This article proposes the expansion of the definition and scope of a "profession" to explicitly incorporate issues of ethics, equity, environment and philanthropy to meet the demands of the 21st century. Governing bodies (professional designations, certificates and licensures) that develop and advance fields of study are tasked with…

The purpose of this article is to provide information describing the characteristics of a profession. The objective is to present documentation and an educated opinion of how these characteristics may relate to instructional technology and distance education (ITDE). A brief look at the history of ITDE leads us to James Finn and his six…

The assumed impossibility of forming a widely accepted view of social work is explained on the one hand by the contesting nature of social work definitions and on the other by a loss of professional identity since the 1960s. The aim of the article is to elaborate a third explanation based on the hypothesis that social workers adhere to their…

Abraham Flexner contended that "something more than a degree or claim" is needed to make a profession. He further asserted that the definitions of a profession require recasting over time. This article critically considers recasting licensing as something more for social work. Analysis of past and present discourse on licensing in social…

Purpose: The focus on innovation as a foundational element of enhanced organisational performance has led to the promoting and valuing of greater levels of employee participation in innovation processes. An emergent concept of employee-driven innovation could be argued to have hindered understandings of the creative and transformative nature of…

Efforts to professionalize counseling practice have yielded extraordinary benefits to counselors. However, professionalization has also caused counselors to adopt strict definitions of their education, practices, and ethics. In order to combat the ideological insularity brought on by professionalization, several marginalized ideas are considered.…

It has been generally accepted that teaching does not meet the criteria of a profession, at least as exemplified by the more mature professions of medicine and law (Abbott, 1988; Darling-Hammond & Youngs, 2002; Etzioni, 1969; Howsam, Corrigan, Denemark, & Nash, 1976). Teaching is most often referred to as a semiprofession; Myers's (2008 [this…

In the midst of unprecedented knowledge generation in the field of education, the definition of learning disabilities and the methods used for its identification have essentially remained the same for nearly 30 years. Working from a sociohistorical perspective, the authors' distinct professional positions within education (university academic,…