Qualifications as Guarantees of Proficiency: Do We Understand Their Role?

Abstract

AbstractA professional qualification should be a guarantee of the professional ability of its holder. But how do we know that a qualification is a guarantee given the variegated nature of the successful exercise of professional ability in a wide variety of complex and unique and often unexpected circumstances? One of the problems involved in professional qualification design concerns path dependency in the way in which qualifications are constructed. We tend to design qualifications according to categories that tradition and culture have handed down instead of asking whether they meet the current needs of professions. In this chapter I will suggest that professional curriculum designers be presented with a series of ‘decision points’ so that they are obliged to explicitly consider whether certain attributes need to be included in the qualification. These attributes will need to include far more than ‘skill’. This claim is illustrated with examples from some of the professions associated with low energy construction.