The Teaching Profession

2.1 What are the essential characteristics of professionalism?

• A specialized body of knowledge
• For teachers, this includes knowledge of content, pedagogical content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, and knowledge of learners and learning.
• Pedagogy: I The function or work of a teacher; teaching. II The art or science of teaching; education; instructional methods.
• Teachers are also required to receive extended training for licensure by individual state standards and laws. It must be periodically renewed to confirm continuing education and current knowledge.
• Autonomy
• Teachers have autonomy over the specific content they teach, how they teach it, and how they will assess their student's learning.
• Complete autonomy is impeded by state and district standards, prescribed curricula, and mandatory standardized testing.
• Emphasis on decision making and reflection
• Teachers work in dynamic environments and must make on-the-spot decisions constantly throughout the day. This type of environment makes it essentially impossible to function without professional knowledge and continuous reflection. Teachers receive little formal feedback, so self-assessment is a necessity in order to continue to develop as a professional.
• Ethical standards and codes of conduct
• Teachers are held to high standards of ethical conduct. The largest professional organization in education is the National Education Association (NEA) which addresses the issues of teachers' ethics and interactions. Ethics are an important part of professional decision making.

2.2 What are the primary arguments that teaching is a profession?

• Teachers may be considered professionals because they do undergo rigorous training in subject content, teaching skills, and assessment for certification before they can teach. Although they must operate under state and district guidelines, teachers still have very high autonomy in their own classrooms. Teachers must be masterfully skilled in making quick and precise judgments and decisions with the ability to reflect and adjust accordingly. They are also held to the same types of high standards as other professionals in highly respected fields.

2.3 What are the major arguments that teaching is not a profession?

• Entrance into teaching isn't as competitive as fields such as medicine and law, so teachers may not be considered to be professionals. Some believe content knowledge is all that's needed to teach (although this is not supported by research). Teachers also do not have complete autonomy because they are supervised and evaluated by their principals, and states and districts dictate portions of the curriculum. Teachers also have little say in setting standards for licensure.

2.4 How do the arguments for and against teacher professionalism balance each other?

• Training is not as rigorous for teachers as it is with some other professions, but the expectations and workloads in the classroom are more extensive than most professions. The view that teachers are not professionals because of teaching mandates is contradicted by the need for apt split-second decision making and sensitivity to individual student's needs. Even with the additional restrictions, teachers almost always carry the same amount of responsibility for their knowledge, decisions, and behavior as any other profession.