In a comprehensive 1995 survey of over 700 career practitioners conducted by a group of practitioners surveying their peers about forming a professional association, 69% of respondents indicated a desire to participate in establishing professional certification standards. Based on this response, career practitioners through 1995-1997 partnered with the Alberta Career Development Action Group (ACDAG), a ollaborative group of stakeholders, to investigate processes that would recognize career development as a profession in Alberta. ACDAG identified The Professional and Occupational Associations Registrations Act (POARA) as the preferred vehicle for this purpose. It became apparent, however, that registering with POARA would be no simple matter. Prior steps needed to be taken before an application could be prepared.

When the CDAA was founded and incorporated in 1997, it took over the initiative's leadership role. It developed three measurable and achievable steps to recognizing career development as a profession in Alberta:

Step 1

Develop voluntary standards and guidelines for career practitioners

Step 2

Develop agreed-upon criteria for professional certification; determine an association-approved title; and develop a certification application process

Step 3

Register the profession through the Professional and Occupational Associations Registrations Act (POARA)

Accomplishments

The CDAA has accomplished the following in each of the three steps:

Step 1

A CDAA Code of Ethics has been developed and adopted. The CDAA has been an active stakeholder in the Canadian Standards and Guidelines for Career Practitioners (CSG) project and members have agreed that Alberta certification criteria should be based on the CSG (2002 CSG Field Test). A Portfolio for the Career Development Professional has been published in partnership with Alberta Human Resources and Employment and distributed through the Alberta Learning Resources Centre. (2005 Update: This Portfolio is no longer in print. The online Taking Charge Portfolio tool developed by the Canadian Standards and Guidelines for Career Practitioners is recommended in its place).

Step 2

Certified Career Development Professional (CCDP) has been adopted as the agreed-upon title. Draft criteria for certification have been circulated and discussed and feedback incorporated in further drafts. These include ethics, competencies, a combination of education plus experience, a grandfather clause, references, and certification renewal.

Members have agreed that CCDP's will need to renew their certification every three years by documenting their continuous learning experiences over the period. Other professional associations' certification processes have been investigated — both print and online processes.

At the 2003 AGM, members voted overwhelmingly to pilot the CCDP criteria and process developed to date.

Through 2003-2004 the CDAA worked on:

• obtaining funds to pilot the Professional Certification process and criteria
• retaining a registrar
• retaining a group of practitioners to pilot the process
• retaining evaluators to review practitioner applications
• using the pilot experience to fine tune the criteria and process and make improvements, as necessary

In 2004, eleven volunteer practitioners, three evaluators and one registrar piloted the criteria and process and provided feedback on the first step of the process. Feedback from the volunteers and evaluators was communicated to CDAA members and incorporated in a set of revised Criteria and Process.

In 2005, the CCDP Application Guide and supporting documents were finalized and the CCDP launched on April 28, 2005. Applications accepted as of May 1, 2005.

Step 3

A meeting was held with POARA administrators who advised that POARA registration does not make a profession - Steps 1 and 2 do. If a professional association were to decide to apply for registration, Steps 1 and 2 would need to be developed and implemented, unethical conduct of members would need to be documented, and a case made for the need for government regulation of the industry (to protect the public). POARA administrators also stated the Alberta government's present policy is for de-regulation, not regulation, so the political will for registering professions is diminished. Step 3 appears to be an option that, if it were one the CDAA decided to pursue, would be far in the future. It may, in fact, be an option the CDAA will never want or need to pursue.

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