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…

Based on reader feedback and practitioner interviews, a model of reflective/competent practice was revised to include meta-competencies, four components of professional competence (knowledge/cognitive, functional, personal/behavioral, values/ethical), and reflection itself as a super-meta-competence. (SK)

Discussion covers instructional design for the military during World War II and how this limited experience provided a basic assumption for the paradigm that describes how professionals in the performance and instruction technology field should approach problems. Conceptual soundness of the assumptions on which the profession is based is…

A professional socialization model to interpret the recollections of women faculty about their career decisions and early career experiences was employed. The results point to a pattern of accumulative disadvantage and suggest how sponsorship of women faculty may be improved. (Author/MLW)

The nature of professional expertise has been widely debated in the literature. However it has been examined primarily from a dichotomy of perspectives--either from an experiential or a cognitive focus, without the attempt to integrate these, and other aspects of expertise into an integrated and coherent model. This article presents the…

To examine the educational backgrounds of public relations practitioners and their relationship to certain key variables in professionalization, a study surveyed a nationwide sample of fulltime public relations practitioners of all ages and from all levels of management in a variety of agencies, companies, and nonprofit organizations. In November…

Reviews theories, concepts, and learning approaches relevant to the development of professionals and reports on the range of experiences and events that practitioners have found formative in helping them become fully competent. The review is based on empirical research conducted across 20 professions. (Contains 166 references.) (JOW)

This paper examines action research that has been carried out in organizations consisting of predominantly highly educated personnel. The paper revolves around discussion of the Scandinavian model of action research, asking to what degree this model, which has been developed within the framework of industrial democracy, might also serve as a…

The question of how to theorize the subjective side of work within a life history perspective was explored. The findings of a study on engineers' subjective recognition of their lives, their education and jobs, and their life perspectives and the findings of a study of continuing education within a number of white-collar and semiprofessional work…

The determinants of self-directed learning (SDL) among professionals of high attainment were examined through open-ended, semidirected interviews with a purposeful sample of eight professional men and women who have acquired identifiable, high-level professional knowledge/skills typically taught in postsecondary learning institutions without ever…