Continuing Competence 101

Differences and Similarities Between Continuing Competence, Continuing Education, and Professional Development

These three terms—continuing competence, continuing education (CE), and professional development—are often used interchangeably, but they represent different aspects of maintaining and improving a professional’s skills and knowledge throughout their career. Understanding the distinctions between these concepts is key to ensuring that each is applied effectively in a profession like massage therapy.


1. Continuing Competence

  • Definition: Continuing competence refers to the ability of a professional to consistently apply knowledge, skills, judgment, and experience to perform their duties safely and effectively throughout their career. It is an ongoing process that ensures a professional remains capable of delivering quality services.
  • Focus: It emphasizes the maintenance of core skills and the ability to adapt to new developments in the field, including evolving best practices, technology, or regulations.
  • Assessment: Typically involves periodic evaluations or assessments (such as practical skills assessments, peer reviews, or competency exams) to ensure that the professional remains proficient.
  • Goal: The primary goal is to ensure that practitioners are not only staying up-to-date but also demonstrating that they can continue to practice safely and effectively.

2. Continuing Education (CE)

  • Definition: Continuing education refers to the process of taking formal courses or workshops after initial licensure or certification to expand one’s knowledge, skills, or expertise in a particular area. CE is often required for licensure renewal in many professions.
  • Focus: CE emphasizes gaining new knowledge or learning new skills that may or may not be directly related to the core competencies required for the profession. CE is often focused on the theoretical or knowledge-based learning.
  • Assessment: While CE courses often offer certificates of completion, they generally do not include formal evaluations of whether the learning has been integrated into practice. CE primarily measures participation, not competence.
  • Goal: The goal of CE is to provide structured learning opportunities that enhance a professional’s knowledge base or introduce new concepts, techniques, or approaches.

3. Professional Development

  • Definition: Professional development is a broader term that encompasses all the activities a professional undertakes to enhance their personal growth, career advancement, and professional capabilities. This includes both formal and informal learning experiences.
  • Focus: It can involve everything from attending conferences and seminars to participating in mentoring, leadership programs, networking, and self-guided learning. It focuses on holistic career growth and personal enrichment beyond just technical skills.
  • Assessment: Professional development is typically self-directed and may not require formal assessments. It’s about the long-term growth of the professional and often includes soft skills, leadership, and business acumen.
  • Goal: The goal is broader personal and professional enrichment, including career progression, leadership opportunities, and staying engaged with the latest trends and innovations in the field.

Similarities

  • Lifelong Learning: All three concepts emphasize the importance of ongoing learning throughout a professional’s career.
  • Career Impact: Each plays a critical role in enhancing a professional’s ability to stay relevant, improve client outcomes, and advance in their career.
  • Optional or Required: All can be either required (for maintaining licensure or certifications) or optional (for personal growth and career advancement).

Key Differences

  • Continuing Competence ensures ongoing capability through periodic assessment.
  • Continuing Education focuses on gaining new knowledge through formal learning without necessarily proving competence.
  • Professional Development encompasses both and more, focusing on broad career growth beyond technical skill acquisition.

While continuing competence, continuing education, and professional development all aim to promote growth and ensure quality in the massage therapy profession (and others), they serve different functions. Continuing competence ensures a professional’s core abilities are maintained and evaluated over time, continuing education helps therapists acquire new knowledge and skills, and professional development encourages overall career growth through a variety of learning experiences. Understanding these distinctions helps create a more balanced and effective approach to career-long learning in the massage profession.

I have previously written about the CE Conundrum that is occuring in the massage therapy profession. (That conudrum is about the battle over which organization will manage and monitor CE for the massage profession.)

I have for a long, long time argued with chapters, organizations, and individuals that we need to stop using state regulation of our profession as a means for professional development. We can’t and shouldn’t legislate professional development; we can and should legislate competence. More isn’t always better-using state regulations to impart some expectation of “what a professional should be” is misguided. State regulation is established to ensure public safety.

…I believe certification should be voluntary, and I believe continuing education should be voluntary; therapists spend too many hours (and a lot of money) chasing their tails to “get hours” before their license renewal is due. States are constantly challenged with managing CE requirements, and many disallow what we would call “useful” hours because the subject matter is outside their state’s scope of practice. It’s a bit of a vicious circle for therapists trying to keep their licenses. ~Les Sweeney, 2012 ABMP

Resources: Study on CE in other professions

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