Professional Preparation for Practice

Professional preparation for practice is a complexity of knowledge, inquiry, aspirations and culture that spans a multitude of fields. Regardless of the professional field under consideration, the goal is the same – to prepare students to become practitioners in the profession. In this chapter, we focus on four main areas as a pragmatic overview to preparation for professional practice: (1) a brief history of professional preparation for practice in the United States, (2) based upon metaphor, a descriptive model, related to professional preparation for practice, and (3) issues pertaining to preparation for professional practice, culminating in a revised model. The chapter ends with (4) a summary and key considerations for the future of professional preparation for practice.