Professional bodies

Professional bodies are organisations whose members are individual professionals. In some professions it is compulsory to be a member of the professional body, in others it is not. This usually depends on whether or not the profession requires the professional to have a ‘licence to practice’, or to be on a professional register, in order to do their job. This is related to how the profession is regulated i.e. who is responsible for making sure that professionals are doing their jobs properly.

The professional body may have a number of functions. They may:

Set and assess professional examinations
Provide support for Continuing Professional Development through learning opportunities and tools for recording and planning
Publish professional journals or magazines
Provide networks for professionals to meet and discuss their field of expertise
Issue a Code of Conduct to guide professional behaviour
Deal with complaints against professionals and implement disciplinary procedures

Not all professional bodies have regulatory functions. In some professions it is necessary to be registered with the regulator but not the professional body, who may provide a set of services to their professional members without regulating them.

Most professional bodies offer a way to climb up the membership ladder towards being a ‘Fellow’ or in some cases a ‘Chartered’ professional.

Want to learn more? Take a look at the professional body information in Profession Finder or in the Sector Summaries. In 2009 the IfL (Institute for Learning) released a paper on professionalism and the role of professional bodies.

Role of Professional Bodies