Professional curiosity – Practice Guidance
Professional practice guidance is for all professionals working with children, young people, parents, carers, and adults with care and support needs.
The guidance is available here on our website: professional curiosity
Being professionally curious is fundamental to how we work with children, young people, their families and adults with care and support needs, and other professionals. To work alongside people, we need to understand their perspectives and lived experiences so that we can support them to achieve their full potential.
Professional curiosity is something that can be applied in all relationships, including children, young people, parents/carers and adults with care and support needs, wider communities, and networks of support. It also applies to the relationships we have with other professionals and the relationship we have with ourselves. By understanding multiple perspectives, we gain a deeper understanding of each other meaning that we are better able to work together.
Professional curiosity is a regular learning point that arises from both Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARS), Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (CSPR) and Domestic Homicide Review (DHRs). Several recent Safeguarding Practice Reviews undertaken by the NYSCP have found that developing a deeper understanding of family dynamics by asking professionally curious questions may have led to improved outcomes for children and their families.
This guidance may be used to help anyone to gain an understanding of professional curiosity, what it means in practice, and how it can be used to develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with people and develop professional practice.
View all our news