A crude way to determine whether something is a Profession or not; in the Western, 21st century work context, could we do without any of the following?
- Lawyer
- General Practitioner
- Accountant
- E-Learning Practitioner
- Estate Agent
- School Teacher
- Veterinary Nurse
- Pharmacist
- Civil Engineer
- Architect
- Soldier
- Priest
- MP
- PM
- Royal
- Land Argent
- Surveyor
- TV presenter
- Moderator
- Facilitator
- Sports Coach
- Actor
… and if we could do without them, might this be a reason to exclude them from any ‘professional’ status?
I repeatedly feel that the skills expected of an ‘e-learning professional’ are readily available through a web where learning design and programming, let alone copywriting, art direction, video production and production management skills are each a separate role. The ‘e-learning practioner’ in this sense is a one-man band and my suffer from skill dilution as a result, you cannot be a master of all these ‘trades.’
And why do we assume that being a ‘professional’ is a good thing? Some say we need professional MPs, some say not. Is a career MP ala William Hague who’ve known little else and desired nothing more since they were 14 a good or bad thing?
The very nature of working using the latest technologies requires the freedom to chase whatever comes along, rather than being confined to a set or potentially limiting parameters set by others – that could exclude perfectly able peope.
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