Professional Standards

There are professional standards for just about any field of work. Everyone is expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner at work at all times. We will cover a few of these professions and their professional standards here.

I have found a website that talks about Professional Standards for Teachers which is from Queensland Australia. It states that the Professional Standards for Queensland Teachers outline the capabilities that the teacher must possess in order to provide high quality instruction and support to improve student learning. The standards provide a framework and common language to support teachers to identify and assess and strengthen their professional commitment, professional relationships and understandings about teaching and learning. [source: www.qct.edu.au]

The Australian Federal Police adheres to Professional standards. On the website it states tha "The Australian Federal Police (AFP) operates in an increasingly complex and dynamic environment. It is critical to the continued success of the AFP that the organisation maintains the confidence and trust of the Australian government, national and international partners and the Australian community which it serves." Some of AFP code of conducts includes AFP appointee to act with due care and diligence in the course of the AFP duties, to act with honesty, propriety in the course of the AFP duties, to comply with applicable Australian law and many more. [source: www.afp.gov.au]

Professional standards in Engineering. The Engineers Australia Professional Standards Scheme is a limitation of liability scheme approved under the Professional Standards legislation of each State and Territory. The Scheme applies to members of Engineers Australia who are also members of the Engineering, Science and Technology Professional Standards Society (ESTPSS) of Engineers Australia. This is designed to improve the occupational standards of the profession, protect consumers, and put a cap on the amount of damages a court can award against members covered by the Scheme in legal actions for economic loss or property damage arising from anything they did or did not do in carrying out their occupation. [source: www.engineersaustralia.org.au]

I have also found a document about professional standards for the Anglican Dioceses of Perth. It states that "The Anglican Diocese of Perth does not tolerate harassment or abuse in its Church community. Such issues are taken very seriously. The Anglican Church is committed to ensuring that all people associated with the Church can participate in a healthy, safe and responsible environment. Since 2004, the Professional Standards Unit in Perth has served all three dioceses in Western Australia (Perth, Bunbury and North West Australia) in professional standards matters. They have the responsibilities to set professional and ethical standards throughout the Anglican Church in WA; receive and manage complaints of sexual misconduct and abuse by Church Workers; education and awareness in the area of child protection and sexual misconduct; advising and assisting Church Workers and members of the public with queries on a variety of professional and ethical issues within the Church. [source: www.perth.anglican.org] This is very interesting because you hear a lot of complaints from public about abuse that happens with the church community and it's really good to see that some of them are starting to adhere to professional standards like any other profession.

I think that any type of work should have some sort of professional standards. It should not be limited to what we considered the traditional professions like the ones mentioned above. Rubbish collectors, Sydney escorts, Mail mans, dog walkers, baby sitters, volunteers and many more should also adhere to some standards at work. We don't want to see sydney escorts or melbourne escorts walking around the streets soliciting work, we want them to act in a manner that will not harm themselves and others while at work. We don't want to see rubbish collectors dumping our rubbish bins in the middle of the road after it the rubbish has been collected. We don't want our baby sitters to physically abuse our children while we are not looking. The list could just go on and on but if these professional standards also applies to all types of work I think there will be less incidence where people got harm because of someone's poor judgement or action.

That is why professional standards are so important to ensure that if anything goes wrong noone is disadvantage in any way. It is to protect everyone that is involve.