Teaching as a Profession

From the social function point of view, teaching is of paramount importance to the well-being of society and of the individual, and thus receives the status of profession. On the other hand, in regard to knowledge, the knowledge base of a teacher is a cause for debate. In order teaching could be considered as a profession, the fact that this knowledge is crucial and can only be acquired through specific training and education must be commonly recognized.

However, if the assumption is that just about anyone can acquire this knowledge through experience, and then teaching is no different from craft-oriented occupations. Teacher educators in general have shown that practice does make a difference in the preparation of teachers, but only practice that is founded on theoretical models and reflective ideas. This is an important fact that needs to be disseminated as it is strong evidence supporting the importance of teacher professional-development programmes at any level of the system.

In regard to practitioner autonomy, teachers have little autonomy in their jobs, especially when compared to other professions such as medicine and law. Teachers’ autonomy can be, and usually is, limited by the state, administrators and principals, local communities, etc. In countries where teachers have more autonomy to define their jobs and their practices (such as in France, the UK and the USA), they are able to perceive their job as a profession. This is not the case in countries where teachers have very little or no autonomy (such as Venezuela, Paraguay, Pakistan). In these countries, principals, supervisors, inspectors and other administrators are constantly determining the role of teachers, constraining the communication between teachers and parents, and even dictating the content of day-to-day classroom activities. The state also regularizes teachers’ activities by ordering teachers to follow a prescribed curriculum prepared by specific educators, known as “experts”, who are not teachers themselves. The professional development of teachers is unequivocally affected by the level of autonomy granted in the profession. In regard to collective autonomy, teaching has been less successful than the major professions achieving self-governing status and independence from the state. In the majority of countries, teachers are state employees expected to carry out the educational policies laid down by the central government.

In most countries, teachers are more likely to be organized into unions rather than into professional organizations, and this has an effect on the perception of teaching as a profession. In addition, during the late 1990s in many countries, the state has been gaining increasingly more control over teaching practices and the preparation of teachers, as can be seen in the number of countries that are now asking teachers to complete state tests in order to be certified (UK, USA), and in the number of countries where the curricula of teacher-preparation programmes are dictated by the state (as is the case in most African and Latin American countries).

In most professions professional values can be derived by making the professional accountable to the client. Yet, this is nearly impossible to do with regard to teachers, as they have a multitude of clients. Also, in many professions there is a code of ethics that guides the practices of these professionals. Only a few countries have developed a code of ethics for teachers. Given these criteria, it is clear to see why it is so often argued whether or not teaching is a profession, and whether or not teachers can do anything to improve their status in society. Yet, most people agree that the professionalization of teachers is prerequisite to the successful improvement of the quality of education and is, thus, of great interest to policy-makers and educators. Fortunately, the tendency over the last few years has been to begin to accept teaching as a profession and, consequently, the transformation from teacher-training to teacher professional development. Finally, in regard to professional values, it is very hard to identify any particular set of values in the teaching profession comparable to those common in professions such as medicine and law. In most professions, professional values can be derived by making the professional accountable to the client.

What kind of professionals? Even when most of the literature nowadays is focusing on the perception of teachers as professionals, there is still some disagreement as to what kind of professionals they are. In the conception of teachers as clinicians, teaching is regarded as a process of problem-solving and decision-making similar to the processes followed by physicians. Usually this body of research has led to studies of the processes that teachers follow when planning their work, and of their thinking processes while in the classroom. One of the main tributaries to this metaphor is the keen interest educators take in understanding the process that medical students follow in their training to become physicians, and their idea that teachers must follow a similar process. Studies inspired by this metaphor have focused on how teachers make judgements and decisions about particular cases and difficult situations, and also on their typical classroom practices and what kind of variables they pay attention to during lessons. Teacher-education programmes and professional- development programmes inspired by this metaphor have focused on developing teachers’ knowledge (of children, the curriculum, teaching strategies, school facilities and educational objectives) and of particular skills. These skills will allow teachers to construct learning activities that can be implemented within the classroom that will allow them to help each student, both individually and in a group context, and that will give them the necessary tools to make informed decisions in their practice.

Other researchers in this field have focused on the differences between novice and expert teachers, particularly in the way that they plan and reflect on their work. This research has had an impact on teacher preparation and professional development, as educators have been trying to find means by which the knowledge and skills of the experienced teachers can become more accessible to the novice; ways in which teachers (both pre-service and in-service) can develop the skills and abilities necessary to be reflective practitioners; and the ways in which schools can be organized to provide time and space for teachers to be able to analyze their reflections and improve their practices as a result. These concerns have had an impact on the professional development of teachers, particularly as it relates to in-service development both for the novice and for the mentor teacher, who can then achieve a higher level of professionalism.

Teachers have also been considered as researchers. The idea of regarding teachers as researchers was popularized by the curriculum reform movement in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and was soon accepted in the USA. At the end of the twentieth century learning about and developing the necessary skills and knowledge to complete teacher research is considered an important factor in the professionalization of teachers and the improvement of teaching standards. This is not the case in the USA only, but in other countries as well, although it is still not a widespread notion. Action research is certainly gaining acceptance in classrooms and is approximating the status of teachers to the status of other educators and professionals as they do now generate knowledge. This will be discussed in more detail in the section on models, as action research has been presented as a model of professional development. It should be noted, however, that the recognition of teachers as researchers is not supported by all educators. In fact, I. Goodson(2000) has said that the conceptualization of teachers as researchers has initiated a detailed examination of pedagogical practice while neglecting any reflection on teachers’ lives as professionals. In summary, while it is accepted that good teaching reflects artistry as much as technique, the fact remains that there is little that policy can do to develop artistry.

Regarding teachers as workers limits our view of the kind of educational opportunities that can encourage the development of teachers and the kind of education that they need to cater to the multiple demands of preparing the younger generations to live as contributing members of society. The language of “teacher training” (as opposed to teacher education or teacher preparation) is the inevitable companion of the “teacher-worker” metaphor. These metaphors are inadequate to meet the new demands which teachers are facing, the demands to make high levels of learning accessible to a diverse student body, the demands to create school learning organizations that recognize and welcome new opportunities to develop students’ judgements and abilities to deal with changes within their context.

By definition, professionals can introduce highly specialized expertise to solve complex problems, and yet historically “teaching has fallen short of the status of profession” (R. Lewis, 2000). Professionals are at the top of a hierarchical pyramid of occupations, they are the experts in a particular field, and they rationally employ advanced knowledge for common good. Attracting a new talent to the teaching field calls, in part, for an increased status of teachers and teaching, the same status that modern societies accord to professionals, symbolic analysts, and those who are employed in the “knowledge” sector of the service economy. In order for schools to meet the demands of our times, teachers need to be prepared, perceived and treated as professionals.

With the start of the new millennium, many societies are engaged in serious and promising educational reforms. One of the key elements in most of these reforms is the professional development of teachers; societies are finally acknowledging that teachers are not only one of the variables that need to be changed in order to improve their education systems, but they are also the most significant change agents in these reforms. This double role of teachers in educational reforms – being both subjects and objects of change – makes the field of teacher professional development a growing and challenging area, and one that has received major attention during the past few years. Learning how to teach, and working to become an excellent teacher, is a long-term process that requires not only the development of very practical and complex skills under the guidance and supervision of experts, but also the acquisition of specific knowledge and the promotion of certain ethical values and attitudes. In the words of J. Calderhead and T. Shorrock (1997), in addition to ‘knowing what’ and ‘knowing how’, teachers must also be competent in ‘knowing why’ and ‘knowing when’.

The professional development of teachers is a lifelong process which begins with the initial preparation that teachers receive (whether at an institute of teacher education or actually on the job) and continues until retirement. Because teacher professional development is changing so rapidly and so frequently all around the world, we are aware that even the ‘most recent’ literature may already present models or experiences that are no longer being implemented in a particular country.

Поиск по сайту: