Conclusions on advanced professionl practice

An advanced professional practitioner in my field of work therefore would be someone:
-who demonstrates in their everyday work their additional, specialist knowledge
-acts as a mentor to less experienced staff
-acts as a source of referral
-actively updates their knowledge through CPD
-is prepared to be creative in their approach to the work
-wants to share their knowledge with a wider community
-is enthusiastic
-proactive
-willing to keep learning
-reflects on their work, and acts on the reflections
-demonstrates leadership
-builds and develops networks within the organisation and in the wider community
-able to influence and persuade
-can cope with conflicting demands on time and resources
-takes on positions of responsibility

Advanced Professional Pratice posts in careers sector

Career Development Consultant , Leeds University
Learning and Teaching Development Adviser -Employability, Queen Mary, University of London
[found on www.jobs.ac.uk]

I arranged a meeting with the Head of Careers & Employability Service [CES] to discuss the essential/desirable qualities of such a level of post...to be told that as one of his more experience and senior members of staff, I probably knew just as much as him about targeting and matching vacancies, seeing as I teach employability skills for 30 hours a week.
So, these are the skills and attributes required for an advanced post in a university careers setting:

Careers Advice and Guidance
• Be a recognised authority on one or more occupational areas/ graduate career pathways.
• Act as a referral point for ‘specialist’ guidance appointments.

Group work and teaching
• Have a demonstrable understanding of relevant university learning and teaching policy and practise as it relates to CES teaching.
• Play a full part in teaching, assessment, evaluation and review of modules.
• Contribute to the development and dissemination of new courses, materials, methods of delivery and assessment.
• Regularly (re) negotiate style, content and timing of co-curricular faculty based delivery with academic colleagues.
• Contribute to Learning and Teaching Committee.

Academic Liaison
• Inform and influence discussion and decision making and providing consultancy on employability related topics at programme/faculty level.

Employer Liaison
• Have established working relationship(s) with one or more key employers, demonstrating mutual benefit and employer investment with CES and / or faculty activities (above and beyond vacancies).
• Competently devise and deliver tailored presentations on labour market information, including benchmarking, and sharing this information at CES and faculty level.

Personal, Professional and CES development

• Contribute to networking and training events at university and (at least) regional level.
• Provide professional guidance and mentoring to less experienced colleagues, as appropriate.
• Produce new ideas for careers service delivery.

Administration

• Effectively promote CES and its activities.
• Effectively liaise with CES in and outside the University.
• Chair sub groups, leading small to medium scale projects.
• Put together project proposals and (where appropriate) write small – medium (up to 10k) funding proposals.
• Exercise delegated responsibility for the management of resources (including budgets) as appropriate.

What is advanced professional practice?

Using the dictionary I found these definitions:
Advanced: -highly developed or complex
-at a higher level
-ahead of others
-far along in course or time
Professional: -relating to, or engaged in or suitable for a profession
-conforming to the standards of a professional
-engaged in a given activity as a source of livelihood or as a career
-performed by persons receiving pay
-having or showing great skill
in other words a 'skilled professional'
Practice: -to do or perform habitually or customarily; making a habit of
-to do or perform [something] repeatedly in order to acquire or polish a skill
-to give lessons or repeat instructions
-to work at - especially as a profession
-to carry out in action

So, drawing on the above dictionary definitions, I can define 'advanced professional practice' as:
'An action at a higher level, that is carried out by a professional practitioner, who has spent time developing specific skills and expertise in order to enhance their own practice'

In the case of careers work, this could be undertaking:
- a specialist role i.e. work with international students, employability
- a mentoring role to those staff who need a role model [perhaps new to the service, newly qualified]
- developmental/training roles to disseminate good practice i.e. regional training
- a "lead" role in the service i.e. guidance

Advanced professional practice should be a process of self development that enhances the quality of your work, drawing on best practice and research in the field

First post

This blog is to record and reflect my journey through the next semester while I undertake the Advanced Professional Practice module. I will post as often as possible to show my thoughts and ideas.