"Human Capital Development"

Race to the Top funding is providing a powerful opportunity for the Anson County Schools to invest in our staff, their learning, their skill and knowledge development, and overall capacity and competence in curriculum, instruction, and assessment strategies to ensure student performance and achievement results “catch up” or “pass” state or federal expectations.

This comes at a time when professional development is under unprecedented attack for little or no effect on results – improved teaching and learning. Reports question the import and utility of professional development. In one report professional development is summed as “meaningless”. This extreme conclusion is based, in part, on the limitation of what defines professional development as well as the lack of authentic metrics to measure desired or expected outcomes.

The phrase professional development is tossed around flippantly and with myriad underpinning assumptions and expectations. In many cases, the purpose, object, and desired outcome of professional development are well intended. However, the term and its’ processes, practices, formats, methodology, timing, and etc. are in themselves problematic.

Arguably, the term, professional development itself conjures a vast range of emotions, responses, and reactions.

Unfortunately, professional development in most cases fails to take into account what we know about adult learning theory. A quick look at adult learning theory reveals the reasons most adults engage in learning experiences. More often or not it is to create change - change in (a) skills, (b) behavior, (c) knowledge level, or (d) attitudes about their work, their effect (Adult Education Centre, 2005).

The degree of motivation, the amount of previous experience, the level of engagement in the learning process, as well as how the learning is applied are each central to adult learning – much if not all of these has been violated in one form or another.

Each adult brings to a learning experience preconceived thoughts and feelings that are influenced by each of these factors – motivation, prior experience, and engagement.

I have for several years purposely used professional learning and growth to portray a different construct. I think “learning and growth” captures the essence of what individuals experience in their respective professions. Professionals irrespective of title, degree, or standing continually advance their skill and knowledge sets. They constantly use their experiences to motivate, filter, guide, reinforce, evaluate, discover, make sense, risk, stretch, change, and transform their competencies and capacities.

The term human capital is firmly established in the private sector and is slowly morphing into the public sector. Employees and their respective skills, knowledge, and experience are akin to capital essential to the growth of business. Human capital development therefore, is the investment in employees to grow their skills and knowledge sets providing new experiences to better, more efficiently and effectively produce desired and expected results.

It is becoming clearer that no single effort can compare to the power and leverage of human capital development. Yet, the word development connotes something less than positive or inviting. We need a different term or expression to convey the power of learning – adult learning. We need to think about this. Any suggestions? For the time being, we are focused on human capital development.

At its core, human capital development must be about building capacity for learning and growth. The imperative therefore is the purposeful, intentional, and deliberate attention to the specific components of adult learning.

Capacity building requires an awareness of current reality. Current reality includes the good, bad, and ugly. It is acknowledging the limitations of skills, knowledge, and experience – not as declarative judgments or conclusions of a person – their character – their person. It should be no surprise that condemnation limits or completely compromises adult learning.

We must build capacity for learning through frank, candid conversations about our current reality with the best hopes that adult learning brings about change – in attitude, skill, behavior, knowledge, and effect.