Teachers as professionals....or not?
What is a profession? How can we consider someone as a professional? What are the main characteristics of a professional? Can a teacher be a professional? These questions are difficult to answer but also worth-studying. Before trying to answer the questions above, it is essential to understand what professionalism is and which the main characteristics are.
According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary (n.d.), professionalism is the conduct, aims or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person (Merriam-Webster dictionary, n.d., n.p.). Professionalism is all those characteristics that make people act in a certain professional way. It is hard to focus on one specific characteristic. Collier (2008) refers to professionalism as the combination of many acts, behaviours and thoughts (Collier, 2012). Profession is a paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification. For that, doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers and commissioned military officers are professionals (Schmidt, 2008). But why should only these jobs considered as a profession?
If we take into consideration that there are some specific features that make these jobs professions we should search if there are common features between these professions and other jobs (Collier, 2012). For example, are there any common characteristics between a doctor and a plumber? I think that there are plenty of common features. Both of them have worked hard to learn what to do and how to do it (Schmidt, 2008). It is true that a doctor needs more education and many years of his life in the university. But we have to focus on the fact that they both struggle every single day to do what they have learnt. There are different dangers they have to go through and there is also a different scale of difficulty. The fact is that they both give their best. Profession is not only about how difficult a job is or how many years you have to study in order to work (Collier, 2012). Profession is about the way you consider a job.
We could compare two co-workers, architects for example. The first one thinks of his job as a profession. He believes that what he does is unique and tries to improve himself and the work he does every day. The second one believes that his job is a way to pay the bills, buy clothes, food, car and other goods. This worker does not consider his job as a profession. He thinks that what he does is to work in order to gain even more money (Schmidt, 2008) (Bayles, 1988). That is why we need to know the characteristics of a professional so as to understand if the profession makes the professional or a professional makes his job a profession. Is the same way of thinking applied on teaching?
How can we picture a professional teacher? What are those characteristics that we are looking for? Professionals are known for their unique characteristics that help them do their job appropriately and cope with every difficulty they may face (Townsend, n.d).
It is a hard question. It is a mere fact that the more we work the better we become, so working hard means that we are developing. Teachers should have some certain qualities in order to be regarded as professionals. First of all, a teacher should know his students well and be kind and respectful towards them despite the difficulties he may face in his personal life (Kendall-Seatter, 2005). There is an old quotation to support the above that says “Keep a smile on your face and the right attitude in your heart”. A professional teacher should guide his students to improve their skills by setting high standards and expectations without forgetting to encourage and support them. His guidance should not be in a compulsory way but full of innovation, resources and encouragement concerning diversity and individuality (Hoyle & John, 1995). What a professional teacher should represent is a role-model with values.
And that is why a professional teacher must have ethical responsibilities not only for students but also for his students’ families, community and his colleagues as well. As we mentioned above a teacher should encourage his students concerning diversity and he should never exclude them from opportunities on the basis of their race, gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality, language and ability or status, behaviours and beliefs of their parents (Ewens, 2011). He should teach them how to celebrate diversity by creating a classroom environment that is respectful, emotionally secure and physically safe for all the students.
Apart from all the ethical responsibilities a teacher should have for his students, a professional teacher should have an ethical attitude towards his students’ family and community. He should be the one to inform everyone about the policy of the school and the philosophy he follows and applies on his class. He should also be objective and accurate in students’ assessments and in the progress they make (Dean, 1991).
Last but not least, a professional teacher should co-operate with other teachers in order to promote knowledge and ethical codes. He should always show respect for personal dignity and for the diversity that may be found among staff members and to resolve any matters that may occur collegially (Dean, 1991).
For all the above mentioned, being a teacher means being a professional. Teachers may not be the ones who decide about the educational policy or the curriculum but they have the right to decide their way of teaching (Carr, 2003). It is them who are responsible for teaching pupils and students some important and essential ethics and values. Teachers are definitely regarded as professionals if we take into account the fact that they should always be pleasant and calm and never bring their personal worries and issues inside the classroom (Schon, 1987). What they have to do is to make students trust them, respect them and of course work in harmony. As real professionals they are reflective and strive for self-improvement (Schon, 1987). A professional has to strive for success and do his best in order to know not only his strong points but his weaknesses as well. In order to succeed it he has to be reflective. Being reflective means that you have to think what you learn through your experiences, to evaluate them and to move forward using them as a valuable background (Travers et al., 1993).
Being punctual is an important characteristic of professionalism as well (Collier, 2012). A teacher should always be in class before his students. But the most important thing is that he has to be always ready to teach. He must always be well-prepared so as to be able to face every difficulty that may occur during his lesson, as a professional (Ryan & Cooper, 1998).
Being a teacher, I could say, is something more than being a professional. A teacher who loves his job should constantly improve himself. He should learn from his mistakes and let other people (students in that occasion) make mistakes as well. He should be patient and full of understanding. He should know when to say “Thank you!” and “I am sorry!”. Being a teacher does not mean that you know everything. Teachers are human beings and it is accepted to make some mistakes. But what it is not accepted is not to realise the importance of admitting the mistake, apologizing and learning from it. That needs extra courage to do it. And a professional teacher who respects himself and his students always strives for the best (Day, 1999).
A professional is the one who is committed to his choices. He loves his profession and one of his most important goals is self-improvement (reflection, evaluation) in order to help and understand others (Dean, 1991). He is never complacent. He always strives for the best. So, if I consider all the above as important features that a professional should have, then I can clearly say that teachers should and must be regarded as professionals (Hoyle & John, 1995).
To conclude, I have to answer to my most important question whether the profession makes the professional or the professional makes his job a profession. I am certain, after all the research I have made, that the professional is the one who makes his job a profession. There are people who really love their jobs and try to keep up with the changes and to get informed as much as possible. There are others who do not care about their job but for the money (Hughes, n.d). So, when we consider someone as a professional, it should not be because he has chosen a specific job but because his attitude, his behaviour and his knowledge lead us to this conclusion (Lieberman, 1995). Everyone can be a professional. But that happens only if you believe in yourself and in your surroundings.
My experience has shown me that there is no standard recipe for being a professional teacher. Though, there are some certain qualifications that someone should have in order to be a professional. A professional should be confident without being arrogant. As I have already said, he should always be well-prepared and patient. If he wants to succeed in his profession and make the best out of it he should be innovator and creative (Travers et al., 1993). It is important to keep up with everyday life ad at the same time to be full of new and innovative ideas. A professional, in my opinion, must be fair in all dealings. He must accept constructive criticism and try to develop himself (Ghaye & Ghaye, 1998). He must be able to listen to others and to make allowances for other’s mistakes.
Everything I mentioned before had enlightened me concerning my future as a teacher. I am already an English teacher and I consider my job as a profession. I love what I do and now I understand more than ever before the importance of improving me (Day, 1999). I have realized the importance of reflecting on what I learn each and every day. Since I was a little child I wanted to become a teacher. I was lucky to have had wonderful teachers during my school years. That really motivated me and helped me to become what I am today.
In our society wa are in need of the kind of teacher who does not only provide tuition to her students, but the kind of teacher who motivates them. Students, after graduating or moving from one grade to another, should gain not only theoretical knowledge but practical as well (Travers et al., 1993). We should give them some directions for their life. Not to tell them where to go, but to show them where they are able to go to. We should focus on making our students better people and help them understand their strong and weak points (Cullingford, 1995). Our goal should be to create autonomous, independent people who know how to co-operate and be responsible for their choices and decisions (Pollard, 2012).
