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A developing occupation is concerned with improving the abilities, skills and competencies of its members. It also wants its special qualities recognized by the outside community.
By Julie Lengfelder
The process taken by a professional occupation in attaining professional status is termed professionalization. Professionalism and professionalization have become sensitive issues for many occupational groups, including recreation.
A study conducted in spring, 1982, focused on the professionalism of Illinois recreation practitioners. It sought to:
• determine where these practitioners are on the individual professional continuum and
• find relationships existing between degree of individual professionalism and demographic, employment and attitudinal characteristics.
Age, sex, education, marital status, organizational setting and size, salary, authority, work experience, professional involvement, career commitment and satisfaction were considered.
Also surveyed were job satisfaction, the number of positions held in a career, membership category in the Illinois Park and Recreation Association (IPRA), practitioners' and the general public's view of professionalization and practitioners' attitude toward accreditation.
Methods
Survey research was conducted to determine the degree of individual professionalism. The selected sample was drawn from IPRA's 1980-81 membership. One half of all professional, associate and paraprofessional members were chosen.
After piloting the survey instrument, 450 questionnaires were sent to Illinois practitioners. The return rate was 73 percent.
The collected data were analyzed using the computer package called Statistical Analysis System (SAS). Data were treated using regression analysis, analysis of covariance. Duncan's Multiple Range Test and multiple comparison procedures. The level of significance used in each case was .05.
Results
The survey revealed that five of the 18 variables examined (organization size, attitude toward accreditation, career commitment, career satisfaction and association involvement) were positively correlated to individual professionalism. No significant relationships were found between individual professionalism and the other 13 variables.
In addition, the study revealed that most IPRA respondents' scores (72 percent) fell in the middle range of the individual professionalism scale used.
The practical implications of this study are highlighted in the accompanying box.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Julie Lengfelder is chair of the Recreation and Dance Division at Bowling Green University, Bowling Green, OH.
Illinois Parks and Recreation 24
September/October 1985
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Professionalism scale
The 1982 study revealed that recreation practitioners are considered "highly professionalized" if they:
would not move to a comparable position in a different field even if it offered a large increase in pay; more freedom, status and responsibility, and an opportunity to get ahead.
would strongly advise an interested student to pursue a career in leisure services.
look forward to going to work almost every morning.
feel motivated to perform the tasks required by their job.
made a strong lifetime career commitment to leisure services while in school.
don't see themselves ever leaving leisure services work.
would be willing to accept a different position in the leisure services field where their professional skills would best be utilized.
believe their formal education aids them more in their job performance than on-the-job training.
feel much of their intellectual stimulation comes from colleagues in the field rather than from administrative supervisors within their organization.
feel much of their intellectual stimulation comes from professional magazines and journals in the leisure services field.
believe it is more important to acquire knowledge of leisure services offered by other agencies than to develop an understanding of the administrative operations of their own agency.
would attend, participate and pay the fees for conferences sponsored by various leisure service professional associations.
would more readily employ a recreation graduate from a curriculum accredited by the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) or the American Association of Leisure and Recreation (AALR) than an equally qualified graduate from a non-accredited curriculum.
would more readily employ a recreation student to be on their part-time seasonal staff than an equally qualified student who is not majoring in recreation.
feel it is more important to maintain a reputation as a recreation professional among peers in the leisure services field than among fellow workers in their organization.
would more readily seek the advice of a colleague in the leisure services field than an immediate supervisor who may or may not have training in the field.
believe that membership (s) in professional recreation associations add more to job effectiveness than membership(s) in local civic organizations.
believe their professional talents and capabilities can better be recognized and evaluated by their peers in the field than by an administrative head who may or may not be trained in that area.
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Follow-up
The March/April issue of IPRdiscussed the controversy surrounding the daily physical education requirement for all students enrolled in Illinois public schools. In her article "Strong bodies versus strong minds," Barb Valiukenas also explored how park and recreation agencies could be affected if the State legislature either altered or eliminated this mandate.
During the recent spring session, lawmakers passed, and the Governor has signed into law, legislation (S.B. 730/P.A. 84-126) which modifies the physical education requirement. The law now provides that:
• daily physical education be retained in grades kindergarten through 10, and in grades 11 and 12 except when specifically exempted.
• local school boards may allow students in the 11th and 12th grades, on an individual basis, to be excused from physical education (1) to enroll in an extra class which is required as an entrance requirement for a college which he/she wishes to attend, (2) if the student is participating in inter-scholastic athletics and (3) if the student needs to take a course which he/ she previously failed to complete, or just transferred into the district and needs the additional course for graduation.
• physical education in grades 91 and 10 must include 18 hours of health education.
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How to Place a Classified Advertisement
If you wish to place a classified advertisement in Illinois Parks and Recreation, please confine the contents to employment positions, and miscellaneous items or services. 30 cents per word, $10 minimum. Box numbers will be assigned to blind ads and we will forward responses to the advertiser. Send classified ad copy with signed letter to: Editor, Illinois Parks and Recreation, 217 E. Monroe, Suite 101, Springfield, IL 62701.
Illinois Parks and Recreation 25
September/October 1985
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