(Part two of a seven-part series about careers in Emergency Management.)

If higher education is the key to those future emergency (and continuity) management jobs, what level of education does one need?  It depends on where you want to wind up in this field.

One of the best papers I've seen that explores this idea was written in 2006 by Dr. David Etkin, faculty at York University in Ontario.  His draft of "Emergency Management Core Competencies" is on the FEMA Higher Ed site.  I don't agree with everything in his paper - but he is from Canada and they think a bit differently up there.  :-)

Dr. Etkin ranks the emergency management profession into different levels based on specific attributes critical to each level and then suggests the degree or certificate appropriate for each of those levels.

I've taken some liberties with Dr. Etkin's thoughts and came up with my own model.  I admit I am not an academian.  I'm basing my thoughts here on just being in this field for a long time and moving up this ladder myself. (If you can't see the graphic, try this link. )



I'm seeing four different professional levels as generalists (specialists belong in the next blog) and as one moves up the continuum of education, the application of those core competencies evolves.

Everyone in this field needs an understanding of the fundamental knowledge and skill sets (core competencies) that make up emergency management, leading to ...

... critical understanding from knowledge of the underpinnings of those core competencies, their limitations, how to identify gaps in knowledge/understanding and the implications of those gaps, moving into ...

... the application of integrated solutions - putting emergency management into a larger social and environmental context and applying this knowledge to a comprehensive emergency management framework, and if you want to go all the way ...

... conducting creative research - a knowledge of theory and practice in emergency management, conceptualizing questions and carrying out projects to test them.

In practice, this is how it works for a task like ... say ... completing a hazard vulnerability and risk assessment (HVA):

A technician would know how to complete a standard hazard vulnerability analysis (HVA) matrix for a community, understanding risk based on the triad of frequency, severity and vulnerability.

A practitioner could also complete the HVA, understand the deficiencies in those models, consider the social and environmental implications and how to apply it to the community.

A senior policy maker would be able to take that HVA and incorporate concepts related to sustainable development, community values, culture, gender and socio-political contexts.

A researcher could develop hypotheses to measure and apply hazard, vulnerability and risk and then conduct theoretical and applied research to test them.  (I'd be really happy - if there are any researchers out there reading this - for a good way to quantify mitigation.)

Looking back on the positions descriptions in my last blog, the Emergency Operations Manager in Elk Grove, CA would be more of a technician, while the EMA Director in Fulton County, GA is definitely in the senior policy maker box.

Bottom line - if you want to be a senior policy maker in this field, you should plan on getting a master's degree.  Think of it as a shortcut, in a way.  Education can drastically shorten the learning curve that many of us emergency managers went through to get where we are today.

Sure, there are a lot of other considerations - like what core compentency means, the difference between competency and mastery, and where specialists (not to mention consultants!) and certificates fit into all this.

Those are coming up.

PREVIOUS:  The Market for Emergency Managers: It's A Moving Target

NEXT: The Market for Emergency Managers: The Core Competency Conundrum

(Part three of a seven-part series about careers in Emergency Management.)

I suppose all nascent professions struggle with defining the core competencies (knowledge and skills) necessary to understand and perform within that profession.  Emergency management is no exception. Beyond that, however, higher education requires those competencies to be translated into a curriculum and therein lies the conundrum.

Back in 2004/2005, during the last round of discussions about defining critical skills and core competencies for emergency management education, several surveys were taken asking different groups to list the top ten core competencies, in priority order.

One survey, conducted by Daryl Spiewak , CEM, TEM, TCFM, asked practicing emergency managers to choose the most important critical skills or competencies.  They were:

1. Planning
2. Hazard ID, Risk Assessment, Impact Analysis
3. Direction, control and coordination
4. Laws and authorities
5. Exercise evaluations, corrective actions
6. Communication and warnings
7. Hazard mitigation
8. Resource management
9. COOP/COG
10. Mutual Aid

Another survey asked the same question of higher ed institutions that offered a 4-year degree program.  Their answers were focused quite differently.

1. Critical thinking
2. Verbal communications
3. Emergency and disaster management
4. Legal
5. Written communication
6. Management
7. Leadership
8. Exercises
9. Financial Management
10. Human Behavior

Obviously, the concept of 'core competency' varies depending on which side of the emergency management training/experience/education fence you stand on.  Today, there are still a fair number of myopic emergency managers who define core competency as the acquisition of specific skills and are dubious about the value of an education that doesn't appear to focus on those skills.  At the same time, higher education faculty struggles with how to integrate skills based training with formal education.

What is important to remember is that emergency management is moving from a narrowly focused occupation to a multi-level profession.  Higher education programs are developed within the framework of accepted educational models which teach -- not specific skills -- but how to broadly apply knowledge to a variety of situations and then analyze the results.

PREVIOUS:  The Market for Emergency Managers: An Education Equation (AA,BA, MS, Ph.D.)

NEXT: The Market for Emergency Managers: The Training/Experience/Education Triad

 (Part four of a seven-part series about careers in Emergency Management.)

If there are contradictory ideas about emergency management education, they revolve around this triad: training, education and experience.  Many of my hours, and those of my colleagues, have been spent arguing the merits of each:  which is better, which is necessary, which is required.

My friend, Dr. Carol Cwiak (faculty at North Dakota State University) puts it this way:  "The age-old comparison of book smarts versus street smarts is one that is well noted in emergency management."

The traditional standard for emergency managers was training and experience.  The traditional role for emergency managers was planning and response, and most emergency managers came from response-oriented backgrounds (fire, law, military) with strong training and experience programs.

With the growth into a new profession, education has asserted itself - linking training and experience - and created a new paradigm for the well-rounded emergency manager.  But they are all distinctly different:  Training is not the same as education. Education can't take the place of experience.

There are tactical aspects to any profession - those skills you learn through training .  The core competencies for emergency management can all be achieved through training.

Those characteristics related to strategic planning require a broad-based knowledge and even broader perspective to understand the social, environmental and political implications - the kind you can only get with education .

What experience  adds to emergency management is proficiency .

Any good, senior emergency manager of any flavor has to come from a background that includes all three parts of this triad.  That's why training, education and experience is the foundation for the Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) certification.  The CEM proves that you have progressed beyond competency to mastery.

PREVIOUS:  The Market for Emergency Managers: The Core Competency Connundrum
NEXT: The Market for Emergency Managers: Competency vs. Mastery

(Part five in a seven-part series about careers in Emergency Management.)

It's one thing to be competent in performance, and quite another to be a master in a profession.  What's the difference?

Competency can be achieved.  Mastery is conferred.

Way back in the 13th century, the time of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, becoming a member of a guild raised both your social status and income potential.  There was a process to follow - the "apprentice-journeyman-master" model that still exists in education and many trades.

When the apprentice learned the rudiments of the trade, he progressed to journeyman. The journeyman had to produce a 'masterpiece' - using their own tools, time and materials - that would satisfy the master of the guild.  THEN, the rest of the guild voted on whether to allow the journeyman to be promoted to a member of the guild and a master in his own right.

Competencies in emergency management can be attaned with the Training/Education/Experience Triad.  Mastery, on the other hand, means being at the "top of your game", already competent in the basics, creative and innovative in applying them, a leader in the profession, mentoring the next generation, and - of course - the recognition of your peers.

In an earlier blog, I mentioned the "Top Ten Competencies for Professional Emergency Management", written by Dr. Wayne Blanchard in 2005.  It included things like understanding the emergency management framework, management, integration, context and standards.  These are all tasks and functions required of a master.

So, how do you attain mastery in emergency management?  There are 635 Certified Emergency Managers (CEM's) who have gone through an arduous process to demonstrate that mastery.

What does emergency management mastery look like?  It looks a lot like Kay Goss, CEM, former Associate Director of FEMA's Training, Preparedness and Exercise Division from 1994 through 2001 and Founder of the FEMA Higher Education Program; an adjuct professor and visiting lecturer for several different higher education campuses and serves on the Advisory Councils for several others; Chair or member on numerous professional committees and taskforces, author, keynote speaker and President of the Foundation for Higher Education Accreditation.

Every day, I challenge myself to match the level of mastery.

That being said, mastery doesn't necessarily encompass the whole body of knowledge.  Sometimes, it is a speciality - like alert and warning, or GIS, or crisis communication.

PREVIOUS:  The Market for Emergency Managers: The Training/Education/Experience Triad

NEXT: The Market for Emergency Managers: Specialities, Certificates and Homeland Security

(Part six in a seven-part series about careers in Emergency Management.)

If the market for Emergency Managers is a moving target, it is somewhat because of the blurry distinction between a generalist and a specialist.

An emergency management generalist is trained to do everything involved with an emergency management program.  An emergency management specialist is trained or educated or experienced to do one thing very, very well in support of the generalists.

The problem there, of course, is that one doesn't generally realize they want to be a specialist until they are one.  Few students embark on any professional journey knowing where they are going to arrive.  Specialities are built on aptitude and interest and expand with training and experience.

SPECIALISTS

Some emergency managers just fall into their speciality.  Like ... Art Botterell, who tried to solve a communication problem when he was at the California Office of Emergency Services and wound up playing a leadership role in developing EDIS and the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP).  He is now considered a nationally recognized expert in alert and warning and was called a "national asset" by none other than James Lee Witt himself.

Other emergency managers become a specialist by seeking out additional education or training in a specific field. Like the MS in Disaster Medicine and Management at the Philadelphia University*.  Or the certificate of achievement in Disaster Mental Health from the State University of New York (New Paltz)*.

CERTIFICATES

Then there are those who are already skilled in some other field and want to become familiar or proficient in general emergency management principles.  For those folks, a lot of the stand-alone certificate programs are the key, because they assume you already have the basics.  Most of those programs are on-line.  In fact, distance learning - especially with the newer web conferencing programs - is quickly becoming the instructional method of choice.

Even if the content is similar, there is still a time/credit difference, depending on the university.  For example, the basic, online, undergraduate certificate in Emergency Management from Western Washington University* is 24 credits; the online graduate certificate in Emergency and Disaster Management from American Public University* is 18 credit units; the online certificate in Emergency Management Planning and Administration at Lakeland Community College* in Kirtland, Ohio is 28 credit units.

Sometimes, you can find a certificate and speciality in the same program, like the online certificate in Emergency Management and Continuity Planning from the University of Illinois, Chicago*, or the online certificate in Risk and Emergency Management at Indiana University, Purdue*.

HOMELAND SECURITY

So, where does Homeland Security fit into all this?  It really doesn't.

The concept of higher ed programs in "Homeland Security" is a post-911 phenomena, fueled by campuses scrambling for DHS money.  Often "emergency management" and "homeland security" are used interchangeably, but the educational programs are often very different.

Don't take my word for it ... go look at the program/course descriptions!

(*These programs were taken randomly from The College List on the FEMA Higher Ed Program site. Not playing favorites.  Honest!)

PREVIOUS:  The Market for Emergency Managers: Competency vs. Mastery

NEXT:  The Market for Emergency Manaagers: Incorporating Homeland Security