Professional Identities and Ethics: The Role of Work-Integrated Learning in Developing Agentic Professionals

Abstract

Much rhetoric around the construct of a work-ready graduate has focused on the technical abilities of students to fulfill the expectations of the future workplace. Efforts have been made to extend from the technical skills (e.g., skills in calculation for engineers) to include soft or behavioral skills (e.g., communication). However, within previous models of understanding of the work-ready graduate there has been little done to explore them as critical moral agents within the workplace. That is, whilst the focus has been on being work-ready, it is argued here that in current and future workplaces it is more important for university graduates to be profession-ready. Our understanding of the profession-ready graduate is characterized by the ability to demonstrate capacities in critical thinking and reflection, and to have an ability to navigate the ethical challenges and shape the organizational culture of the future workplace.

This chapter aims to explore a movement of thinking away from simply aspiring to develop work-ready graduates, expanding this understanding to argue for the development of profession-ready graduates. The chapter begins with an exploration of the debates around the characteristics of being work-ready, and through a consideration of two professional elements: professional identity and critical moral agency, argues for a reframing of work-readiness towards professional-readiness. The chapter then considers the role of work-integrated learning (WIL) in being able to support the development of the profession-ready graduate.

Citation

Zegwaard, K.E., Campbell, M. and Pretti, T.J. (2017), "Professional Identities and Ethics: The Role of Work-Integrated Learning in Developing Agentic Professionals", Work-Integrated Learning in the 21st Century (International Perspectives on Education and Society, Vol. 32), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 145-160. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-367920170000032009