Hester Paanakker

prioritizations. Task effectiveness is coded in the respondents’ top 3 only 4 times – the other 5 who mention it do so almost as an afterthought at the end of their enumeration of the key qualities of public craftsmanship. Its position is explained by the fact that the 9 respondents who mentioned it, mentioned it quite frequently and elaborately. And, as mentioned before, 5 of them quoted this as part of the fixed and automatically coming to mind line ‘order, peace and quiet, and security’ and seemed to attach far less priority to it in relation to some of the other value orientations. 2.7.4 Convergence in Variance: How Prison Officers Interpret Craftsmanship If we combine our findings on which value orientations emerged and how they were prioritized by prison officers, we can address the second part of the research question on whether there is convergence of views on craftsmanship within a distinct group of public professionals. On one hand, the results yield an image of variance and, on the other, convergence within that variance. 1. Detainee care, safety and change are key and mutually interdependent Our analysis illustrates that, despite a relatively large degree of variance in value orientations, respondents also have some obvious shared understandings of the ideal prison officer. On average, the main categories of values that were distinguished harbour 5 associated yet different value orientations, increasing to ten variations in the case of humanity orientations. Within the categories of humanity, security and reintegration however, examination of the relative positioning of orientations shows that, for each category, one particular orientation stands out. This reveals an interpretation of craftsmanship that fosters the individual care and support of detainees (humanity), keeping the detention environment safe for detainees (security), and changing detainees’ attitudes and behaviour (reintegration). Coincidentally, these orientations happen to represent the most frequently mentioned single orientations too (by 15, 11, and ten respondents respectively). Hence, respondents spontaneously denoted a mix of different types of values but exhibited similarities in their emphasis of the most important key qualities. Many respondents also agreed on the interdependency of these values, with humanity as an important catalyser and breeding ground for security and reintegration, and named these three values in the same breath when describing the (aspirational) prison officer: My job entails supporting and treating detainees well. That goes by ten [detainees] and is in the first place about security surrounding the detainees on your floor. (respondent 2) 57 Craftsmanship at Street Level