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Adult Education in Neoliberal Times pp 49–65Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Professionalism, Professionalisation and Continuing Professional Development in the Adult Education Arena

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Abstract

This chapter describes how different forms of ‘professionalism’ have been defined, refined, developed and applied to formal education. It compares how policies on professionalisation have been played out in relation to adult educators in England and New Zealand. In England the focus has been on the imposition of a prescriptive form of governmental professionalism across the whole post-compulsory education sector, including adult and community-based education. In New Zealand, the focus has been on introducing a ‘softer’ form of professionalism, ‘owned’ by the sector itself, which promotes professional development as a means of enforcing greater coordination and standardisation across the ACE sector. In both countries policy pronouncements around professionalism have been utilised as a way of increasing government control by holding out the promise of improved status and conditions for adult educators which has not been delivered.

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  1. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Marion Bowl

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Bowl, M. (2017). Professionalism, Professionalisation and Continuing Professional Development in the Adult Education Arena. In: Adult Education in Neoliberal Times. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50883-2_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50883-2_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-50882-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-50883-2

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