Metaphors of learning and professionalism.

The overall health of the community is based, in part, on the degree or level to which individual members choose to participate as a professional. Do they remain on the periphery or progress to full participation in the professional association? CLS education has been highly successful in preparing practitioners, yet the educational process as a whole has failed to reach the more challenging goal of preparing practitioners as professionals. When designing curricula for educating professionals, educators need to teach the importance of a professional association as a critical and necessary component of the whole. Our goal should be to prepare "practitioners who are constantly seeking to increase their professional competence". To achieve this goal, practitioners must transfer knowledge and skills as they, with guided participation from other professionals, move into professional activities.