Learning to earn or maintain professional credentials
"Professional education" redirects here; not to be confused withVocational education.
Professional development, also known asprofessional education, is learning that leads to or emphasizes education in a specificprofessional career field or builds practical job applicable skills emphasizingpraxis in addition to thetransferable skills andtheoretical academic knowledge found in traditionalliberal arts andpure sciences education. It is used to earn or maintain professionalcredentials such asprofessional certifications oracademic degrees through formal coursework at institutions known as professional schools, or attending conferences andinformal learning opportunities to strengthen or gain new skills.[1][2]
Professional education has been described as intensive and collaborative, ideally incorporating an evaluative stage.[1] There is a variety of approaches to professional development or professional education, including consultation, coaching,communities of practice, lesson study,case study,capstone project, mentoring, reflective supervision and technical assistance.[3]
A wide variety of people, such as teachers, military officers and non-commissioned officers, health care professionals, architects, lawyers, accountants and engineers engage in professional development. Individuals may participate in professional development because of an interest in lifelong learning, a sense of moral obligation, to maintain and improve professional competence, to enhance career progression, to keep abreast of new technology and practices, or to comply with professional regulatory requirements.[4][5] In the training of school staff in the United States, "[t]he need for professional development ... came to the forefront in the 1960s".[6] Many American states have professional development requirements for school teachers. For example, Arkansas teachers must complete 60 hours of documented professional development activities annually.[7] Professional development credits are named differently from state to state. For example, teachers in Indiana are required to earn 90 Continuing Renewal Units (CRUs) per year;[8] in Massachusetts, teachers need 150 Professional Development Points (PDPs);[9] and in Georgia, teachers must earn 10 Professional Learning Units (PLUs).[10] American and Canadian nurses, as well as those in the United Kingdom, have to participate in formal and informal professional development (earning credit based on attendance of education that has been accredited by a regulatory agency) in order to maintain professional registration.[11][12][13]
In a broad sense, professional development may includeformal types of vocational education, typically post-secondary or poly-technical training leading to qualification or credential required to obtain or retain employment. Professional development may also come in the form of pre-service or in-service professional development programs. These programs may be formal, or informal, group or individualized. Individuals may pursue professional development independently, or programs may be offered by human resource departments. Professional development on the job may develop or enhance process skills, sometimes referred to as leadership skills, as well as task skills. Some examples for process skills are 'effectiveness skills', 'team functioning skills', and 'systems thinking skills'.[14][15]
Professional development opportunities can range from a single workshop to a semester-long academic course, to services offered by a medley of different professional development providers and varying widely with respect to the philosophy, content, and format of the learning experiences. Some examples of approaches to professional development include:[3]
Case Study Method – The case method is a teaching approach that consists in presenting the students with a case, putting them in the role of a decision maker facing a problem (Hammond 1976) harv error: no target: CITEREFHammond1976 (help) – SeeCase method.
Consultation – to assist an individual or group of individuals to clarify and address immediate concerns by following a systematic problem-solving process.
Coaching – to enhance a person's competencies in a specific skill area by providing a process of observation, reflection, and action.
Community of Practice – to improve professional practice by engaging in shared inquiry and learning with people who have a common goal
Lesson Study – to solve practical dilemmas related to intervention or instruction through participation with other professionals in systematically examining practice
Mentoring – to promote an individual's awareness and refinement of his or her own professional development by providing and recommending structured opportunities for reflection and observation
Reflective Supervision – to support, develop, and ultimately evaluate the performance of employees through a process of inquiry that encourages their understanding and articulation of the rationale for their own practices
Technical Assistance – to assist individuals and their organization to improve by offering resources and information, supporting networking and change efforts.[citation needed]
TheWorld Bank's 2019World Development Report on the future of work[16] argues that professional development opportunities for those both in and out of work, such as flexible learning opportunities at universities and adult learning programs, enable labor markets to adjust to the future of work.
In Australia, continuing professional development for registered health practitioners is overseen by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) and the National Boards, which set profession-specific CPD registration standards.[30] Delivery of CPD is supported by education providers; for example, Ausmed is identified by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs as a provider of CPD education for nurses and personal care workers,[31] and Healthdirect (the government-funded national health information service) profiles Ausmed’s role in supplying CPD resources to the healthcare workforce.[32]
A systematic review published in 2019 by theCampbell Collaboration found little evidence of the effectiveness of continuing professional development (CPD).[33]
^abSpeck, M.; Knipe, C. (2005).Why can't we get it right? Designing high-quality professional development for standards-based schools (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.[need quotation to verify]
^Golding, L. & Gray, I. (2006).Continuing professional development for clinical psychologists:A practical handbook. The British Psychological Society. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing
^Jasper, M. (2006).Professional development, reflection, and decision-making. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
^Garet, M. S.; Porter, A. C; Desimone, L.; Birman, B. F; Yoon, K. S. (January 1, 2001). "What Makes Professional Development Effective? Results From a National Sample of Teachers".American Educational Research Journal.38 (4):915–945.doi:10.3102/00028312038004915.S2CID14682751.
^Filges, T, Torgerson, C, Gascoine, L, Dietrichson, J, Nielsen, C, Viinholt, BA. Effectiveness of continuing professional development training of welfare professionals on outcomes for children and young people: A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews. 2019; 15:e1060.https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1060
