June 2000 Volume 81 Number 6 "serving the protectors"
Straight to the Point
By Trevor Haskell  PASA Executive Committee Member

Promotional Qualifications

The Commissioner has, for consultation, put out a revised promotional qualifications framework (PQF) in a supplement to the Police Gazette (March 22, 2000). This is an issue of great importance to members’ careers. Direct consultation is occurring at some workplaces and is one avenue of feedback. The Police Association has been asked for a response. So to ensure that members’ ideas and thoughts can be considered, the association needs to hear from you.

There is, in my view, nothing wrong and much that is right in the periodic revisitation of all critical working conditions, and promotion and career development are definitely important conditions of work.

It is my experience that those in planning, despite the sometimes best intentions, can become dislocated from the real needs and wants of the rank and file. I have experienced this in reorganization of professional training and education at two universities under social work and labour studies. Both ended up with a “more professional” system that disadvantaged the students and, more critically, became a selection tool to limit or control access.

The aims of the proposed PQF sound quite sensible if not obvious. They do not claim to be new aims.

To seek to align training and education with organizational requirements is overwhelmingly logical. Similarly, the provision of realistic and achievable career goals has sense, as does the desire for clarity.

I still feel uneasy with the magical assessment of merit, but given its priority in the selection process, is must be included in the aims of the PQF. Performance management has always been under-valued and negatively-focused within SAPOL, so anything that creates some predicability and consistency in this area is good.

If the aims make sense, what is the worry? It is the actual process that is a critical factor. This is where the proposal made me feel uncomfortable. It appears to move back to the old days when a group of backroom people would set exams dependant upon how many of a particular rank were required. The lack of fairness and openness was quite obvious in those days. But despite my sad memories, is an exam preferable to semester studies or other formats? Certainly they are cost-effective and much less labour-intensive than semester studies.

Passing the exam is not enough - there is a “board” that assess merit and determines who might move into the qualification course. Could this provide an opportunity for patronage or nepotism? Would it be better or worse than the current system?

It is unclear who might sit on the board, but it is not difficult to guess that there will be senior managers and someone from a tertiary institution to give it the right feel of independence. Is the board an advisory or decision-making one? Can management ignore, influence or change the board’s determinations?

The five years, no-position, start-again seems to be a negative model - clearly not a continuing professional development model. Why not take a positive continuing professional development line? Everyone who passes the process is required to show that they continue to develop. No one stands still. Those who do will be passed by.

These systems provide on-going training, seminars, conferences and education opportunities that members can access to maintain and further develop their knowledge and skills. Continuing development-based and not selection- and control-based. It’s nothing new, and a number of professions use this approach.

The negatives of a continuing professional development model is the opportunity to attend the developmental training - definite problems at the moment. Shiftworkers may be disadvantaged if their needs are not considered.

What are your thoughts? The Commissioner is seeking your input. The association wants your input. Make no mistake: there is to be change. Take the opportunity to have your say before the change happens.

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