The emergence of hybrid professional roles: GPs and secondary school teachers in a context of public sector reform

Abstract

Responding to recent calls for more context and history in studying (semi-)professionals in the public sector, this article examines the emergence of hybrid professional roles along with large-scale reforms of Dutch healthcare and education since 1965. Using a theoretical framework based on public management literature and key professional attributes, the article shows how hybrid role expectations are developed by accumulation rather than replacement of successive reform models. Within a single national context, it also highlights considerable sectoral variation in how reform affects professionals’ roles, suggesting a complex mutual relationship between reform and professions rather than a one-sided policy impact.