What Do We Mean by Professional Development?

Abstract

Over the past several years those working in higher education have shown a growing interest in professional development, particularly with regard to those areas of work, such as teaching, nursing and medicine, which have undergone rapid, outsider-led change. There remain a number of questions, however, about what professional development means and how it can be brought about. This paper addresses these issues, first by considering the question of what it is to be a professional, then by looking at issues in professional preparation, the taking up of the professional role and the longer term development of professional practice, and finally by giving some suggestions for ways forward. The theoretical analysis is illustrated by examples from a range of occupational areas, with particular focus on the 'caring professions'.

Practice‐based learning: emerging professional characteristics, self‐concepts and patterns of knowing in dental training

“…Data indicate that students' ideas of a professional in dentistry are, to summarise, confident inside and confident outside, while a student is not yet confident but must assume a confident appearance. Paechter (21) confirms this profile. Her list of characteristics of someone who works in a professional way includes the following: ''professionals carry out work in an emotionally neutral manner''.…”

Students’ Experience of a Distance Learning Professional Development Course in Literacy Education

“…In the present climate of considerable curriculum change, the emphasis of most professional development tends to be on addressing technical demands. Recent literature in the field reflects this, characterising this as a`how to' method of development (OECD, 1998, p.57), which is quite different from encouraging teachers to reflect more analytically on issues in their own practice (Day, 1993;Paechter, 1996). However, to sustain enthusiasm and develop effective practice it is important for teachers to have opportunities to become involved in long-term projects,``.…”