Tag: public policy

This article presents an interesting proposal for making a standardized, modular public administration graduate degree accessible to civil servants. I am agnostic about how or by whom this level of training should be developed, but I agree with the author that governments across Canada have a need to identify the skills that define someone as a ‘professional’ civil servant. I would love to participate in such a program because it would help me understand how my skills and training can benefit an employer that is neither a charity nor a private corporation. Right now, I find that I think of myself as X type of professional who happens to be working for a public service body.

This might seem like a subtle difference, but most professional certification bodies define their members’ capabilities with respect to the value they generate for their clients. But in the case of public servants, the best case scenario is one in which they generate value for citizens who may not be aware of their work. Satisfying ‘clients’ or employers is a secondary source of value in a public servant’s work. This is because citizens’ willingness to pay for public service bodies depends on civil servants’ ability to benefit society on purpose in their capacity as professionals. Public service bodies’ social value goes down if public servants tend to benefit society accidentally or as a by-product of satisfying their job descriptions.