Chapters 3 (Identifying diverse forms of expertise) and 4 (Developing an inclusive public sphere) examined ways in which democratic professionals have used the search for greater plurality and the expansion of the public sphere as strategies to work more democratically. As has been shown, plurality and strengthening the public sphere complement and inform each other.

This chapter will explore the concept of responsibility within democratic professionalism, which involves accepting that there are dilemmas inherent in professional work and that relationships between professional–student, professional–client and professional–patient are increasingly difficult to resolve. Responsibility is part of the motivation to take action, but will emerge from many of the processes discussed in relation to expertise, respect and integrity. The way in which a sense of responsibility is translated into identifying opportunities to work democratically will depend on recognising the existing limitations of professional practice. How democratic professionals address responsibility will depend on a combination of agency and voice, which will enable them to break out of their existing ways of working. For example, teachers will have to exercise professional agency in both an individual way as well as by taking collective action (Stevenson and Gilliland, 2015: 6).

Hannah Arendt's concept of natality, defined as “the new beginning inherent in birth can make itself felt in the world only because the newcomer possesses the capacity of beginning something anew, that is, of acting” (Arendt, 1957: 9), provides a useful way of understanding how democratic professionals can start to take action. Natality is part of a new way of doing things. A belief in new beginnings and change can inform the action necessary to create these changes. Birth is the capacity for action, and also the source of the capacity for action. “Natality as the constant arrival of newcomers underlies the continuing existence of the realm of politics” (Totschnig, 2017).

Just as natality can be seen as the foundation for politics, a belief in the value of action has to be the foundation of any change that democratic professionals work towards. If this approach is applied to the process of making public services more democratic and better at addressing social justice, then the first step is for democratic professionals to play a more active role within different institutions and organisations.