inDEPTH


PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION


rofessional behaviours are among the most dificult skills and attributes to teach – compassion in a healthcare student; a conscientious approach to health and safety in a trainee engineer; the capacity for teamworking in a catering apprentice.


Yet the emphasis on teaching and assessing


professional behaviours (PBs) has never been greater – partly due to reforms in vocational education, T levels and apprenticeships. Colin Bentwood, managing director of the


Strategic Development Network, was involved in the apprenticeship reforms. He explains: “The new apprenticeship standard is


made up of three elements – knowledge, skills and professional behaviours. “These will be assessed in an end test. It has to


infer competency in all three. “In the old apprenticeship it was pass or fail –


now they are graded and the thing that makes the difference between the grades will be the professional behaviours. “All trainee hairdressers may be able to cut hair to a


certain standard, but the person who leaves the salon feeling like they have had a complete experience is where the difference will be.” Mike Cox, business development director at the


Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), envisages challenges in trying to fit PBs into what he describes as “a fairly restricted curriculum which doesn’t have time for them”. “If they are spending a day on professional


behaviours, it is a day lost in teaching the standard,” says Cox. He says some employers might not see the value in


PBs, but “as a training provider you are going to have to explain that to them”. He adds: “There may also be professional behaviours that a good training provider and employer would like to add to those that are in not in the standard.” The role of employers in assessing and delivering


PBs was flagged as essential by every contributor to this article. Dr Ellen Spencer is senior researcher at the Centre


for Real-World Learning at Winchester University and co-author of a paper, Remaking Apprenticeships – Powerful Learning for Work and Life. “Close


12 ISSUE 31 • SPRING 2018 INTUITION


communication between teachers and organisations is necessary if the outcomes are to remain relevant,” she says. Ruth Gilbert, chief executive of the Career Colleges


Trust, agrees. Her organisation, which is involved in consultation on the T level development with the Department for Education, is helping to ensure that employers are involved in assessing behaviours. “Our charity engages employers in master classes,


workplace visits and live business projects to ensure learners build behaviours in context,” she says. A poll, commissioned by The Duke of Edinburgh’s


Award scheme last year, found that 95 per cent of 500 UK senior managers regard professional behaviours as equally or more important than exam


Teachers and trainers face new challenges as greater emphasis is placed on developing the professional behaviours of learners. Peter Rook reports


Cameron Law


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