How does the professional learn to practice?

With an over emphasis on rational knowledge, primarily acquired at the beginning of the education process, how do professionals learn to practice? In today’s society professions have gained in number, power and status and increased their reliance on knowledge gained in Higher Education. However, this is in contradiction to what professionals suggest is important to enable them to practice in their everyday working lives (CIPD, 2006, Cheetham, 2001). This paper will explore the history and current status of professions, in order to understand the background to the current state of play. The paper will then focus on the Human Resource professional body; Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), discussing the changes in its entry requirements and education programme. Finally, throughout the paper the critical discussion will be illustrated using research from practising Human Resource (HR) students and their managers who are involved in a three year longitudinal, matched pair study.