Professional Qualification and Training & Development

Professional entry routes and qualifications were a prominent theme within career stories, as highlighted within Zara’s story (chapter opening). Professional entry routes influenced both her early careering, and her future intention to study for a degree level qualification. Significant changes to the teaching and education of nursing professionals

9 _{AHPs comprise of fourteen professional clinical roles, including within the sample group;}

were introduced as an NHS wide initiative; Project 200010. Zara chose this route, rather than directly applying to universities, because it provided financial support whilst undertaking professional qualification (MH nursing diploma), and therefore determined her initial entry into the nursing profession. In addition, the subsequent introduction (in 2009) of a degree level qualification as the minimum requirement for all new nursing recruits underpins her current intention to undertake this level of study to support her future progression. Similarly, changes in professional entry routes and qualification has also prompted change within the careering of other interviewees who had already entered the profession prior to the implementation of Project 2000. Consequently, some interviewees completed courses to convert nursing diplomas to a degree level qualification. For example, Donna chose to undertake a conversion course, with the support of the organisation. She describes having had no prior ambition to be anything other than a staff nurse but on observing the skills and performance of new nurses entering the profession she took the opportunity to undertake further study, to enable her subsequent progression within the profession and organisation. Conversely, others described personal conflict between feeling like they should undertake further study to progress (despite this frequently being stated as a ‘desirable’ rather than ‘essential’ element of job descriptions), and their desire or perceived ability to do so. This dilemma is exampled within Zara’s story in which she explains the overlap between the need/desire to undertake further study and balancing this with other aspects of her personal life including family. Interestingly, nursing professionals, including those working at a senior level, expressed personal insecurity at not achieving the same level of academic attainment as later entrants to the profession, demonstrating the personal implications of broader changes aimed at recognising and advancing professional skills and knowledge within nursing. This is expressed within the narrative of Chloe, a senior manager, with thirty-eight years’ experience within Baycastle Trust;

"I feel that I’ve given loyal service to the trust because it’s been loyal to me, but I didn’t have a degree (whispers). I was that imposter who didn’t have the

10 _{The introduction of Project 2000 from 1984 onwards, transferred education away from}

apprentice style training to local colleges and universities, and provided academically recognised qualifications (including diploma or degree options). Alongside, optional conversion courses were available for existing nurses, enabling them to convert their nursing qualifications to degree level.

degree you know; out of all of these thousands of nurses I didn’t have a degree"

(Chloe).

Chloe commenced her career within an asylum-style hospital and her story demonstrates extensive experience across a range of clinical roles and settings. During this time, she started studying for a degree, however personal difficulties (arising from within her social context), prevented her from completing this. She emotively reflected upon not having achieved a nursing degree;

“sadly that’s something that’s probably haunted me for the rest of my career because I am now in a position where I never did get a degree and I still feel, and there are still conversations that really embarrass me that you know, this is a graduate profession, and that actually we need to be looking for people with higher degrees as well and I just sit cringing. And I remember telling my new boss, the director of nursing, and feeling like I was confessing that I hadn’t got a degree. And I think it doesn’t matter how many times the job description says ‘or equivalent experience’ in fact it is, I feel that something is missing”.

In addition to initial professional qualification, interviewees also narrated actively seeking or responding to opportunities to undertake further professional training and development across the course of their career. A small number of interviewees had independently pursued and funded such opportunities. For example, Lee self-funded his postgraduate study so he could pursue HR opportunities external to the organisation on completion. Nonetheless, the development of professional skills and knowledge also primarily fulfilled organisational requirements and so was predominantly supported financially and/or temporally within the organisational context (Section 7.3.1).

Interviewees also narrated examples of qualifying within a different professional direction, either to pursue a new opportunity or to advance existing knowledge. The latter was an interesting finding, particularly illustrated by nursing professionals who had specialised in LD but later qualified as a MH professional (such professional opportunities were not reciprocated for those initially qualified in MH). Again, the organisational context was instrumental in facilitating such professional development which brought together its two core specialist fields. Whilst some interviewees progressed within this new professional area on qualification, Donna discusses the value of her newly acquired knowledge of MH practice in enhancing her LD role;

“I had an opportunity to retrain, l so I went off and did my mental health nurse training. And some of that was around the fact that the people in the house that I was working at had got associated mental health problems as well. It enabled me to go off and do my training and bring that knowledge back and then we could work better. It’s still very patient focused and how we could change things, and how I could change things for the better and things that we hadn’t realised when I’d gone off I very quickly became aware of when I came back. So, somebody that we hadn’t realised had got bipolar disorder and when we got back we realised that was what the problems were. It just gives that additional knowledge of how to work differently with patients” (Donna).

This illustrates how the value of, and intention to, undertake professional development varies between interviewees, whilst some use such opportunities to pursue a change in profession, others draw upon the knowledge gained to develop in new ways within their existing area, creating different future opportunities as an outcome.

The above examples demonstrate how professional qualification and training can both enable or constrain personal careering, frequently impacting upon individual experiences in an unanticipated manner. Insightfully, professional qualification and training not only formally support professional development and progression but also potentially shape how interviewees view their careering, and therefore potentially can encourage or prohibit future professional development.