Toward a Collective Competency Framework for Educational Support Professionals in Postsecondary Technology-rich Education
Through a mixed-methods study of Dutch educational support professionals, this paper challenges traditional individual-focused competency models by demonstrating that technology-rich, boundary-spanning roles are better understood and supported through a collective framework of five complementary network functions.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
Imagine a world where schools are like massive, bustling cities. In these cities, there are teachers who build the lessons, administrators who keep the lights on, and a special group of helpers who make sure the city doesn't just run, but thrives. These helpers are the "Educational Support Professionals." They are the ultimate connectors, the "third space" people who stand between the classroom and the office, between old-school teaching and shiny new technology. For a long time, experts thought the secret to a great helper was to be a "T-shaped" person: someone with a deep, super-powerful skill in one area (like a master chef) but also a broad understanding of everything else (knowing how to farm the ingredients, manage the restaurant, and design the menu). The idea was that one single person should be able to do it all. But what if that's like asking one person to be the mayor, the police chief, the architect, and the traffic controller all at once? It's a lot to ask, and maybe the whole city needs to rethink how it hires its helpers.
This is exactly the puzzle a team of researchers in the Netherlands decided to solve. They wanted to know: How do these support professionals actually see their own skills? Do they think they need to be super-humans who know everything, or is there a different way to look at it? They gathered a group of 86 of these helpers from 45 different schools, ranging from vocational training centers to big research universities. Instead of just handing out a test, they used a "co-creative" method, which is like a giant, organized brainstorming party where the helpers themselves helped design the rules. They asked the professionals to describe what makes a good support team, how they work together, and what skills are actually needed to keep education moving forward in a tech-heavy world.
The results were a bit of a plot twist. The researchers found that these professionals didn't want to be the "T-shaped" super-heroes after all. Instead, they described their work as a collective network. Think of it like a band. You don't need one person who can play the drums, the guitar, the violin, and sing opera perfectly all at once. You need a drummer who is amazing at rhythm, a guitarist who knows the chords, and a singer with a great voice. When they play together, the music is better than any one person could make alone. The study suggests that for these educational support roles, the "competency" isn't something one person holds inside their head; it's something the whole team shares.
The researchers identified five special "roles" or functions that the team needs to cover, but they don't all have to be done by the same person. These roles are:
- The Bridge-Builder (formerly called "Boundary Crosser"): The person who connects different worlds, like linking the tech guys with the teachers.
- The Advisor: The person who gives strategic advice on how to move forward.
- The Coach: The person who helps teachers grow and improve their skills.
- The Educational Specialist: The expert in the actual methods of teaching and learning.
- The Innovator: The person who drives new ideas and changes things up.
The study, which involved 86 professionals across four different phases of research, suggests that trying to force one person to fill all these roles is a bad idea. In fact, when the researchers asked the professionals if they could do it all, many said, "No way!" One person in the survey even warned against looking for a "jack of all trades." Instead, the data showed that these professionals see their skills as distributed across the team. Some people are great at coaching, others are natural innovators, and the magic happens when they work together.
The researchers also found that this idea works the same way whether you are in a vocational school, a university of applied sciences, or a big research university. The numbers backed this up: the professionals agreed on these five roles, and the statistical tests showed no significant differences between the different types of schools. However, the paper is careful to say that while this "network" idea is what the professionals want and believe in, it's not a magic fix yet. The study proves that this is how they conceptualize their work and that they find the framework useful for talking about their jobs, but it doesn't prove that schools have already changed their hiring practices to match this new model.
There are still some hurdles. The professionals pointed out that schools often don't know how to classify these mixed-up roles. If you are a "bridge-builder" and a "coach" at the same time, the HR department might just call you a "video maker" because that's the only box they have. This makes it hard for them to get recognized or get a clear career path. The paper suggests that schools need to stop trying to find one perfect person and start building teams where different people bring different superpowers to the table.
In short, this paper suggests that the future of educational support isn't about finding the one person who knows everything. It's about building a team where everyone knows their part, and together, they cover the whole spectrum of what's needed to make education work in a high-tech world. It's a shift from "I can do it all" to "We can do it all together." While the study confirms that this is the right way to think about the job, it also warns that schools will need to change their structures and rules to make this teamwork actually happen.
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