Toward a function-related organization of doctoral education

This paper advocates clearer conceptual and operational distinctions in doctoral education based on the professional functions that graduates of doctoral programs are expected to perform. Starting from the premise of educating for professional leadership, it is argued that unless doctoral education for advanced practice is distinguished programmatically from education for knowledge production through research, the quality of the educational product in either function may be seriously compromised. A number of content areas whose inclusion in the curriculum could justify educating for practice functions at the doctoral level are outlined.