To end the Forum, participants reflected on the topics they had discussed over the past two days and made the following recommendations:

1. Conduct a demographic study of Workplace Education Practitioners including information on: diversity of roles and contexts, numbers of practitioners, hours worked, education, years of experience, types of experience, specializations, etc.

2. Document past and present professional development paths focusing on entry into the field, professional development, formal and informal means of expertise-building, training needs and interests (present and future), etc.

3. Research and/or develop inventories of competencies and aptitudes that have proven valuable to practitioners in various roles and contexts.

4. Consider professional standards and/or best practices in related areas such as literacy, ESL, adult education or industrial training to see whether certain aspects might be applicable to Workplace Education Practitioners. In particular the 1995 "Best Practices" document released by the NLS and ABC CANADA was to be reviewed.

5. Develop a national communications infrastructure, tapping into existing networks and setting up conference mechanisms such as listservs, chat-rooms, and bulletin boards.

6. Encourage discussions on the intricacies of practitioner development and recognition in local and/or regional forums.

Workplace Education Practitioners' Forum
Summary Report