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Professionalism & P Development
Professionalism & Professions
Professional Development (PD) in NTU

Possessing depth of knowledge and expertise

Professionals bring value to organisations and societies in different ways. They are highly specialised in their knowledge, have experiences and deep expertise that usually take a number of years to develop and refine. Are you motivated to be a professional? Find out what it takes to develop a deep expertise in a profession.

High EPLs, high EPs, high PLs and high Ps score highly in this career type. High Ps may tend to focus only on deepening their professional expertise. However, they may lack the motivation for broad skills of the E and L career spaces. On the other hand, high Es, high Ls, high ELs or low EPLs who may lack the depth of professional knowledge and skills could consider learning more about professionalism and develop expertise in a profession to become more T-shaped.

Professionalism & Profession - What do these terms means?
In the EPL framework, it is about your inclination to gain depth of expertise and knowledge in a chosen profession. The word “profession” refers to distinct types of work that require highly specialized and complex knowledge and expertise acquired through formal education and training. Examples of professions are doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountant and teachers.

Today, the boundaries of professions have blurred and the term, “professional” has a broader meaning referring to an attitude adopted at work and includes anyone who seeks to continually deepen his/her expertise and skills and hence, to be “professionally competent”. Professionalism also refers to the level of competence that comes with one’s depth of knowledge and expertise in a profession.

What are the Characteristics of Professions?
According to Millerson (1964), the 6 characteristics of professions are:

Possess and apply specialized skills based on theoretical knowledge
Acquire specialised training and education to master professional skills
Maintain professional competence through qualifying tests and examinations
Maintain high standard of professional integrity through codes of conduct
Perform a service to meet the needs of the public
Have a professional association for their members.

Important Aspects of Professionalism & Professions

Professional Standards. Practicing in a profession will require you to uphold the standards in the application of specific methods, techniques or tools that are recognised, endorsed and approved by the professional association that regulates the practice of the profession.

Professional Code of Ethics – What is it for? A professional worker has to abide by the code of ethics to uphold integrity. It is designed to protect the public and to prevent malpractices in the profession.

Professional Responsibility. All professionals are accountable to the public that they serve. Understanding of one’s professional responsibility is an important part of your professional identity.

Professional Competence or Expertise – Why is it Important to Professions? Members of a profession usually possess qualifications that reflect their level of competence in a profession. The opposites are “the unqualified” or “the laypersons” whose knowledge is not deep, whose methods may not be precise and whose practices can potentially harm the public.

What is Professional Development (PD)?
Professional development is the specialised training and development that leads to a basic qualification within a profession before an individual is allowed to practice independently (i.e., without supervision) to serve the public. The training and development programs for professional development focus on the acquisition of knowledge and skills to qualify professionals to meet certain standards in their professional tasks. Professional development is often mandated by the respective body or association to maintain high standards of practice.

A PD Plan. When you start out as a professional, write out a PD plan that charts out what you need to learn in a progressive way that includes your training and certifications and your work experiences to be accumulated. A PD plan also helps you prioritise your learning needs based on your organisation’s requirements and emphasis. It also includes an articulation of your personal goals as well as aims and objectives of your organisation.

Developing Yourself as a Professional
You may need specialist qualifications for profession-specific work. These usually form part of your professional development program. Check what you can do by visiting the NTU website for PDP categorized under the various fields (accounts, business, HRM, communication skills, education, engineering, IT & information studies). Find out more from the respective professional associations and alumni.Check out the following websites for courses that have e2i subsidies, SkillsFuture-approved credits and other subsidies.

Accounts/Business/HRM	http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/cce2/faculty_courses/acc_business.asp
Communication Skills	http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/cce2/faculty_courses/com_skill.asp
Engineering	http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/cce2/faculty_courses/engineering.asp
IT & Information Studies	http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/cce2/faculty_courses/it_info.asp
Personal Development	http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/cce2/faculty_courses/personal_dev.asp

Plan your attainment of qualifications as “developmental goals” in career development plan. Qualifications may be categorised based on the levels of competence as stipulated by the respective professional associations.

Find out what are basic and what are advanced qualifications. Advanced programs may require some pre-requisites like relevant work experiences. You might want to include your internship experiences, if possible.
Join the society or association and network with other professionals; learn through peer coaching, attend relevant seminars and workshops.

Continual Professional Development (CPD)

Read handbooks on CPD and pay attention to the requirements.
Consult fellow professionals who have completed their CPD and learn effective ways to complete the certifications/qualifications..
Find out which CPD programs are important so you can prioritise your developmental goals.
Network with other professionals who can guide your development and share their experiences.

Creating your PD Portfolio
It is important that you keep a record of your learning and development as a professional. The records are also kept as evidences of your attainment of the competencies,some of which may require endorsements or witnessing by a mentor/coach or senior consultant in your respective profession. Create your PD portfolio using the following sub-headings:

My Certifications and Qualifications

Basic
Advanced

My Reflections & Learning from the Certification / Qualification Programmes
My Reflections & Learning from My Own Reading and Literature Searches
My Plans to Practice What I Learnt
My Reflective Practice and My Learning Based on My Experiences

Your Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

CPD is professional development that continues after the initial PD, aimed at upgrading the skills and knowledge of a practitioner.
In most professions, the practitioner is obliged to complete the CPD. The approaches to CPD can be either formal (course attendance) or informal (with communities of practice, mentoring etc.).
Well-established professions publish their CPD handbooks. Get a copy of the CPD handbook from your professional association and browse through what you might need to do to develop yourself in future.
Join a coaching or a mentoring program to help develop junior professionals in your field.
With EPL career development, you can plan your CPD in specific areas to support your career vision.

While you deepen your expertise, you will also need to look for opportunities to take on leadership roles as you advance your career.
See under Leadership & Leadership Development to develop broad skills to be more T-shaped.
Identify and develop leadership competencies and skills that are particularly important in your profession.

References

Alsop, A. (2013). Continuing professional development in health and social care: Strategies for lifelong learning. John Wiley & Sons.

Attwood, M., Curtis, A., Pitts, J., & While, R. (Eds.). (2008). Professional Development: A Guide for Primary Care. John Wiley & Sons.

Guskey, T. R. (1999). Evaluating professional development. Corwin Press.

Megginson, D., & Whitaker, V. (2003). Continuing professional development. CIPD Publishing.

Mc Kee, A., & Eraut, M. (Eds.). (2011). Learning trajectories, innovation and identity for professional development (Vol. 7). Springer Science & Business Media.

Thomas, W. H. (2013). The Basics of Achieving Professional Certification: Enhancing Your Credentials. CRC Press.