Holistic and dialogical process
THL's good practice process is built upon the framework of democracy-driven dialogue. It enhances bottom-up knowledge creation. It builds on creating research-mindedness among practitioners and on enhancing knowledge creation on different levels. The holistic process consists of different elements such as identification, evaluation, condensation, validation and dissemination.
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What is a practice?
Practices are conceptualised broadly as networks that include human actors (such as social workers, nurses, doctors, family members), their activities and interactions, and any kind of resources (such as theories, tools, models, technical artefacts, norms, goals, rules, money) that the actors mobilize and utilize in their activities.
Practices work and can be effective in larger contexts. No clear boundary can be drawn between a practice and a context. Therefore, the evaluation of a practice should produce knowledge of the resources that have to be mobilized when implementing a practice and the change that can be achieved by the practice.
It is not the practice itself but rather knowledge about it that can be transferred (such as descriptions of good practices). If a practice is to be applied elsewhere, this should take place in a context that is sufficiently similar to the context where the practice originally proved to be functional and effective. To implement and apply a practice is a process where the practice and its context are co-produced. The more humans and other elements a practice is constituted by, the more likely it changes when it is applied elsewhere.
Characteristics of a good practice in the good practice website
Learning networks
Learning networks are seen as a means to both dissemination and knowledge-creation of good practices.
Read more about the learning networks