Professionalisation

Summary
Professionalisation and development of employees on a substantive and personal level has an important place within Fontys ICT's vision on HR and thus helps to realise solid ambitions. The way in which professionalisation is guaranteed is discussed below. More specific information on employee professionalisation can be found in the Employee Development Plan.

Fontys ICT has strong ambitions and wants to be a permanently challenging environment that brings out the best in people. In order to realise these ambitions, committed, enthusiastic and motivated employees are essential. Employees who continue to develop themselves, both in terms of content and personal development. Professionalisation is therefore a continuous process that must be high on the agenda. Within Fontys ICT a broad definition of professionalisation is used:

'Professionalisation consists of all the activities of an employee in order to deepen and expand his knowledge, insight, skills and professional attitude that are directly related to the practice of the profession'.

In the culture of Fontys ICT, the ownership of quality of professional output and a continuous focus by the employee on what development is required for this purpose is central. Fontys ICT thus emphatically gives each employee the responsibility and confidence that they will continue to develop continuously and makes facilities available for that purpose .For lecturers, the feedback received from colleagues and students can be an important benchmark and a starting point for professional development. Employees of the Support Staff are expected to talk to their (internal) customers about the content and quality of the desired contribution to the organisation. The feedback received from the service customers also gives direction to the professional development. Of course, Fontys ICT can make new requirements on new roles. Usually, if the employee does not yet demonstrably meet the requested requirements, he or she will start to learn at work and be able to demonstrate that he or she meets the requirements before he or she can be appointed to this role.

In a culture of ownership, it is self-evident that the employee is accountable for the added value to the organisation and the professional development to be undertaken or already undertaken for this purpose. Each employee ensures this i and regularly discusses this with the People Manager (PM) and others, whereby the personal plan is a tool and not a goal.

Developing can be done in different environments and situations, such as for example:

• Knowledge sharing environments: In order to stimulate the institute's broad development, Fontys ICT organises study days, training courses on themes (e.g. study career guidance), lunch meetings and meetings around Communities of Practice. In addition to these plenary activities, the PM can organise additional study programmes for the team.
• External courses, trainings, congresses.
• Work field experience: Fontys ICT encourages its lecturers to be active in the work field to keep the experience in the professional field up to date. Fontys ICT strives to offer lecturers the opportunity to be active in the professional field for about 10% of their appointment in order to secure the B of HBO (which stands for 'professional' or 'vocational') in terms of experience . International exchanges are also encouraged.
• Research experience: At Fontys ICT there are opportunities for employees to further develop themselves by participating in the knowledge network of a research group. The volume depends in particular on the size of externally funded projects.
• Fontys-wide trainings: each new lecturer must have obtained a didactic note within 2 year of joining the company. The Basic Teaching Qualification (BKO) is compulsory for all new lecturers without didactic qualification and is a condition for permanent employment. Agreements on this subject are laid down by the lecturer and the PM in accordance with the process new employee. If lecturers without a BKO are employed by Fontys ICT, the PM together with the lecturer draws up a schedule for completing the BKO training, which either falls in the first year of the appointment, or in case of renewal of a one-year contract immediately after the renewal. Fontys ICT pays the course costs and gives the new colleague on top of the standard training time 104 hours training time for obtaining the BKO. After completing the BKO, you can also have your skills in the areas of 'didactics & assessment', 'media wisdom' ¹⁾ and 'research skills' certified with the help of the medium- and senior qualifications (FKO and MKO at Fontys ICT). The objective is that each lecturer should have obtained all three MKO's 3 years after completing BKO. A total overview of Fontys qualifications is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1
Overview of the Fontys Qualifications.
Note: for the Fontys Mid-level Teaching Qualification (MKO) and Senior Teaching Qualification (SKO) qualifications 'media wisdom' the term 'Technology Enhanced Learning' (TEL) is used at Fontys ICT.
Source: Fontys University of Applied Sciences.

• Experience oriented learning: Fontys ICT actively invests in the learning of its employees by making 'ICTechnology' available as a learning environment. Depending on the intended learning process, the employee will be provided with these facilities for a shorter or longer period of time. It is important that the employee can explain globally what a possible link to their future functioning within Fontys ICT could be and what the intended learning effect is. Participants in “Experience Oriented Learning” are expected to provide feedback on their learning experiences within the framework of knowledge sharing.
• Fontys ICT stimulates and facilitates employee development in accordance with the policy development facilities.

For more specific information on employee professionalisation, see the Employee Development Plan.