An exploration of how professional associations advance innovation and promote innovation pedagogy

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the links between the educational work of the professions, and the Government’s demands for an environment that fosters the world’s best innovators. This is done by first considering the sociology of the professions, then looking at how they use professional knowledge and thirdly by considering the processes involved in creating new knowledge. Each step considers the different institutional and personal drivers that affect the processes that build professional practice, with particular reference to the role of their curricula. The research goes on to use empirical case study methods to analyse document content and interview data from a sample of five professional associations working in the area of the built environment. It considers the individual cases and presents a cross case analysis of the institutional processes influencing the day to day activity of transferring theory and practice, and implied and explicit knowledge. It interprets the data at an institutional and personal level, and considers what different compelling and coercive powers affect professional education at the point where new knowledge might be created. The findings from the case study data indicate the UK Government’s desire for an innovative workforce is not translated into a driver for the mainstream work of professional associations. Instead, they protect their jurisdiction and they are largely locked into teaching traditional, or historic knowledge. They are isolated from their customers and clients, and this point presents a significant barrier to innovation.