Identifying the Competencies and Capabilities of Simulation Professionals

Abstract

Simulation Australia, the national body for simulation professionals in Australia, is developing an approach to documenting the skills and knowledge used by simulation professionals. The aim is threefold. The first and most basic is to identify an irreducible set of core knowledge and skills required by anyone using simulation in a professional manner in any context. The second goal involves developing a means of aligning the work of all users of simulation with these core skills and knowledge so that relevant professional competencies can be documented and demonstrated to exist within a professional field. The third involves developing the framework for a set of formal qualifications within the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF).

The project will face many difficulties and challenges. And there will be challengers. This chapter introduces the background to the project including the underlying models informing the initial stages of the work. It positions the ongoing research within a range of literature about the complexity of identifying the essentials of being a ‘competent simulation professional’. This inevitably involves defining ‘simulation’ to establish some boundaries for the future work, and considering how this work will contribute to wider understanding of what it means to be a ‘simulation professional’.