Adult & Continuing Professional Education Practices: Cpe Among Professional Providers

Copyright © 2014 by Balan Dass, Ph.D.

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Contents

Dedication

Foreword

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Understanding Continuing Professional Education (Cpe)

What Is Continuing Professional Education (Cpe)

Cpe And Professional Practice

Purpose Of Cpe

Cpe And The Professional

Providers Of Cpe

Cpe Educators

Cpe In Malaysia

Chapter 3 Cpe: A Literature Review

The Development Of Cpe

Workplace Provision

Distance Education

Collaboration Between Providers

Corporatization

Regulating Professional Practice

Adult And Continuing Education

What Is Continuing Education

Cpe Concept

Conceptual Competencies To:

Professional Competencies:

Developmental Competencies Focusing On:

The Need For Cpe

Disadvantages To Mandatory Continuing Education

Advantages To Mandatory Continuing Education

Continuing Professional Education Unit (Cpeu)

Chapter 4 Cpe And Program Development

Program Development Framework

Program Development

Purpose Of Planning

Expectations Of A Program

How Are Educational Programs Planned

Participatory Approaches In Programming

Planning Models

The Interactive Model

Cpe Models

The Update Model

The Competence Model

The Performance Model

Cpe Practices Of Professional Providers

Cpe And Collaboration

Features Of Positive Collaboration

Personal Factors

Collaborative Strategies

Contextual Factors Associated With Cpe Practice

Cpe Practice

Chapter 5 Cpe And Planned Change

Change And Cpe

Intentional Change And Learning

Studies Of Change And Learning

Cpe And The Change Agent

Cpe And Promoting Change

Development Of A Need For Change

Zeroing In On The Problem

Establishing Goals And Intention Of Action

Committing To Action

Stabilization Of Change

Cpe And Training

Cpe And Innovation

Chapter 6 Cpe, Professionals And Profession

The Professionals

The Profession

Chapter 7 Cpe In Malaysia

Profile And Cpe Practices Of Providers

Provider A - Profile

Provider A - Cpe Practices

Provider B - Profile

Provider B - Cpe Practices

Provider C - Profile

Provider C - Cpe Practices

Provider D - Profile

Provider D - Cpe Practices

Provider E - Profile

Provider E - Cpe Practices

Provider F - Profile

Provider F - Cpe Practices

Provider G - Profile

Provider G - Cpe Practices

Provider H - Profile

Provider H - Cpe Practices

Provider I - Profile

Provider I - Cpe Practices

Chapter 8 Contextual Factors Associated With Cpe Practices

Importance Of Cpe

Ownership Of Cpe

Planning Cpe Programs And Updates

Collaborative Relationship

How The Practices Influence The Development Of Cpe In Malaysia

Chapter 9 Philosophy Of Cpe

Professional Function

Program Planning And Development

Program Administration And Evaluation

Chapter 10 Conclusions And Implications

Philosophy Of Cpe - Importance Of Cpe

Professional Functions - Ownership Of Cpe

Program Planning And Development - Planning Cpe Updates

Program Administration And Evaluation –

Collaborative Relationship

Personal Factors

Importance Of Cpe

Ownership Of Cpe

Planning Cpe Programs And Updates

Cpe And Collaborative Relationship

References

Table 1: Profile of Providers & Source of Document

Table 2: Contextual Factors Associated With CPE Practices

DEDICATION

To my parents; Dass @ Manokaran, Thulasi Sinnappan

Brothers’, teachers’, and friends’:

Who taught me lessons in life, as an

Adult and Continuing educate

FOREWORD

The leaders of professions and the public have always assumed that professionals would maintain their competence by continuing to learn throughout their careers. Since the 1960s formal continuing education programs as an approach to learning have increased dramatically so there are now multiple providers. The major types of providers are workplaces, professional associations, higher education, and for-profit agencies. These four organizational contexts shape the type and quality of continuing education offered and it is essential to develop a research base that explains this relationship. Dr. Balan Dass has conducted a research study that offers fresh insights into the contextual factors associated with continuing professional education (CPE) practices at nine institutions in Malaysia. His in-depth study found that four factors influence the type of quality of continuing education offered: the importance of CPE, the ownership of CPE, the planning process, and the collaborative relationships used to develop programs. Given that the development of CPE in Malaysia is in a relatively early stage, it is not surprising that he found the most providers do not have policies and practices that are well-formed for CPE programs. This research is important not only to scholars and leaders in Malaysia, but also because it contributes to the knowledge base for understanding the global context for CPE. Although the growth of CPE is a global phenomenon, the most articulated systems and the research base have been developed in the Global North, such as Canada, Europe, Australia, and the United States. Thus, studies such as this help us understand the similarities and difference among providers in well-established CPE systems and those that are in the early stages of development.

Ronald M. Cervero, PhD

Associate Vice President for Instruction and Professor

University of Georgia

Athens, GA

USA

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The 21st century dawns with the prospect of wawasan 2020 (vision 2020) for Malaysians, whereby the country would become a developed nation by the year 2020. Inscribed in the mission statement of wawasan 2020, the then prime minister of Malaysia, Tun (Dr) Mahathir Mohamad emphasized that without a doubt, people are our ultimate resource. From the 1990’s and beyond, Malaysia must give the fullest emphasis possible to the development of their ultimate human resource, and as such human resource programs support the achievement of vision 2020, especially in the following core areas: professionals, sub-professionals, craftsman and artisans, education, training and managerial skills. In this context, change appears to be the one reliable factor that is constant in life. Nowhere does this seem more blatantly evident than within the workplace.

Employees and their organizations face ever increasing rates of change in products and services, the knowledge and expertise required to deliver these products and services, structures, procedures, processes of work, and policies and regulations intended to ensure public safety and confidence. A brochure from the Malaysian Institute of Accountants recently arrived in the mail, announcing in its cover page, Stay on track with the latest course from MIA. Targeting accounting professionals through their programs of self-study on current trends and issues, this publication implicitly reflects many of the assumptions about lifelong learning that are often fueled by the requirements of regulatory agencies and professions that aim to tie continuing education to licensure, certification, or practice (Stern and Queeney, 1992). They focus on particular technical and professional skills and emphasize the importance of being updated with changes in one’s profession (Queeney, 2000). Continuing professional education (CPE) are fields of practice charged with fostering the necessary change to address these ongoing needs.

On the same note, Nowlen (1988, p.23), describes an informational ‘update’ as a

… typically intensive two or three days short course, a single instructor lecturer and lectures to a fairly large groups of business and professional people who sit for long hours in an audiovisual twilight, making never-to-be read notes at rows of narrow tables covered with green baize and appointed with fat binders and sweating pictures of ice waters…

This picture is universally recognizable to people in any profession as it is criticized for being largely ineffective in improving the performance of the same professionals. Rapid social changes, explosion of research-based knowledge and the technological innovations of today’s world, leaders are now seeing the need to continually prepare people for their future years of professional practice through continuing education. Houle (1980) suggested that some notion of continuing learning has been with us since at least the Middle Ages. Although its aim, form and structure have changed over the years, the persistence of the idea itself speaks to the power of lifelong learning in our lives. Nowhere is this more evident than in work related learning and professional practices. Associated at first with education in the professions, there are now few occupations where continuing learning is not recognized as a critical aspect of employment, a trend accelerated by the so called knowledge explosion and the technological revolution that governs us today. (Queeney, 2000).

The very idea of CPE connotes evolving expertise in a world in which practitioner knowledge is quickly rendered out of date by the fast pace of research and scholarship. From this perspective, practitioners need to continually update the toolbox of skills by acquiring new knowledge from experts specializing in various areas. This knowledge is defined within the narrow realm of information, skills, techniques, and strategies that one might consider for use in his or her practice setting. Guided by a kind of functionalist rationality, continuing education becomes a technical process and the continuing educator’s role is replete with technological responsibility (Cervero, 1988). In this view of professional development, knowledge is objective, distinct from the practitioners who act on it, and not related to the particular sociocultural contexts in which they work. It is acquired and presumably internalized by the individuals through the programs aimed at transmitting specific knowledge and skills related to the performance of particular work related tasks.

Accordingly, Cervero (2001) in the 1970s began to see embryonic evidence for systems of continuing education in the United States of America. For example:

1. Several professions proposed plans for systems of lifelong professional education.

2. All professions have a system of accreditation for continuing education providers.

3. Billions of dollars are spent on providing and attending continuing education programs.

Given Cervero’s (2000) assertion that a major trend in the field of CPE is the amount of CPE offered at the workplace dwarfs that which is offered by any other type of provider, and surpasses that of all other providers combined, coupled with the evidence presented in this book, there can be little doubt that the real world contexts for CPE are drawing closer together. Having said this, according to Cervero (1998), we have yet to implement a practice that recognizes continuing education as an effective tool in today’s complex world. The major reason for this lacking of effective continuing education is not for want: the professions are in transitional stages of their socio-economical lives, always experimenting with many different purposes, forms and institutional location for the delivery of continuing education.

These practices, according to Cervero (2001), are as follows:

1. Devoted mainly to updating practitioners about the newest developments.

2. Transmitted in a didactic fashion.

3. Delivered through a pluralistic group of providers, professional associations, non-governmental organizations, professional providers, universities, and

4. They do not work together in any coordinated fashion.

In major professions, such as medicine (Meyer, 1975) and law (Vernon, 1983) and in some minor professions such as librarianship (Stone, 1986), professionals have acknowledged their commitment to CPE. The term ‘continuing’ assumes that there is some further development of initial training, a smooth transition within and subsequent career progress. However, even a cursory glance at the practices of CPE suggests profound discontinuity of emphasis and tradition, separate personnel, and different structures and modes of organization that spreads far from its original intent.

The greatest influences on CPE are the histories and current trajectories of the professions. These indicate that the distinctive features claimed for professional workers include:

1. A body of formal knowledge acquired through professional education required for membership and sustained by CPE. However, such knowledge is now recognized as being mostly necessary but far from sufficient, hence the recent emphasis on competencies that are learned on the job for professionals as well as other workers, and the continuing debate about the nature of the relationship between theory and practice.

2. Authority based on specialist knowledge and expertise. When professions are very powerful, like law and medicine, their authority is very strong within their own domains. However, weak professions can only assert collective negative power on a few contentious issues.

3. Accountability to their clients through adherence to a professional code of conduct, which normally covers both ethical principles and obligations to maintain competence through ongoing learning. On the positive side, the professions additional learning programs, networks, and resources are governed to those provided by the employers. Employers often see the more powerful professions as a rival source of power and authority, which might divert professional learning efforts away from their own priorities.

Among the reasons, much more is involved than just updating a body of knowledge. The development of personal competency is of equal importance. We all learn by doing, by our success and mistakes. We establish one’s mastery of the new conceptions of one’s own profession, to grow as a person as well as a professional. Houle (1980) suggested that professional competency could be developed and improved by the process of continuing professional education. Through this process, the professional such as management, human resource and training is able to continue to refine the standards that characterize its work.

Professionals have long recognized that traditional professional training cannot fully meet the needs of the individuals or the needs of the organizations in a rapidly changing world. Studying for the award of a professional qualification at the beginning of a career provides a valuable base for the individual.

It cannot, however, do more than ensure the acquisition of knowledge and expertise, which is relevant at the time the qualification is obtained. Qualification studies of this kind still have an important role to play but as part of a wider learning and development process. This process needs to be ‘owned’ by the individual and utilizes a much wider range of learning opportunities than formal, off the job training.

The question of how does knowledge become meaningful in professional practice comes to the mind of the professional more often than not. We do know that over the course of their lives, professionals develop an integrated, holistic knowledge framework that is used in the context of the service they provide to clients. We have also established that this knowledge and practice is often developed from CPE programs, from conversations, discussions with colleagues and from experience in professional practices (Cervero 1988). The issue of professional practice within the field of adult education is crucial to the various stakeholders. Employers and professionals spend billions of dollars annually on CPE programs. In the United States of America, a further USD180billion per year is spent on informal, on-the-job training (Rowden,1996). Despite this huge investment in CPE programs, the field of adult education can offer few assurances that the knowledge and skill learned within these programs are linked to the context of professional practice.

Professionals develop and change their practice with the intent of continually meeting clients’ needs and expectations. However, most professionals go through this process of professional development without a clear understanding of how knowledge learned in CPE becomes meaningful in practice. Although the stages of professional development have been described (Benner, 1984; Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 1986), the learning process underlying professional development and the connection to the context of practice has not been articulated. For professionals to continue meeting the needs of their clients, a greater understanding of the connections between the context of practice and professional learning is needed.

CHAPTER 2

UNDERSTANDING CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION (CPE)

What is Continuing Professional Education (CPE)

Concept of continuing professional education (CPE) has evolved over the years. Queeny, (2000) described that during the middle ages, CPE has been known as staff development, management, or professional development. At that time of industrialization, chambers of commerce would have labeled 9CPE) as a sought of apprenticeship or guild system, whereby, candidates go through a guided (CPE) system, before the candidates are certified to undertake a profession or semi-profession. The process of continuing professional education only took shape in the late 1960s’, whereby a systematic form of lifelong education was found evident with the physician’s profession.

According to Cervero; (2000) & Dryer;(1962), from these conceptualization process therein to support the physicians, quickly emerged the process of re-licensure and re-certification during the seventies. Cervero & Azzaretto (1990) propounded that over the next two decades numerous professions would have adopted the philosophy of continuing professional education for their employees. Cervero (1988), Jarvis (1995), also described (CPE) as a popular process to update adults in their particular profession, and these can be labeled as education permanente, lifelong learning, or re-current education.

Experts in adult learning have further defined continuing professional education (CPE) as they have perceived it. Houle (1980), refers to CPE as continuing learning while Cervero (1988), sees CPE as a significant area of educational activity. Apps (1979), defines CPE as further enhancing the development of human abilities after entrance into employment It includes in service, upgrading and updating education. Knox, (1989) propounded that CPE is seen as a systematic process of learning and preparing the candidate for the field of practice, which includes maintaining proficiency of knowledge and skill as practiced by the candidate. This is a step for practitioners to evolve professionally and progress from being a novice to being an expert

CPE is continuing because learning never ceases, regardless of age or seniority. It is professional because it is focused on personal competence in a professional role; and it is concerned with education because its goal is to improve personal performance and enhance career progression. Many aspects of CPE are not new - most professionals have always recognized the need for professional updating; but CPE’s emphasis on systematic development and the comprehensive identification of learning opportunities now provides a framework within which formal and informal learning activities can be set. Learning and development becomes planned, rather than accidental. CPE is a field of practice and study that is directed towards the ongoing needs of professionals as subscribed by Cervero, (2001). Hence, the purpose of CPE is to certify and improve professional knowledge and practice. Much of the foundational thinking for CPE was first introduced during the 1980’s. For example, Houle (1980) initially described professionals as:

"Men and women… deeply versed in advanced and subtle bodies of knowledge, which they apply with dedication in solving complex practical problems. They learn to study, apprenticeship, and experience, both by expanding their comprehension of formal disciplines and by