Balancing Narrow and Broad Public Service Professionalism: Experience With the New Zealand G-REG Qualifications Framework

Abstract

For many years, governments around the globe have been called on to increase the professionalism of their public services. The New Zealand Government Regulatory Practice Initiative (G-REG) is an illustrative example of a network of government agencies responding to this call by providing a program of standardized training for public servants. This article maps, explores, and interrogates this example to obtain a better understanding of whether a standardized program can help to nurture and increase the professionalism of a community of public servants. It finds that the main challenge of such an undertaking is finding a balance between narrow professionalism (technical expertise and knowledge) and broad professionalism (acting proficiently and ethically).