The Role of Practitioner Development

The future of Workplace Education, more so than many other fields, is dependent on strong collaboration between organizations and individuals who play different but equally important roles. To maintain the momentum of Workplace Essential Skills training, and to address the challenges of this field in the next decade and beyond, all stakeholders must build on their current experience and expertise to reach a new level of public recognition and professionalism.

In particular, the practitioners' ability to "deliver the goods", to respond successfully to the changing needs of local, regional or national stakeholders, will be important. There is increased attention on training outcomes and service quality. As well, new fiscal priorities and experience with successful programs have raised stakeholders' expectations. Not only must practitioners be skilled and knowledgeable in a wide variety of areas and roles, but they must continue to respond to challenges with versatility and creativity.

This means that practitioner development plays a central role in the development of Workplace Education as a field and as a profession. New practitioners need an awareness of fundamental Workplace Education issues and teaching techniques. They may also require specific skills in program planning, evaluation or promotion. More experienced practitioners need information and training to develop specializations and to find applications for cutting-edge research. They should also take opportunities to learn from other stakeholders and related professions. Practitioners who have been active for a longer time may want to consider Workplace Education from a more theoretical perspective, to broaden the current research base and create conceptual frameworks which will in turn create new delivery or programming models.

In short, just as companies and labour groups benefit from taking a strategic approach to employee development, so Workplace Education stakeholders benefit from considering themselves part of a "learning organization" which promotes professional growth at all levels of experience.

Before planning for the future development of the profession however, it is useful to be aware of practitioner training efforts to date. This document profiles a variety of practitioner development initiatives which have taken place in these first, formative stages of Workplace Education in Canada. Ranging from local workshops to national conferences, these efforts reflect the local character of Workplace Education and show grass-roots needs which have been addressed in a way that suits the local or regional purpose and participants. This review of practitioner development also points out commonalities across the country, and suggests new directions to encourage the further maturing of the profession.