Professional Development Programmes for Members of Parliament

Parliamentarians are engaged in various activities requiring special expertise. The development of relevant skills is a legitimate responsibility of parliamentary administrations as they affect not only individuals but also the performance of the institution. Review of the scholarly literature, publications by a wide range of parliaments and books and personal communications with leading scholars, parliamentary officials and agencies providing parliamentary strengthening programmes find scholarly research to be severely neglected. This project is unique as it involved interviews with Australian Parliamentary Officers responsible for delivery of induction training as well as interviews with newly elected senators who were the recipients of the induction programme. The findings indicated that the induction programme provided to new senators generally met or exceeded participants' expectations; however, it was primarily focused on the functions and operations of the Chamber, rather than developing broader skills. The results also suggested that while the induction programme encompassed many of the features of a well-designed training programme, this was largely due to the professionalism of the Parliamentary Officers responsible for providing it.