What is the difference between education, certification (credentialing) and continuing education?
A. Education: • Teaches foundational knowledge and skills and measures the cognitive retention of the student. • Many fields require that education be completed in the form of a degree as a pre-requisite for the professional credential. Certification (Credentialing): • Measures, in a standardized and unbiased manner, the ability of the candidate to apply the knowledge and skills in the role of a professional. • Passing a certification establishes that the individual is minimally competent to work unsupervised in a given field or profession. • Certification does not mean that an individual knows everything required to be considered an expert in a given field. Continuing Education: • Keeps the professional current by updating their knowledge base and teaching them new skills. • Frequently is associated with the development of a specialty. • May also be based on a specific modality or tool. • Assumes that the individual participating possesses all of the foundational knowledge required of
