ABSTRACT

This chapter offers a critical appraisal of current efforts to professionalize the occupation of evaluation. It examines the contested meanings of the terms “profession” and “professional” and discusses the role that efforts to develop evaluator competencies and means of credentialing play in professionalization. The chapter explores the meaning of the term “professionalism” as it applies to evaluation, arguing that it does not simply refer to the attitudes and actions of individuals but signifies a professional group’s distinguishing moral character and its sense of the civic purpose it serves. Three different notions of professionalism – social trusteeship, technocratic professionalism, and democratic professionalism – and their relevance for the practice of evaluation are examined.