Professional development: the case for deep learning

Literature (e.g. CICA, 2006; Haines, 2006) suggests that there are two core imperatives influencing the direction of professional development of professionals, which are work ready graduates and risk minimisation through accountability of practitioners. Both imperatives can be seen as driven by labour force and social economics. While this is important for the economy, it does not necessarily account for the career development and aspirations of the individual professional. There is a need to extend the work-ready knowledge achieved as an entry point to a profession, to achieve a deeper level of knowledge which allows professionals to deal with complex and ill-structured information. The paper reports on an on-going research project which examines professional development for professionals in Australia following the introduction of Professional Standards legislation and which takes into account the internationalisation of professional qualifications. We question: the efficacy of the current emphasis of professional development which as it appears, focuses on developing and assessing a sufficiency standard of knowledge (competency) provides professionals with adequate knowledge, skill and understanding to cope with the complexity of professional practice and individual career development; and the role of professional associations play and could play in developing a deeper level of learning