 --> 00:16:09,930
which followed a group of
30 social work students

330
00:16:09,930 --> 00:16:13,440
from the beginning of their
two year study program

331
00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:16,920
to the end of their first
three years of practice.

332
00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:21,300
We also included a group of
30 experienced social workers

333
00:16:21,300 --> 00:16:25,170
who were nominated as
experts by their colleagues.

334
00:16:25,170 --> 00:16:27,180
I always have a laugh when I say this

335
00:16:27,180 --> 00:16:29,880
because it was the first
time I'd ever done a study

336
00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:33,880
where everybody who was
approached agreed to be involved

337
00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:38,853
fancying themselves happily
as experts, I guess.

338
00:16:39,900 --> 00:16:42,420
This study was published in the year 2000

339
00:16:42,420 --> 00:16:46,149
and was entitled Professional
Expertise Practice Theory

340
00:16:46,149 --> 00:16:49,713
and Education for Working in Uncertainty.

341
00:16:50,700 --> 00:16:51,533
Yay.

342
00:16:53,730 --> 00:16:57,363
It's one of the long longest
subtitles in history, I think.

343
00:16:58,290 --> 00:17:01,380
This book details what
expertise looks like

344
00:17:01,380 --> 00:17:04,950
at different stages of
professional development.

345
00:17:04,950 --> 00:17:08,130
It also posits that having experience

346
00:17:08,130 --> 00:17:10,743
is not the same as being expert.

347
00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:15,930
To become expert involves
several different components

348
00:17:15,930 --> 00:17:18,180
which are not necessarily developed

349
00:17:18,180 --> 00:17:21,543
through simply amassing
years of experience.

350
00:17:24,450 --> 00:17:28,955
So expert professionals need
to be able to prioritize

351
00:17:28,955 --> 00:17:31,920
important factors in their work

352
00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:34,530
to be able to create their own theories

353
00:17:34,530 --> 00:17:37,140
from their own practice experience

354
00:17:37,140 --> 00:17:39,930
and derive that from different contexts.

355
00:17:39,930 --> 00:17:42,360
This enables them to
transfer their learning

356
00:17:42,360 --> 00:17:45,210
from one context to another.

357
00:17:45,210 --> 00:17:47,490
Ultimately, the expert does not operate

358
00:17:47,490 --> 00:17:50,490
from learning that's imposed top down,

359
00:17:50,490 --> 00:17:53,370
but is able to think and act creatively

360
00:17:53,370 --> 00:17:55,353
outside the routine.

361
00:17:59,220 --> 00:18:02,520
Guess what emerged as the main skill

362
00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:06,750
that was needed to achieve
all of these abilities?

363
00:18:06,750 --> 00:18:08,163
JB knows, I know.

364
00:18:11,010 --> 00:18:14,370
I hope some of my students
here know that as well

365
00:18:14,370 --> 00:18:16,120
'cause I've kept saying it to them.

366
00:18:17,100 --> 00:18:18,600
So it was at the time

367
00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:22,053
a lesser known skill called reflection.

368
00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:27,210
Simply this involves learning
directly from experience,

369
00:18:27,210 --> 00:18:31,650
which we know is John Dewey's concept

370
00:18:31,650 --> 00:18:35,160
and being able to develop
one's own practice theory

371
00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:36,210
in the process.

372
00:18:36,210 --> 00:18:41,070
And that's a Donald Schon's concept,

373
00:18:41,070 --> 00:18:43,080
just putting the two together.

374
00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:46,260
Nowadays we might roll our eyes and say

375
00:18:46,260 --> 00:18:49,650
that we take for granted that
everyone teaches reflection

376
00:18:49,650 --> 00:18:51,873
and even better we're
all good at doing it.

377
00:18:53,250 --> 00:18:55,023
Sorry, not so.

378
00:18:56,130 --> 00:18:59,040
Despite having such
wonderful academic leaders

379
00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:01,920
in our educational
tradition like John Dewey,

380
00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:04,410
I have found that even here in Vermont

381
00:19:04,410 --> 00:19:06,780
there is a need to be
much more intentional

382
00:19:06,780 --> 00:19:09,543
about modeling and teaching reflection.

383
00:19:10,890 --> 00:19:14,940
It comes with a mindset
and a set of values

384
00:19:14,940 --> 00:19:16,710
and an ability to create

385
00:19:16,710 --> 00:19:19,470
the appropriate learning environment.

386
00:19:19,470 --> 00:19:22,470
Now taken together these
all have the capacity

387
00:19:22,470 --> 00:19:25,293
to bring about transformational learning.

388
00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:28,200
And I am sorry to say that much

389
00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:30,090
of our accepted ways of learning

390
00:19:30,090 --> 00:19:33,240
are limited in modeling
this as we tend to work

391
00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,360
within greater institutional
and cultural environments

392
00:19:36,360 --> 00:19:38,820
over which we have little control,

393
00:19:38,820 --> 00:19:42,330
or in which the pedagogical
culture is inherited

394
00:19:42,330 --> 00:19:44,883
and therefore relatively unquestioned.

395
00:19:46,590 --> 00:19:48,900
So over the last 30 years or so,

396
00:19:48,900 --> 00:19:52,080
I've shifted my attention
to developing and modeling

397
00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:56,040
critical reflection for
use in social work practice

398
00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:59,550
and in professional
education more generally.

399
00:19:59,550 --> 00:20:02,820
The reflection is critical
when it is both deep

400
00:20:02,820 --> 00:20:06,450
and informed by critical
perspectives on power,

401
00:20:06,450 --> 00:20:08,760
which highlight how social inequities

402
00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:10,773
are created and maintained.

403
00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:14,160
I will remember when the power

404
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:18,450
of critical reflection
process almost overwhelmed me.

405
00:20:18,450 --> 00:20:20,160
This involved a social worker

406
00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:23,580
who attended one of the
first courses that I designed

407
00:20:23,580 --> 00:20:26,880
in an advanced practice master's degree.

408
00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,460
Terry was torn since he worked

409
00:20:29,460 --> 00:20:32,130
in a non-government organizations

410
00:20:32,130 --> 00:20:34,683
whose managers he felt were corrupt.

411
00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:38,400
He really wanted to report on them,

412
00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:40,833
but he didn't know
whether he ought to do so.

413
00:20:41,940 --> 00:20:44,640
After he reflected in our class session,

414
00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:48,270
he surprised us all by
immediately writing a letter

415
00:20:48,270 --> 00:20:52,350
to the board of governors who
investigated the situation

416
00:20:52,350 --> 00:20:54,603
and suspended some of the managers.

417
00:20:55,500 --> 00:20:59,250
Terry felt so empowered
that he resigned as you do

418
00:20:59,250 --> 00:21:03,183
and decided to go into
trained union work as you do.

419
00:21:05,550 --> 00:21:07,847
I remember being rather
shocked by all of this

420
00:21:07,847 --> 00:21:12,000
'cause I had not even anticipated
that would be an outcome,

421
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,533
but it made me reflect on
and appreciate the power

422
00:21:15,533 --> 00:21:18,960
of having a helpful learning environment

423
00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:22,050
to explore one's thinking
and to take a decision

424
00:21:22,050 --> 00:21:23,493
about how to act.

425
00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:26,580
Terry seemed to me to be an example

426
00:21:26,580 --> 00:21:30,000
of a person who was able
to act with integrity

427
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:32,580
in line with his own values.

428
00:21:32,580 --> 00:21:36,390
I remember his attitude
of both relief and triumph

429
00:21:36,390 --> 00:21:39,370
when he reported his actions to the class

430
00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:42,900
and I became convinced
that understanding more

431
00:21:42,900 --> 00:21:46,620
about how and why a
critically reflective process

432
00:21:46,620 --> 00:21:49,353
could function in this way was vital.

433
00:21:51,120 --> 00:21:54,390
Over time I have refined the
model of critical reflection

434
00:21:54,390 --> 00:21:57,750
that I teach and informed
it with various theories

435
00:21:57,750 --> 00:22:00,150
and specifying more concrete details

436
00:22:00,150 --> 00:22:02,763
about how it can be practiced.

437
00:22:03,660 --> 00:22:04,910
That's the right picture.

438
00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:12,900
And in brief it involves
small group dialogue

439
00:22:12,900 --> 00:22:15,780
on examples of practice experience.

440
00:22:15,780 --> 00:22:20,100
The dialogue focuses on
uncovering hidden deep assumptions

441
00:22:20,100 --> 00:22:23,040
in the stories of people's experiences.

442
00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:25,500
And through uncovering these assumptions,

443
00:22:25,500 --> 00:22:29,043
a person is able to reexamine
the relevance of them.

444
00:22:30,330 --> 00:22:32,760
Usually they discover
that their assumptions

445
00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,820
are simply taken for granted beliefs,

446
00:22:35,820 --> 00:22:39,900
which are derived from their
cultural or social context.

447
00:22:39,900 --> 00:22:41,310
And once they discover this,

448
00:22:41,310 --> 00:22:44,190
they're enabled to make their own reasoned

449
00:22:44,190 --> 00:22:46,680
and transparent choices.

450
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:48,930
They then make changes to their thinking

451
00:22:48,930 --> 00:22:52,170
and to their practice and
then combine these in ways

452
00:22:52,170 --> 00:22:55,620
which seem more relevant
to their current situation

453
00:22:55,620 --> 00:22:57,333
or desired values.

454
00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:02,340
But what is most important
is the learning environment

455
00:23:02,340 --> 00:23:04,623
which cultivates this process.

456
00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:11,960
I've actually called this
non-judgmental or brave space.

457
00:23:15,870 --> 00:23:17,520
I'm not sure if that fits or not.

458
00:23:20,250 --> 00:23:22,530
It's a brave, I'm calling
it a brave space now,

459
00:23:22,530 --> 00:23:26,790
which we tend to talk about
now as opposed to a safe space.

460
00:23:26,790 --> 00:23:30,720
Because in a brave space people
are ready to be vulnerable

461
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:35,720
and open to hearing other even
contradictory perspectives.

462
00:23:35,790 --> 00:23:38,520
The learning space created enables them

463
00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:41,130
to consider interpretations

464
00:23:41,130 --> 00:23:44,760
as they may not have been
able to think of by themselves

465
00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:47,250
and some of which may be very threatening

466
00:23:47,250 --> 00:23:51,390
to previously held ideas
about identity, for instance.

467
00:23:51,390 --> 00:23:55,500
It is vital that the learning
space enables self-learning

468
00:23:55,500 --> 00:23:58,680
rather than hearing other
people's views imposed

469
00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:01,890
and it becomes critical
when the reflection goes

470
00:24:01,890 --> 00:24:04,230
to some depths in order to bring about

471
00:24:04,230 --> 00:24:07,203
a transformational shift in thinking.

472
00:24:08,790 --> 00:24:12,120
I have to say I've witnessed many moving

473
00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:15,210
and sometimes almost
heartbreaking accounts

474
00:24:15,210 --> 00:24:17,160
of people's experiences

475
00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:20,133
and the changes that they
make through reflection.

476
00:24:21,390 --> 00:24:23,850
There was a well respected social worker

477
00:24:23,850 --> 00:24:27,090
who cried when remembering the first time

478
00:24:27,090 --> 00:24:31,500
he removed a child from its
family over 20 years earlier.

479
00:24:31,500 --> 00:24:33,333
He'd sat with it for 20 years.

480
00:24:34,530 --> 00:24:36,240
He was incidentally one of the people

481
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:40,230
who was nominated as an
expert social worker.

482
00:24:40,230 --> 00:24:41,403
He didn't think he was.

483
00:24:42,551 --> 00:24:45,480
There was also the feminist social worker

484
00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:47,760
who recounted a difficult experience

485
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:50,370
of working with the local police.

486
00:24:50,370 --> 00:24:54,600
She later reflected and told
me that for the first time

487
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:57,270
she was able to come
to terms with her grief

488
00:24:57,270 --> 00:25:00,030
at being abused as a child.

489
00:25:00,030 --> 00:25:04,533
Although this experience never
entered the class discussion.

490
00:25:06,540 --> 00:25:10,170
You may be wondering,
but critical was never,

491
00:25:10,170 --> 00:25:12,240
critical reflection was never intended

492
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:14,703
and is not in fact therapy.

493
00:25:15,540 --> 00:25:18,570
But I am humbled that it
has had these side effects

494
00:25:18,570 --> 00:25:19,653
for many people.

495
00:25:21,390 --> 00:25:24,600
So although I love teaching social work,

496
00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:27,660
I finally felt like I was
actually doing social work

497
00:25:27,660 --> 00:25:29,970
because seeing people learn and change

498
00:25:29,970 --> 00:25:31,440
before my very eyes

499
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:34,120
is kind of what I thought
social work should be

500
00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:36,570
and the transformative change

501
00:25:36,570 --> 00:25:39,240
which happens through critical reflection

502
00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:44,240
combines all of my earlier
discovered challenges.

503
00:25:45,810 --> 00:25:47,400
So that is out of sync, isn't it?

504
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:49,140
Quite happily.

505
00:25:49,140 --> 00:25:50,400
There you're getting the summary

506
00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:53,130
of the critical reflection process anyway.

507
00:25:53,130 --> 00:25:56,310
Okay, the challenges were being able

508
00:25:56,310 --> 00:25:59,673
to integrate individual
and social analysis,

509
00:26:00,690 --> 00:26:04,650
being able to create theory
from practice experience,

510
00:26:04,650 --> 00:26:07,860
and being able to do a
form of practice research

511
00:26:07,860 --> 00:26:09,570
and something about being able

512
00:26:09,570 --> 00:26:12,270
to combine being a social
worker and being a teacher,

513
00:26:12,270 --> 00:26:14,673
which still feels accidental to me,

514
00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:18,750
but there is, I don't
know where that fits.

515
00:26:18,750 --> 00:26:19,863
So let's ignore it.

516
00:26:20,850 --> 00:26:25,620
There is still more that
seems accidental to me.

517
00:26:25,620 --> 00:26:28,926
I can relatively easily
trace the cognitive process

518
00:26:28,926 --> 00:26:33,180
of transformational
learning, which takes place.

519
00:26:33,180 --> 00:26:35,820
But what also seems to happen

520
00:26:35,820 --> 00:26:37,650
in the critical reflection process

521
00:26:37,650 --> 00:26:40,023
can't be explained by this.

522
00:26:41,190 --> 00:26:44,490
What happens is that people
come to a greater understanding

523
00:26:44,490 --> 00:26:46,680
and acceptance of themselves,

524
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,920
which goes hand in hand
with a greater understanding

525
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:52,260
and acceptance of other people,

526
00:26:52,260 --> 00:26:55,353
especially those who are
different from themselves.

527
00:26:56,370 --> 00:27:00,060
I hope I don't need to spell
out how important this is,

528
00:27:00,060 --> 00:27:02,343
particularly in this day and age.

529
00:27:03,210 --> 00:27:06,360
The ability to live
with social differences,

530
00:27:06,360 --> 00:27:09,060
to carve out compassionate, meaningful,

531
00:27:09,060 --> 00:27:13,740
and fruitful lives in these
contexts must surely rate

532
00:27:13,740 --> 00:27:17,883
as being near the top of the
list for any engaged citizen.

533
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:20,700
I remember that when I stumbled

534
00:27:20,700 --> 00:27:25,287
upon the following quote from
an old Greek man, Socrates,

535
00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:29,160
and I have to here now just boast

536
00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:32,580
that when I went and taught
critical reflection in Greece,

537
00:27:32,580 --> 00:27:34,563
they told me it was Socrates.

538
00:27:36,262 --> 00:27:38,910
So you didn't know that
you were gonna learn that

539
00:27:38,910 --> 00:27:40,263
when you came here today.

540
00:27:42,420 --> 00:27:46,140
I actually felt some triumph
and relief like Terry

541
00:27:46,140 --> 00:27:51,140
when I discovered this
quote from Socrates.

542
00:27:53,430 --> 00:27:57,390
He managed to capture the
values and learning culture

543
00:27:57,390 --> 00:28:00,330
of critical reflection when he spoke of,

544
00:28:00,330 --> 00:28:01,860
let's hope this works.

545
00:28:01,860 --> 00:28:02,693
Nope.

546
00:28:04,530 --> 00:28:05,793
We get there in the end.

547
00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:10,560
He spoke of the self-examined
life for ethical

548
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:12,930
and compassionate engagement

549
00:28:12,930 --> 00:28:15,063
with the world and its dilemmas.

550
00:28:16,140 --> 00:28:18,570
And I realized that
with critical reflection

551
00:28:18,570 --> 00:28:21,420
I was tapping into something age old,

552
00:28:21,420 --> 00:28:23,823
which made it feel all the more important.

553
00:28:27,390 --> 00:28:29,160
I have some pictures for you at the end,

554
00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:31,694
which are going to capture something

555
00:28:31,694 --> 00:28:33,750
of the whole intellectual
and emotional experience

556
00:28:33,750 --> 00:28:35,730
of critical reflection.

557
00:28:35,730 --> 00:28:37,650
So they're before and after shots

558
00:28:37,650 --> 00:28:39,123
of critical reflection.

559
00:28:45,651 --> 00:28:48,568
Now, if any of you ask who that is,

560
00:28:50,871 --> 00:28:53,171
you're not gonna be
allowed to come to dinner.

561
00:28:55,890 --> 00:28:59,253
It was a while ago, okay.

562
00:29:04,740 --> 00:29:07,350
I don't, you should be able to work out

563
00:29:07,350 --> 00:29:09,303
what the after shot says.

564
00:29:15,870 --> 00:29:18,090
So it's very good at aging you,

565
00:29:18,090 --> 00:29:19,773
doing critical reflection.

566
00:29:21,180 --> 00:29:23,220
Okay, I'm just gonna go back now

567
00:29:23,220 --> 00:29:26,400
because I wanna look at all
how all of this comes together

568
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:30,750
in my life and as I think back,

569
00:29:30,750 --> 00:29:35,220
I realize very starkly
how these same concerns,

570
00:29:35,220 --> 00:29:36,360
the ones I talked about

571
00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:40,020
is the combining the personal
and social, et cetera

572
00:29:40,020 --> 00:29:43,560
were very much part of my formative years.

573
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:45,480
Not many of you know that I was raised

574
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:48,033
in a fundamentalist Christian background.

575
00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:51,480
I therefore had many identities

576
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,120
which did not fit the mainstream.

577
00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:55,470
My parents actually set up

578
00:29:55,470 --> 00:29:58,200
the first Chinese Seventh
Day Adventist church

579
00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:00,120
in Sydney, Australia,

580
00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:03,210
and it was in this small
and separatist community

581
00:30:03,210 --> 00:30:06,993
that I spent most of my
childhood and teenage years.

582
00:30:08,550 --> 00:30:11,790
We tended to relate only to other people

583
00:30:11,790 --> 00:30:14,520
who were part of that religious community

584
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:17,970
and we learned to think
of ourselves as outsiders,

585
00:30:17,970 --> 00:30:22,710
but as outsiders who nevertheless
passed constant judgment

586
00:30:22,710 --> 00:30:25,293
on those who were not
part of our community.

587
00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:30,720
We did not drink, smoke,
dance or go to the movies,

588
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:33,273
and you wondered why I'm so boring now.

589
00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:37,620
I have to say Deb and I did lash out

590
00:30:37,620 --> 00:30:39,753
with a cocktail last night, didn't we?

591
00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:41,730
So I'm getting there.

592
00:30:42,660 --> 00:30:45,450
Here I do apologize to
anyone in the audience

593
00:30:45,450 --> 00:30:47,370
who may have had a different experience

594
00:30:47,370 --> 00:30:48,870
with such a background,

595
00:30:48,870 --> 00:30:50,910
but I'm just telling you how it influenced

596
00:30:50,910 --> 00:30:52,593
my own consciousness.

597
00:30:53,940 --> 00:30:58,440
Growing up in a small, judgmental,
socially narrow community

598
00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:01,110
which cut itself off
from the bulk of society

599
00:31:01,110 --> 00:31:03,003
was frankly stifling.

600
00:31:03,900 --> 00:31:07,680
It has given me an underlying
fear of and antipathy

601
00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,710
towards any cultures or societies

602
00:31:10,710 --> 00:31:15,710
which even if only implicitly
demonstrate these principles.

603
00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:19,170
Developing critical reflection

604
00:31:19,170 --> 00:31:22,680
and especially the open
learning culture necessary

605
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:26,598
for expansion and
transformation has perhaps been,

606
00:31:26,598 --> 00:31:30,960
I suspect an almost inevitable outcome

607
00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:35,010
of trying to create a new
way of being for myself,

608
00:31:35,010 --> 00:31:38,163
which was not like the
culture of my upbringing.

609
00:31:39,510 --> 00:31:41,220
Perhaps this is one of the reasons

610
00:31:41,220 --> 00:31:45,540
I have reveled in traveling
and working internationally,

611
00:31:45,540 --> 00:31:48,480
trying to both explore myself

612
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,750
and to also understand
other countries and cultures

613
00:31:51,750 --> 00:31:53,913
from their own perspectives.

614
00:31:55,020 --> 00:31:57,183
So what's this got to do with now?

615
00:31:58,140 --> 00:31:59,763
Everything I should think.

616
00:32:00,900 --> 00:32:04,470
I constantly wrestle with
trying to model a way

617
00:32:04,470 --> 00:32:06,450
of working and relating,

618
00:32:06,450 --> 00:32:10,170
which is based on openness, curiosity,

619
00:32:10,170 --> 00:32:11,913
and non-judgementalism.

620
00:32:12,900 --> 00:32:14,970
I try to understand other people

621
00:32:14,970 --> 00:32:17,670
within their own generational and cultural

622
00:32:17,670 --> 00:32:20,370
and professional contexts.

623
00:32:20,370 --> 00:32:24,210
This is increasingly difficult
in a global, national,

624
00:32:24,210 --> 00:32:26,520
and even local environment,

625
00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:30,360
which seems to call on
us to do and be less

626
00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:31,713
of all those things.

627
00:32:32,550 --> 00:32:36,450
The polarization of debates
seems to go hand in hand

628
00:32:36,450 --> 00:32:39,450
with the readiness to cast judgment.

629
00:32:39,450 --> 00:32:42,150
We seem to need to
categorize any different way

630
00:32:42,150 --> 00:32:44,460
of thinking or being from our own

631
00:32:44,460 --> 00:32:47,370
as somehow meaning that
they represent people

632
00:32:47,370 --> 00:32:50,380
who belong to groups opposed to our own

633
00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:52,530
or at the very least,

634
00:32:52,530 --> 00:32:55,860
they're people who will not fit with us

635
00:32:55,860 --> 00:32:59,670
or will threaten our
culture as we know it.

636
00:32:59,670 --> 00:33:01,260
We can be inclined to do this

637
00:33:01,260 --> 00:33:03,480
on the basis of what may seem to be

638
00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:05,850
the most important criteria,

639
00:33:05,850 --> 00:33:09,360
but are nevertheless only one aspect,

640
00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:11,340
which makes us people.

641
00:33:11,340 --> 00:33:14,610
And I refer here to skin color or gender

642
00:33:14,610 --> 00:33:17,160
or the words people use.

643
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:19,380
These are stereotyping tendencies

644
00:33:19,380 --> 00:33:24,380
which fill me with dread
and also a deep sadness.

645
00:33:24,900 --> 00:33:26,550
They signal to me a culture

646
00:33:26,550 --> 00:33:28,950
which does not look below the surface

647
00:33:28,950 --> 00:33:30,960
and is not open to discovering

648
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:33,000
very different ways of being,

649
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:36,390
which may indeed transform
the existing culture

650
00:33:36,390 --> 00:33:39,210
into one which is more inclusive.

651
00:33:39,210 --> 00:33:41,220
They indeed signal a culture

652
00:33:41,220 --> 00:33:44,430
to which I feel I do not, cannot,

653
00:33:44,430 --> 00:33:46,653
and do not want to belong.

654
00:33:48,330 --> 00:33:51,810
So how do I sustain the meaning
of my own work and career

655
00:33:51,810 --> 00:33:53,793
given these circumstances?

656
00:33:54,870 --> 00:33:56,550
There is something compelling

657
00:33:56,550 --> 00:34:00,210
about the idea of speaking out,
which is what I'm doing now.

658
00:34:00,210 --> 00:34:03,570
Even though my early life
background as a Chinese woman

659
00:34:03,570 --> 00:34:07,500
raised in a white society
did not encourage this,

660
00:34:07,500 --> 00:34:11,850
speaking out is almost always
something I have not done.

661
00:34:11,850 --> 00:34:15,300
Being raised to feel that
fitting in was the safest,

662
00:34:15,300 --> 00:34:19,083
perhaps the only thing to do
as a person of difference.

663
00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:22,770
However, I have reached
a point in my career.

664
00:34:22,770 --> 00:34:26,580
I think the saying goes where
there is more to look back on

665
00:34:26,580 --> 00:34:28,560
than forward to.

666
00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:30,570
I'm okay with this.

667
00:34:30,570 --> 00:34:32,970
Partly this is because I now appreciate

668
00:34:32,970 --> 00:34:35,160
that the values that I espouse

669
00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:38,160
and which have informed
my career contribution

670
00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:41,370
are more important than
whatever strange cultural

671
00:34:41,370 --> 00:34:45,300
or historical milieu in
which we find ourselves.

672
00:34:45,300 --> 00:34:49,320
And I'm eternally grateful to
the academy in many countries,

673
00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:51,930
which has given me a
platform and a context

674
00:34:51,930 --> 00:34:54,630
to further these fundamental values

675
00:34:54,630 --> 00:34:57,870
of openness, understanding of difference,

676
00:34:57,870 --> 00:35:00,933
and more expansive ways
of being and doing.

677
00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:06,360
My ongoing wish is that all
of us students, faculty,

678
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:08,160
managers, and staff,

679
00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:10,770
can find this fundamental set of values

680
00:35:10,770 --> 00:35:14,640
to set their compasses by
and so create more cultures,

681
00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:18,450
microcultures and bigger
worlds which are more inclusive

682
00:35:18,450 --> 00:35:22,653
by being curious about and
therefore open to difference.

683
00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:27,810
My career started accidentally
and each turning point in it

684
00:35:27,810 --> 00:35:30,750
felt like a new discovery,

685
00:35:30,750 --> 00:35:31,980
but these were discoveries

686
00:35:31,980 --> 00:35:35,760
which led me to affirm
some important truths.

687
00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:39,810
Perhaps it's a blessing that
I never felt like I fitted.

688
00:35:39,810 --> 00:35:42,510
Accepting and understanding
those who don't fit

689
00:35:42,510 --> 00:35:46,277
might lead to a workplace
and learning culture,

690
00:35:46,277 --> 00:35:47,820
which is not accidental.

691
00:35:47,820 --> 00:35:49,173
But what does it take?

692
00:35:50,670 --> 00:35:52,620
Perhaps we need to review the idea

693
00:35:52,620 --> 00:35:54,600
of the importance of fitting

694
00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:59,070
and how this I idea potentially
excludes transformative ways

695
00:35:59,070 --> 00:36:01,050
of being and doing.

696
00:36:01,050 --> 00:36:04,050
How do each of us become more curious

697
00:36:04,050 --> 00:36:06,150
about the experiences of other people

698
00:36:06,150 --> 00:36:08,490
who are different from us,

699
00:36:08,490 --> 00:36:11,340
whether that be because
of their role or position

700
00:36:11,340 --> 00:36:14,544
in the university, their
social class, their skin color,

701
00:36:14,544 --> 00:36:18,300
their nationality, their
age, or their gender.

702
00:36:18,300 --> 00:36:21,000
How do we make our own worlds bigger?

703
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:23,490
By striving to accept difference

704
00:36:23,490 --> 00:36:26,910
through genuinely curious understanding

705
00:36:26,910 --> 00:36:31,110
rather than through the prism
of preconceived categories.

706
00:36:31,110 --> 00:36:33,930
To me, this is the
meaning of having a career

707
00:36:33,930 --> 00:36:37,020
in the academy and having the opportunity

708
00:36:37,020 --> 00:36:40,380
to contribute to expanding our worlds.

709
00:36:40,380 --> 00:36:44,130
It is these enduring
and fundamental values

710
00:36:44,130 --> 00:36:48,693
which give my and dare I
say, our work, meaning.

711
00:36:52,886 --> 00:36:55,801
(audience clapping)