The Government of Barbados protects us by setting minimum qualifications for those who want to offer professional services to the public. The qualifications normally consist of a university degree at the Bachelor level and a minimum number of years of supervised training.
A bachelor’s degree provides the holder with the basic tools to do the job in that field. Supervised training allows the holder to become competent using those tools by failing in an environment where mistakes can be corrected. Therefore, the first 5 years of professional practice after obtaining those tools are critical to building a strong foundation for a professional career.
SPECIALISED TOOLS.
After professionals can competently practice without supervision, they may wish to specialise in a particular field. Therefore, they may return to university to pursue Master’s degree. A Master’s degree provides additional tools to practise specialist work.
After working for several years in a specialist field, a person may wish to pursue research that may benefit humanity. Therefore, they may return to university to become a Doctor of their profession.
Ethics and research integrity are critical components of doctoral research. Every individual has biases based on their beliefs and experience. Research integrity mandates that researchers attach equal weight to credible evidence that both supports and does not support their biased opinions.
CAREER PATHWAYS.
There are two known career pathways to pursuing a Doctorate, (i) the laboratory researcher, and (ii) the non-laboratory researcher. A laboratory researcher may do a Bachelor, Master’s and Doctorate degree with no working time in between pursuing the degrees, since the tools are being exercised in the lab under supervision. Graduates may then continue working in labs at the University, within Government departments, and/or in the private sector.
For everyone else, especially those planning to offer professional advice where the consequences of bad advice are unaffordable, work-time to practice the Bachelor’s basic and Master’s specialist tools are critical.
SHORT CUTS.
Students who think that they are taking a clever short-cut, by using the laboratory research doctoral career path, when they have no intention of pursuing a lab-research career, risk embarrassing their employers, colleagues and themselves, and risk harming their clients.
Having avoided practicing the fundamental tools gained at the bachelor’s level, and the specialist tools gained at the master’s level before getting their first job, they may mistakenly be seen as experts. But they are not qualified to be experts. They are only qualified to make mistakes that a supervisor must correct. If they are hired as supervisors, then to delay being found out as unqualified, they may blame everyone for their mistakes – except themselves.
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