Redefining Professionalism for the Informal STEM Learning Field

Ideas and expectations about professions and about the process of becoming a professional are changing. Once defined largely by licenses or certificates, many fields of work are looking for more decentralized ways to determine what is a profession, and who is a professional. Many are turning to more decentralized ideas about professions and self-directed processes for lifelong professional learning. An increasing number of fields are using competency frameworks as one mechanism to guide professionalization without standardizing the preparation of those who work in the field. Research is needed to assess the viability and the impact of these frameworks on the individuals, institutions, the field, and ultimately on the public audiences they serve. The field of Informal STEM Learning (ISL) is uniquely poised to benefit from and contribute to the conversations and practices that are moving professional learning towards more self-directed paths.