Professionalisation schemes do two important things; they accredit their members and require high standards of personal conduct. They also require specified standards of education, training and experience, all of which combine to enable a person to be certified as a professional in their field. It is also possible for a person to lose their accreditation should they demonstrate unprofessional behaviour or fail to maintain their skills.

Schemes validate members. Once accredited, professionals are able to point to their status as proof of their skill and experience. Professional qualifications are portable between employers. Schemes also provide an assurance for the general public: the ability to trust that the professional is independently recognised as having skills and experience in their field and has been assessed against industry benchmarks.

Across Australasia there is no nationally accepted fire and emergency service worker profession, however, some specialist areas are covered, for example fire engineering (IFE), fire protection (FPAA) and forestry (IFA).  In many cases, fire and emergency service workers with proven skills and many years experience have to start over if they want to move interstate.

Emergency management is a perennial feature in the Australasian social and governmental landscape. Emergency management agencies and government departments have now – and will continue to have into the future – a need to be able to identify suitable candidates for leadership positions. There is no nationally recognised way for professionals to identify and gain qualifications that will make them attractive to employers across the country.

A professionalisation scheme for fire and emergency service work will address these issues by:

• Allowing portability of qualifications between states and between the part-time and full-time branches of the sector
• Allowing the endorsement of experts
• Providing a benchmark for employers to recognise the candidates they wish to attract to critical public-safety positions;
• Permits aspiring candidates to know, seek out and undertake the training and practical experience they require to fit them for given roles.

From the medical and legal professions both in former times and now, through accountants in the last century and those working today, these and other occupations across Australia have enjoyed the fruitful benefits of professionalisation and self-regulation. AFAC proposes that it is time for the fire and emergency services sector to do so, too.

There are different types of schemes that could be developed for our sector, however, that won't be considered until after the results of the consultation process are known.

Links

• AFAC Corporate site
• KWeb Forums
• BISI