Unsettling Taken for Granted Knowledge with a Group of Professionals who Support Families

This research explores the unsettling of taken-for-granted knowledge among a group of “privileged” professionals all of whom were providing supportive programs and services to families in the Central Okanagan region of British Columbia, Canada. Previous research identified that many “hard to reach” central Okanagan parents were intentionally avoiding these programs and services, primarily due to concerns that the stigma attached to the services would harm them. Grounded in critical pedagogy, the research designed a dialogical process of open learning to assist professionals in identifying taken-for-granted assumptions in three areas: family autonomy, professional power, and stigma. Findings indicate that attention to affinity group dynamics, strategies of open learning, and careful facilitation, are all critical to unsettling through open learning. However, the findings also suggest that individual curiosity, motivation, and participation are key.