Experience and Qualification

I’ve been reflective in my thoughts on where teaching and learning, training and higher education have been leading us recently.

I find it curiously odd that there seems to be a cogent drift away from the value of qualification, in those who are actively engaged in creating educational and training resources. This, at a time when experience is already not held universally in high esteem.

By qualification, I mean a formal standard, diploma or degree, conferred by an authorised and antonymous education or training body.

By experience, I’m implying months or years actually practicing a discipline, in whatever role the position requires.

I have tremendous faith in the youth of today, so I’m not denying their worth and value. They have unbelievable potential and the future of the world as we know it lies undeniably in their hands.

But in the past decade or more, there has been a move away from recognising experience in the workplace. Fresh minds – and let’s not deny it, youth – and the promise of creativity coming from those, have been put above the true and proper value of experience.

And now, we might be misled into believing that qualification could also be discarded.

I put it to you, that by severing the effective combination of qualification, experience and innate ability of the potential appointee to a position in the workforce, we are not only doing a disservice to the workplace, we are putting the future of the world at risk.