'Profession' and 'professional' are shifting signifiers that have taken on a range of new
meanings in the past two decades as professional occupations have been reshaped by
moves to 'flexible' (deregulated and decentred) work processes and work practices.
The role of modern professions was significant in terms of the democratic elements of
the professionalising project. But how do moves away from the modern
bureaucratically-structured professions, and a professional ideal based on the concept of
universal service, impact on graduates currently entering professional employment
domains in which new 'performativity-based' management regimes are replacing the
older control structures? This study draws on a range of sociological literature to explore
both the structural and discursive changes in the meaning of profession practice. The
study also draws on a number of research projects, including materials from focus group
interviews of final year undergraduate students, recruitment brochures, ABS (Australian
Bureau of Statistics) statistical analyses and DEST (Australia: Department of
Employment, Science and Training) graduate destination studies, and policy documents.
These materials are used to argue that the employment destinations of those with
professional qualifications and credentials are now more stratified and more diverse and
no longer necessarily coupled with a lifelong career. In addtion, the new management
regimes that accompany the move to more flexible work processes and work practices
are changing how those in professional work locations construct their sense of
themselves as professional practitioners.
Changes in the nature of professional work, and in the structural and discursive location
of professional workers, have implications for education and training institutions. These
institutions not only prepare workers for these occupational domains but are the main
conduits through which access to work in the restructured labour markets is mediated.
The study concludes by drawing attention to the need for educational research to be
anchored in a 'sociology of employment' that is able to provide a more critical account
of the relationship between education and training and entry into high status/low status
employment domains.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219201 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Axford, Beverley, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Professional & Community Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Beverley Axford |
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