[austechwriter] Perceptions in the industry
- From: "Christine Birtley-Kent" <birtley_kent@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 09:12:27 +1000
Hi Guys
Over the last 12 months I have been writing course materials for TAFE
Certificate IV and Diploma courses. I recently finished writing one called
'Manage Business Document Design and Development', which involved such
topics as:
Establish Documentation Requirements (effectively an organisational needs
analysis)
Establish Quality Standards and Processes
Manage Template Design and Development
Establish and implement Quality Assurance Strategies
Establish Strategy for Maintenance and Continuous Improvement.
To my mind this is a management level course and I wrote it as such
anticipating an audience of experienced technical writers moving to
management level.
I then decided to find out who was buying this book and what courses they
had placed it into - in the hope that there may be a decent tech writing
course emerging in the TAFE division (which means much cheaper than the
Swinburne course).
I found this module appearing in two courses called Diploma of
Business Administration. [Note the word 'Admininstration'.] Following are
the descriptions of the audience for the course that appear in their course
descriptions .
'This qualification is designed to produce graduates who can provide
administrative support for professionals in the work environment. ' (Moreton
Institute) [Note the words 'administrative support for professionals'.]
'This course provides advanced skills and a broad base of knowledge which
can
be applied in a range of situations in an office/clerical environment.'
(Southbank Institute) [Note the word 'clerical'.]
At no stage are technical writing skills or experience specified. The entry
requirements are either the Certificate IV in which you might have taken
'Write Complex Documents' as a module, or alternatively 'Substantial current
work experience within an office environment.'
If we are seen as clerks, then why would we be consulted in management
decisions?
I wonder how many of us are really presenting as much more than clerks?
(Brave assertions Mike!) Are we now so intimidated by looming unemployment
and so exhausted by excessive work hours and demands, that we are happy to
fade into clerkdom if that is what the boss wants?
How do we change industry perception so that we are seen as professionals,
not administrative support?
ck
**************************************************
To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to
austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to
austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field.
To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
"unsubscribe" in the Subject field.
To search the austechwriter archives, go to
www.freelist.org/archives/austechwriter
To contact the list administrator, send a message to
austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
**************************************************
Other related posts:
