1. THE DYNAMICS OF CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
The work of professionals is important
They poses technical skills and define to a great extent the problems and the solutions on which they work
Act as symbolic leadership
Professionals must learn throughout their working lives

2. The concept of lifelong education is a must in every profession
They learn through books, discussions with colleagues, formal and informal programs and the rigors of everyday practice
Continuing Professional Education (CPE) a form of formal learning has increased
Billions of dollars spent to provide and attend such programs
Organized comprehensive CPE are evident in traditional professions
The concept of lifelong education is a must in every profession

3. Many professions have a system of accreditation for providers of CPE
Participation in CPE as basis for relicensing members of certain professions
In Malaysia CPE is not well established
CPE should be more organized; proper planning and evaluation, conducted by qualified personnel.

4. CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR THE PROFESSIONS
A new field of educational practice has come into existence
In the USA journals in specific professions
CPE educators also form their own associations
Traditional view: CPE must be directed by its own members

5. Emerging view: individuals trained in the field of continuing education have the most appropriate qualification for this function
95% of CPE educators trained only in the content of their own profession
Only 5% have formal training in education and technical
As a new field of practice CPE much to learn: concepts holdovers from the models of preprofessional education

6. It is important to identify the elements of effective practice in CPE
To improve practice:
to understand the assumptions and principles that guide the work
Examine whether they are the most useful ones
Change when necessary

7. WHAT ARE THE PROFESSIONS?
Earliest effort to define a profession by Flexner in 1915
No commonly agreed upon answer to the question of what constitutes a profession
In order to think clearly and systematically about CPE the concept of profession must be understood

8. STATIC APPROACH Oldest definition by Flexner (1915)
There are certain objective standards distinguish professions from other occupations
Characteristics
Involve intellectual operations
Derive their material from science

9. Involve definite and practical ends
Possess an educationally communicable technique
Tend to self-organization
Be altruistic

10. Static approach because objective criteria firmly discriminate between professions and ordinary occupations
Major problem of this approach: lack of consensus about the criteria

11. PROCESS APPROACH Suggested by Vollmer and Mills (1966)
All occupations as existing on a continuum of professionalization
The question is how professionalized is an occupation?
All occupations go through a natural sequence in their passage to professional status

12. Occupations can deprofessionalize
The continuum is not a one-way street
No clear-cut boundary separates professions from other occupations
It recognizes the dynamic conditions of contemporary occupational structures
Professions never reach a point of becoming an ideal profession for constant improvement and continuing learning

13. The premise: professions are necessary to the smooth and orderly functioning of society
In turn, society provides monetary rewards and status
This approach does not recognize the social inequalities as result of these rewards
These inequalities are are interpreted as natural and necessary

14. Criticism of this approach:
The approach does not seek to understand the professions in terms of how they gain and use their power and authority
Therefore it does not explain how occupations can come to be viewed as more professionalized

15. SOCIO-ECONOMIC APPROACH
In Europe, the status and security of occupations were gained by other means, such as protections provided by their governments
Becker (1962) has concluded that any profession is a folk concept that is historically and nationally specific
There is no such thing as an ideal profession

16. No set of criteria is necessarily associated with it
General public (folk) who generally regarded which occupations are professions and which are not
Profession is an honorific title
Reality and meaning are socially constructed which are a political war
Social and economic rewards are accorded to the winners

17. Professionalization is the process by which producers of special services constitute and control the market for their services
Professions attempt to negotiate the boundaries of a market for their services and establish their control over it
For this professional market to exist a distinctive commodity must be produced

18. Most professions produce intangible goods which inextricably bound to the person who produces it
Therefore the producers themselves have to be produced (adequately trained and socialized)
This process occurs in the modern university to control knowledge base and to award credentials