The Macquarie Dictionary describes a myth as an imaginary or fictitious thing or person. Over time and many repetitions, some myths even assume the mantle of truth. For this reason some of the myths about professional development (PD) deserve a closer look.

Where do these myths originate? Who knows. The ones in this article are the result of conversations with those people in TAFE NSW who plan professional development activities, those who undertake them and those who never seem to get there. The common themes running through all the excuses/reasons that people give for putting PD last on the list can be summarised in the following seven myths:

1. I'm too busy to do PD
I'm tempted to tell you that if I'd collected a dollar from everyone who told me this while I was working in an Institute Staff Training Unit, I would be enjoying an early retirement. Instead I'll focus on the results of not making the time to plan, undertake and review your own professional development.

As an organisation, TAFE is obviously committed to continuous improvement. Active participation in an improvement cycle will lead to change. Since change and learning are co-dependant, a whole lot of learning also takes place. If this learning is at work and about work, it is professional development. This really means that it is very difficult to work in a modern workplace and not be involved in PD on a regular basis. The stalwarts who still resist seem to spend much more time and energy avoiding PD than it would take to actively engage - but that is probably another story.

In fact, those people who support and repeat this myth often have a misinterpretation of what PD is. They imagine that the only way to undertake PD is to attend a workshop when, in reality, it is any strategy or activity that enhances your ability to do your job. It can be watching someone else do what you would like to be able to do, talking things over with colleagues, sharing resources/expertise, being part of a committee or working group or even writing an article for a Zine. The trick is to recognise PD opportunities as they arise: this involves some planning and reflection. Part of the teacher review process and, indeed, just good practice is to take some time out, and it doesn't have to be a long time, to think about what you want to learn and how you'll learn it.

To make sure you're not wasting your effort, refer to copies of the operational plan for your section/unit/college and then identify two or three goals and the strategies to help you attain them. It really is that simple. And who knows, it could be the best half hour you devote to yourself this semester.

2. PD is organised by managers and inflicted on unsuspecting staff members
If you really believe this one you should be warned - the worm is turning! If there is one part of your work life where you can take complete control it is your PD. Ask for the plans, identify your own goals, determine your strategies, make an appointment with your manager to discuss what it is you're going to do and keep a record of the activities you undertake. In other words execute your plan and inform the next round of planning on the wider scale. Never again will you be a training victim - instead become a PD driver.

3. We have a staff problem - let's send them to a workshop
Although there are certainly cases where training or the lack of training causes problems, there are also a number of instances where staff have been trained to the eyeballs and still can't perform tasks to the required standard. Customer service often falls into this category. Training can introduce and update the basic concepts of customer service but it is very difficult to train someone to have a helpful nature or a willingness to please. All of us have been the victims of poor customer service from organizations that have highly structured and comprehensive training programs.

Modern managers are much more aware of the need to mesh organisational needs with staff capability and the ongoing need to continually enhance this capability. Factors like individual talent, corporate culture, work history and management

4. Training will always solve problems created by poor recruitment practices
Selection panels are becoming increasingly aware of the mid and long term consequences of their decisions. While specific skills can be acquired through training, the ability to adapt or acquire those skills needs to be innate in the candidate. Several large organizations have begun to recruit with a view to individual staff potential rather than their existing skill base, recognising that the underlying generic skills like the ability to learn, managing change, communication, team work and networking are more important for the organisation's sustainability than being able to use a specific computer program or piece of machinery.

5. The only worthwhile PD is done off the job, during working hours
A number of people tend to believe this one, as if we can't learn and work simultaneously. We have a body of evidence that proves otherwise. National initiatives like LearnScope and Reframing the Future have developed a growing awareness of the benefits of fitting PD opportunities into your work schedule. One of the obvious benefits is that you are not away from your job for days at a time. Another is that you can apply what you learn as soon as you learn it in your real work situation. Workplace learning can also include those activities that will never be provided formally. Networking and membership of professional organisations are examples of PD activities that invariably happen out of work hours but have an impact on our work performance. Don't ignore the things you might be able to access outside the nine-to-five, Monday to Friday band.

6. The more the activity costs, the better it must be
The best professional development activity is one that allows you to learn or enhance a skill you need to do your job better. Believe it or not some of these activities come at very little cost and sometimes at no cost at all. Reading an article in a magazine that is part of the College library collection, organizing a short meeting with people who do similar work, making a presentation and encouraging others to do so are some of the low cost PD activities that really are very successful. While costly conferences and seminars have their place, they are not the only activities worth attending. In some service industries, conference attendance fees have become the responsibility of the participant. The companies' rationale seems to be if you're going to pay hundreds of dollars of your own money, you really will use the time and information to its best advantage. One TAFE NSW manager asks his staff if they would be prepared to pay half the fee themselves with TAFE NSW paying the other half. He says he's always amazed at the number of people who didn't really want to go in the first place or who work out other much less expensive ways of gaining the expertise.

7. I've learnt everything there is to know about this job
These are the same people who resist adopting new practices and changed roles. They forget that even if this myth was true at some stage, it will not continue to be true forever more. The way we work is undergoing never-ending change be it new organisational structure, technology or the impact of the world outside TAFE. The only way to ensure sustainability is to keep on knowing everything about this job and the only way to ensure that is to keep up to date on the specifics of the area you work in as well as being aware of developments in your working environment. Actively participating in staff meetings, contributing to workplace committees or working groups, even reading the gazette and the newspapers will highlight those subtle changes that make the difference between thinking you know it all and being up to date. In reality, this is future proofing in action.