Careers:TRAINING

Representatives from 28 professional and chief officer associations recently attended the first meeting of its kind, hosted by the Local Government Training Board in London. The meeting was called to look at the experience of the professional bodies in promoting management training and development activities, and to explore their needs for the 1990s. LGTB Director Michael Clarke said that the Board knew many of the organisations were actively concerned about management as well as professional development. He pointed out that there was still much to be done if local government were to have sufficient people of the right calibre to manage its services through continuing rapid change. He challenged the meeting to look to the new kind of professional needed for the 1990s, and asked whether the organisations represented existed to defend the status quo or to promote a new breed of manager. Professor John Stewart helped those attending define a new professionalism by suggesting that the present boundaries and single career model were inhibiting and outdated. He stressed: