HENAER centre, Vestfold College

Abstract

What conveys and what constrains the development of relevant and useful knowledge for the professional practitioner working with youth across disciplinary boarders in the local setting in a middle-sized Norwegian town? Based on an actionresearchapproach four researchers from HENAER research centre have worked for one and a half year with 35 professional practitioners from 6 municipalities in south-east Norway. Through theoretical training in communication, organisation theory and the sociology of youth, through intensive project work in groups and supervision within their own organisational setting, the practitioners have made important experiences on what conveys and what constrains the making of the knowledge they need for redirecting the youth-work within their municipality. The participants were professionally trained in primary health care, social work, pedagogic, physio-therapy and psychology. The had all substantial working experience. All municipalities had prior to the project signalled problems in making the different department in their organisation play together working with youth and children with social problems. The challenge to HENAER was to investigate into the conditions of co-operation across the boarders between professions. Our hypothesis is that co-operation between different fields of knowledge must evoke new knowledge. Co-operation will not work where one field dominates, or where several just continue parallel to each other. This type of production of knowledge demands an extremely well developed group-dynamic that takes time to develop. With the experience from this project I want in this paper to investigate into the conditions within the organisational framework, these groups developed and what chances they had for developing useful, knew knowledge. Several of the municipalities had made radical structural changes. It seems that this has just a marginal effect on the process.

Keywords

Multidisiplinary co-operation

Contact

Bjorn Hauger

Institution

HENAER centre, Vestfold College

City

3103 Tonsberg

Country

Norway

E-mail

Hans.E.Hem@hive.no

Phone

+ 47 33 03 10 00

Fax

+ 47 33 03 11 05