As the realm of public service and its relative partnerships (both social and economic) continues to change, so must the leadership charged with managing it. Gone are the days when a single government purview was sufficient for managing public service delivery, focused on preconceived notions of what citizens supposedly want. Public value and the lens of the public service professional must be wide enough to encompass the public–private sector partnerships that foster routine service delivery as well as concepts that help move it forward. A well-rounded public service professional needs a well-rounded educational foundation, creating the ability to operate in any economic sector. In this article, we discuss public value co-creation in the context of public trust, the value-based agenda and participatory governance. We then present findings from the General Social Survey and suggest a pedagogical approach to preparing future public administrators for the public value co-creation process.
Preparing future professionals in any industry requires specific education and detailed training early on in the academic process ideally, prior to the influences of the work environment. Many schools and programs offer standard industry courses but much more needs to be accomplished, as the scope and management of private industry and public service continues to expand. In some cases, the current standard pedagogical practices have failed to prepare students for the workplace, an environment that is ever-changing due to advancing technologies, political agendas and societal pressures. By teaching in a silo and being focused on one content area, much of the educational system is providing a disservice to students by not removing the blinders. Sector lines have become increasingly blurred, so the education of future professionals must now take an interdisciplinary approach to successfully navigate this new environment. Market-ready graduates must have the ability to successfully navigate the private, public and nonprofit sectors. This research will suggest several possible avenues to an interdisciplinary pedagogy model, by examining the core competencies of three ‘flagship’ sector degrees. By combining traditional academic pedagogy with cross-sector topics, we may reduce instances of failed academic preparation and may in fact encourage the next generation of leaders to be even more dynamic than those who’ve come before, successfully converting theory to practice.
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