Thing 10 - Graduate traineeships, Masters Degrees, Chartership, Accreditation
This part of the programme reminds me that there is some focus in the 23 Things on the professionally qualified rather than the para-professional or, well, what do you call us? Unqualified? Faceworkers? aka the salt of the earth, the only way a library service is run? Sorry just channelling my own moans and the shameless oily behaviour of certain senior managers I have encountered over the years.
I touched on the difficulties of getting access to the CILIP certification process in an earlier post, which I hope has been improved since I tried for that some years ago. I have achieved a NVQ L3 and ECDL which is as much as my role here requires. Working in a college, the emphasis is more on teaching and supporting roles and some of my colleagues have gone that way, from PGCE to lower learner supporting qualifications. I have resisted this route for me so far as I see myself as a library person rather than a teaching one.But the role has changed to one of supporting the learner/user in their use of the technology and equipment rather than one of signposting towards the actual books. Here I face what many of us do, to persuade a user to look at a book rather than at Wikipedia.
I flirted with a postgraduate qualification last year, getting a place on a distance learning course. But when the reality of perhaps studying for four years when I hope to retire within ten and the amazing cost of the course set in I reluctantly withdrew. I am still looking for my next bit of education/training.
While
my children have faced the rising debts associated with higher
education I am reluctant to go this way myself, for the reasons above.
I wonder does anyone else have the expertise to advise what they did next? I have had a look at other bloggers' remarks and the relevance of costs of things and funding education does filter through. I haven't found any remarks from non-professionals yet, I will keep looking though.
I am behind with my blogging and am only as far as Thing 9 but like you I don't consider myself amongst the professionals. The fact I am hoping to retire in a few years time means I am not looking at the professional qualifications but I do try to keep up with things and attend relevant courses and keep IT skills up to date etc. I was however a secondary school teacher for 30 years so that experience does help me now as a Learning Resources Adviser - although I do the day to day Library work the main focus of my job is supporting the students with their learning, running workshops for them and liaising with teaching staff. It amazes me how much I've learnt about solving technical problems too as inevitably we're the first ones the students come to with their problems.
ReplyDeleteI added CPD23 to my RSS feeds hence how I came across your blog.
Pearl
Your job sounds very much like mine, and I too am torn between wanting to do some more education/training and seeing the finishing (retirement) retirement line coming up ahead. Although in recent years the ages to get pensions etc has got higher so perhaps I have more working life ahead whether I want it or not.
Delete