Abstract
The changing character of conflict and competition demands that the British Army re-appraise what it means to be a military professional. This requires a common understanding of military professionalism, which places an emphasis on professional development throughout a military career, ensuring the British Army is able to continuously adapt to changing demands. This chapter draws on Butler and Budgell’s (2015) study of the critical components of military professionalism derived from influential theories to briefly review professionalism in the British Army. The main focus of the review is on professional development, which is a key enabler of the professional components. We present an initial conceptualization of the tenets of the profession of arms and the supporting continuing professional development (CPD) approach, based on a review of the British Army’s current CPD approach.
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Notes
- 1.
Review undertaken by the British Army Programme CASTLE. CASTLE’s objective is to modernise the British Army Career pathways enabling greater organisational agility, institutional and individual choice. The programme will maximise the opportunities for, and the talent of, the Army’s people so that they are motivated, ready and skilled to prevail in day to day competition and war.
- 2.
AADP prepares lieutenant colonels for the rank of colonel.
- 3.
The 70:20:10 model for learning and development assumes 70% of an individual’s time is spent on challenging assignments (learning on the job and on the job experience), 20% on developmental relationships (learning from others through mentoring and coaching) and 10% on formal coursework and training (structured learning).
- 4.
Learning risk: assumption that training will be undertaken in the workplace/unit.
- 5.
This course prepares officers for the rank of captain.
- 6.
Pre-employment training is training provided at the end of a military career to support the transition to a civilian career.
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Hawkshaw, R., O’Neil, C.N. (2020). Military Professionalism and the British Army. In: Hachey, K., Libel, T., Dean, W. (eds) Rethinking Military Professionalism for the Changing Armed Forces. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45570-5_8
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