--- Indigo Nights <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Deb, I understand your position, but this is no
> different than teachers or attorneys who must take
> regular coursework in order to sustain their
> jobs/credentials/licensing.

There's a still a difference. Schools provide many training and inservice days,
many times mandatory ones, for teachers that count towards their
recertification. Some schools even pay teachers to take courses or find them
grants to go to the courses. You can even get points for taking a student
teacher which doesn't cost you anything.

Even law firms pay for their employees to take the bar, go to workshops and
renew their credentials. It's in their best interest to do so.

>It isn't the employer's
> responsibility to make sure you can keep your job in
> this instance, it's the employee's.  When there is a
> glut in the market that would readily take your place,
> why should the employer be inconvenienced?

Again, I don't think it's an inconvenience but an investment in their employees
- glut or no glut. The market glut raises the amount of education and
experience you need to get hired but it shouldn't change an organization's
continuing education policy.

> I can understand the logic that says it makes for a
> better employee, but if there's a better employee
> ready and willing to take the spot and not take the
> time off or get the compensation, what's the incentive
> for the employer?

Actually, it costs more to hire someone new and get them up to speed than it
does to retain someone and keep training them. Museums need to understand this.
And if you are trying to better yourself for your job, shouldn't your employer
take interest lest you go someplace else that will?

I think the museum world is getting a bit complacent in this regard because
there are so many people wanting museum jobs but it just brings everyone down.
While entry-level jobs will always be relatively high turnover, your mid and
upper level positions shouldn't be. Employers who take stock in their
employee's continuing education will have better employees and a better
organization overall. And if people train while they are working for you, you
should be able to see a direct result of their education. If you hire someone
that supposedly has better qualifications, you don't know until they have been
working for a while if they really are better.

And in closing, one of the primary purposes of a museum is education. If we
don't care about the education of our employees and take some responsibilty for
it, even if the only thing we can do is give people admin leave to take
classes, then what does that say about our view of education in general?

Deb

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