Conference Program

I wrote a book in 2019 ‘Democratic professionalism in public services’ which explored what it meant for public service professionals to act in a democratic way. I would like to take this opportunity to explore how three crises that have affected Britain since 2019 have impacted on the practice of democratic professionalism, using a framework of risk and uncertainty.

Although writing in the late 20^th century, Ulrich Beck was concerned with the “hidden emancipatory aspects of global risks” and “emancipatory catastrophism”. Zhang, Kong (2025) argue that resilience in a disaster can be improved by involving many stakeholders in the process of learning through crisis. This raises further questions about who defines the learning from a crisis, particularly which groups and how these groups resolve their differences. Muspratt-Palmer et al (2024) concluded that the process of learning is as important as the learning itself. This has implications for welfare professionals reacting to crises. As crises are characterised by uncertainty and risk, public professionals and services users must be able to come together in a shared learning process to facilitate a sense of emancipation. This will be essential for the formation of democratic professionalism. Professional expertise will have to undergo a transformation if democratic professionalism is to be embedded in public services during periods of crises.

The COVID-19 pandemic features both as a major crisis and as a shadow where the learning has not yet been completed, as seen in the on-going COVID public inquiry. The second crisis, the cost-of-living crisis, resulted in extensive public service strikes, which were initially received sympathetically by service users because they were also experiencing the effects of rising prices. Trade union activity tried to focus on how an adequately paid workforce was essential for high quality public services. A third crisis, which had already begun by 2020, was how immigration has become a politically polarising issue, even with the creation of the Sanctuary movement in cities and schools, which generated forms of democratic professionalism.

The impact of these three crises is still being assessed. The COVID Inquiry is now in its final weeks of hearing evidence. The cost of living remains a live political issue and trade union action is continuing. Immigration is considered a major political problem with greater polarisation across society. The paper will conclude with an assessment of future opportunities for democratic professionalism.

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