Professionalism in Education and its Impact on Teachers - Essay Example

Good citizens are the products of standardized education and, education, to be effective and fruitful, teachers need to display professionalism and high level of commitment. Professionally trained teachers are the assets of any educational system; the character moulding and the value system of the students depend on the quality of teaching. Professionalism in education has been a matter of controversy for the recent decades. In many western countries Participatory democracy was an active force in policy debate on education in 1970s. As Watson et al (1997) points out the concept of participatory democracy in policy debate on education gained energy from the student movement and reflected the movement’s general rejection of hierarchy, formalism and impersonal bureaucratic relations. The movement was against all kinds of controls from the part of bureaucrates and by professional establishment from within educational institutions. As the consequence of the grueling debates, in the name of professionalism teachers have pursued greater self-sufficiency from both political and bureaucratic masters. The claim for professional autonomy rests upon the statement that professionals themselves know best what best quality in they render in their services. It implies that individual professionals should be given much latitude from outside interference (Watson, Modgil, , and Modgil S, 1997, p.8). An educator’s pursuit for excellence is determined by his professional competence, preparation, knowledge of the subject and his teaching skills (The Role of Teacher Professionalism in Education). Professionalism has caused profound changes in educational structure and the people’s concept of education. According to this view the professionalism of a teacher can be assed by three important ideas like preparation, knowledge of subject area, and defined pedagogy (The Role of Teacher Professionalism in Education). Preparation means a professional would prepare his class room in spite of all adversities. He would break all barriers with effective teaching techniques. Along with the preparation a professional teacher with his wide range of knowledge would help the students to understand the material being taught. Finally, the uniqueness of a professional teacher is discovering and implementing the most effective pedagogy. The debates and discussions on this context have opened vital avenue for the regulations which integrated the educational concepts and made the teaching career a well interpreted profession (The Role of Teacher Professionalism in Education). The Novice Teachers Moon, Ben-Peretz & Brown (2000) have undertaken some remarkable studies on the tribulations faced by novice teachers and how they strive toward accomplishing professionalism in their career. According to the authors, the actual learning tasks the novice teachers face are shaped by the specific circumstances they encounter and in the initial stages of their teaching career they rely on trial and error to work out strategies which enable them to survive through discovery, adaptation and learning (Moon, Ben-Peretz & Brown 2000). The unfamiliar situations, students, curriculum, the local policies and procedures also are some of the factors that act as constraints to the novice teachers. To be professional the novice teachers have to form a professional identity which is personally satisfying as well as institutionally appropriative and productive (Moon, Ben-Peretz & Brown 2000). Further educational Act 1992 The Further and Higher Education Act 1992 (FHEA1992) is another significant step that boosted the concept of professionalism. An independent further education sector has been established with the advent of these regulations. According to this Act, all further education and sixth form colleges are the part of further education sector. The main funding body of the further education sector is Learning and Skills Council (Further and Higher Education Act 1992). Professionalism in child education One of the criticisms might be relevant to the issue. According to Jayne Osgood in terms of early childhood education and care UK is quite behind its international counterparts. The present scenario is widely considered as the time for child education and care in England. The writer says that the enthusiasm for these changes would invite only some sorts of bastardized version of many international educational approaches. The policy makers believe that by focusing on young child education a raft of social phenomena can be addressed. They have placed enormous burden upon the shoulders of young babies. Professional development in higher education The Higher Education Act of 2004 was a remarkable step towards achieving professionalism in education. The 2004 Act was intended to integrate the educational activities and concepts under a unique regulation. This Act “makes provision about research in the arts and humanities and about complaints by students against institutions providing higher education; to make provision about fees payable by students in higher education; to provide for the appointment of a Director of Fair Access to Higher Education; to make provision about grants and loans to students in higher or further education; to limit the jurisdiction of visitors of institutions providing higher education; and for connected purposes” (Higher Education Act 2004). As it is evident from the quotation, the act offered certain rights to the students and tried to ensure professionalism in higher education by limiting the number of incompetent higher education providers. The act also ensured that all the teachers at the higher secondary level are professionally trained and have greater skills and potentialities. Recently, governments in various countries have taken initiatives to increase the effectiveness of education through policies of staff development and appraisal. Since 1989 Britain also witnessed a number of educational projects such as The Enterprise in Higher Education, Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals’ and Universities’ Staff Development and Training Unit(CVCP?USDTU) and CVCP Academic Audit Unitin1990. In the past few years the professional awareness has been increased among higher education teachers ( Zuber-Skerritt 1994 117) The new overarching standards 2007 The department for education and skills (DFES) is equipping the teachers for the future outlined proposals for the reform of initial teacher education in the life long learning sector in England. A new teaching qualifications frame work as part of this reform, has been developed by LLUK. These professional standards are meant to strengthen all new initial qualifications including professional development for teachers. There will be new qualifications for those in a full teaching role at a minimum level 5(QCF) and also for those in the newly defined associate teaching role at a minimum of level 3 (Life Long Learning UK). This document differs in two ways from the previous September 2002 document which was meant to emphasis subject qualifications. It does not demand any requirements relating to skills but only details as an entry requirement to join programs. Secondly it introduces requirements relating to professional practice (Life Long Learning UK). Increased organizational training as a management tool Organizational training would help the managements to examine how trainees in service teacher education courses perform across a variety of teaching and learning context. Further it would inquire about the support available to trainee teachers and the extent to which the organizations in which they work create encouraging learning environments. Despite the considerable growth in research in work place learning in recent years, comparatively little concentration has been paid to colleges as work places Idea of restrictive and liberal learning environments and perception of guided participatory practice could be well implemented. Emphasis on Social and Moral codes For many decades little attention was paid to the social –normative or moral ethical dimensions of professional practice, instead educational researchers and reformers have concentrated on technical, economic, and legal strategies for improving education. Considerable variation has been noticed by the researchers in teachers’ commitments to their students and sense of instructional effectiveness in high schools. Moreover there are some other critical issues for educational research and policy formation like considerable ambiguity and diversity in the norms and relationships and the educational experiences of the students, the problematic character of professional standards in schools and the factors that make a difference for the social normative background of teaching, particularly at a time when teachers face increasingly diverse and challenging student populations (Ivor & Andy 1996). What makes the role of a teacher ethically distinct? One of the important challenges, Schools face is preparing children and youth to be responsible and productive adults (Halversan 2004). Educators are in disagreement on how they should do character formation and who should be responsible for teaching it. Many believe that parents are responsible for the same. Though parents have a strong influence on children’s character the significant role of the teachers can not be forgotten. The formation of an individual’s character has three identified levels. At the first level, rules are external to the child and through discipline and self-interest behavioral conformity is ensured. As the next step the child learns to comply with social groups, as a result of a youth's desire to gain acceptance within that group. Finally, the child relies on its own principles to choose to form the character (Halverson 2004). According to Wynne (1995), a teacher's primary role is to provide excellent instruction. If then high level of moral professionalism is supposed to show high level of obligation to students. Teachers having such a professional attitude would be regular and punctual at work, they would have the well intimation about their students, and they would plan and conduct their classes very carefully. Moreover they would update their instructional methods and if needed interact with the parents of weak students. They find themselves comply with the school policies and regulations and cooperate with the colleagues to ensure the smooth functioning of the school. Meanwhile for the constructive improvements they would positively criticize the irrelevant policies too (Benninga 2003). The Institute for Learning and its guidelines to promote professionalism IfL (The Institute for Learning) was formed in 2002 which “is the professional body for teachers, trainers and student teachers in the learning and skills sector, including adult and community and learning, emergency and public services, further education colleges, Ministry of Defence and the armed services, the voluntary sector and work-based learning” (Institute for Learning launches online CPD system for FE teachers). According to the IfL regulations that came in to force on 1 September 2007, its work are regulated by two sets of rules i.e. 1) Revised teaching qualifications, including the introduction of licensed practitioner status and differentiation between full and associate teachers. The rules exactly interpret the required qualities and qualifications of teachers in different sectors and moreover it has enhanced the professional approach toward the career among the teachers. 2) Remaining in good standing as a teaching professional, including mandatory continuing professional development (CPD) for all teachers. This law emphasis on the professional aspects of the teaching career and also remind the teachers the need of up dating their knowledge and developing their skills. The mandatory participation in Continuing Professional Development has helped the teachers to grow in their profession as well as in their personal life (Institute for Learning launches online CPD system for FE teachers). The regulations, insists all FE college teachers to register as members of IfL, and are supposed to undertake CPD each year and follow the IfL code of professional practice. To ensure that the scope of the regulations covers all teachers in the sector the regulations are supported by LSC-funded provision. The full cost of standard registration for teachers in LSC-funded institutions who register online will be met by the government as per the contract with IfL. Teachers and trainers who do not work on LSC-funded programs also get the opportunity to participate paying their own annual subscription. New teachers since September 2007 are also required to become licensed practitioners. In order to make the sector perfect though not compulsory, the existing teachers are also encouraged becoming licensed practitioners. The Institute for Learning (IfL) launched its Code of Professional Practice at a reception held in London on Monday 7 April 2008. the Code has given a new professional perspective to the teaching job. On this occation an online system ‘Reflect’ was launched for the members to record their Continuing Professional Development (CPD). College, work-based and adult learning representatives, council members and sector leaders gathered to celebrate the start of an era in which learning and skills teachers, tutors and trainers belong to a professional body and receive the professional recognition and status that they deserve (Institute for Learning launches online CPD system for FE teachers). Shared values and reflective ethics A teacher through his/ her words and deeds conveys a lot of messages to the students that have great influence on children’s life. If a teacher teaches about values it not only influences the children but also the teacher’s thoughts. The teacher can not hide his attitude further it would be expressed through the behaviour. It points out the need of an integrated policy for schools regarding the expected behaviours. The schools which give priority to the values more clearly, control their students besides they learn about them by talking to them in the context of good teacher-child relationships. They believe that repetition and reinforcement of the values words, across the curriculum, is important for reinforcing their meaning. When the students demonstrate the values in their every day life the teachers can understand that the children have understood the values. This awareness leads to the establishment of peaceful climate for teaching and learning (Hawkes 2009). To conclude, inconsistency, lack of integrated principle, and prominence on low level skills might be the major causes for the failure of recent policy efforts to improve education. The educational reformers should consider common goals for what students should learn and do and also how to coordinate the various elements of policies around a new set of ambitions. Bibliography Benninga, Jacques S 2003, Moral and Ethical Issues in Teacher Education, Ericdigests.org. Available from: [ 7 March 2009]. Further and Higher Education Act 1992, 1992 CHAPTER 13, OPSI. Available from: [7 March , 2009]. Goodson, Ivor and Hargreaves, Andy 1996, Teachers' professional lives, Routledge. Halverson, Susan Spring 2004, Teaching Ethics: The Role of the Classroom Teacher, CBS Interactive Inc. Available from: [7 March 2009]. Higher Education Act 2004, 2004 CHAPTER 8, OPSI. Available from: [7 March, 2009]. Hawkes, Neil 2009, What is Values-based Education?, Oxford, United Kingdom. Available from: [7 March 2009]. Institute for Learning launches online CPD system for FE teachers, Public Technology.net. Available from: [7 March 2009]. Life Long Learning UK: New Overarching Professional standards for Teachers, Tutors and Trainers in the Lifelong Learning Sector June 2007, Life Long Learning UK. Available from: [7 March 2009]. Moon, Bob., Ben-Peretz, Miriam., Brown, Sally 2000, Routledge international companion to education, Illustrated Edition, Taylor & Francis. The Role of Teacher Professionalism in Education. Available from: [7 March 2009]. Watson, Keith.,Modgil, Celia., and Modgil, Sohan, Power and Responsibility in Education: debate and diversity 1997, Illustrated Edition, Continuum International Publishing Group. Zuber-Skerritt, Ortrun 1994, Professional Development in Higher Education: A Theoretical Framework for Action Research, Illustrated Edition, Routledge. Read More