Professional standards legislation and supporting learning cultures

Professional standards legislation to support strategies for professional development within professional associations was fully enacted throughout Australia in 2004. The legislation claims to facilitate the improvement of occupational standards. Learning for professionals has a duality of learning outcomes viz community protection and risk minimisation based on competency/sufficiency learning; and career development requiring advanced level learning for both career specialisation and knowledge integration. Each outcome may involve accreditation through professional associations. Professional associations and educators need to design programs for professionals using adult learning pedagogy to facilitate deep learning. Not all learning frameworks assist 'transfer of learning' or the duality of learning outcomes. The paper explores how a professional association can develop a learning culture within the profession; provide a context in which learning can be integrated with work; and support learning through communities of practice.