What about the term ‘Professional”? What does this term mean and who is and is not a professional coach? Many years ago, an observant social analyst and historian, Burton Bledstein (1976), noted that the professions emerged in many societies as a substitute for social class. The term “professional” suggests higher social status as well as the acquisition of technical knowledge in a specific field or discipline and some form of certification (supposedly to insure quality control and certainly to imbue the user of professional services with a sense of confidence). Typically, a specific field has been professionalized when training programs and academic degree programs are established for preparation of practitioners in this field. Emulating in many ways the guild structure of early European trades, the professions have typically evolved through the establishment of professional associations, codes of conduct and (most importantly) attempts (successful or unsuccessful) to restrict the number of people allowed to provide services in this field. This form of quality control usually takes place through the establishment of government or association run examination programs, as well as requirements regarding supervised internships.

While an emphasis on quality control is to be applauded by anyone who is interested in the improvement of services being provided by professionals, it is also important to note that professionalization can be engaged for less worthy causes—namely, the restraint of trade, the imposition of specific professional practices, and even the reinforcement of societal discrimination. It is worth noting that the professionalization of American medicine in the early 20th Century resulted in the dissolution of most nontraditional (and often innovative) medical practices (such as the emphasis on prevention rather than just amelioration). It also meant the closure of virtually all medical schools that admitted women or minorities, or were founded to increase the quality and extend of medical services to the underserved. These draconian measures, in turn, reduced the number of physicians entering the field, which in turn drove up medical expenses and led to the establishment during the 1920s of large scale medical insurance plans to cover these costs. (Starr, 1982) We can certainly applaud the effort to improve American medical practices, but we must also be aware of the attendant costs. We must similarly be attentive to the costs as well as benefits associated with the professionalization of any other field or practice.