LESSON 1: TEACHING AS A PROFESSION

ACTIVITY
Read the following instances when the word “professional” is used. As a group, explain what the
word “professional” means in each case.

1. One night, cellphones were stolen right there from your home while you were asleep.
There was no indication of forced of entry, so you claimed that the manner by which your
cellphone was stolen was highly professional.
2. Father tells floor tile setter whom he asked to work on a newly constructed bathroom
“Gusto ko yong gawang propesyonal, malinis at maganda”.
3. She is highly professional in her ways. She deals with everyone including her daughter-
employee professionally.
4. “How unprofessional of her to act that way. Teacher pa naman din.”
5. Medical doctors, lawyers, education consultants are entitled to professional fees (PF) for
expert service rendered.
6. After his oath taking as a professional teacher, he was congratulated and was told “now
you are truly a professional”.

TEACHNG AS A PROFESSION
Profession is a career for someone that wants to be a part of society, who becomes competent
in their chosen sector through training and maintains their skill through continuing professional
development.

Professional implies one who possesses skill and competence/expertise. In short, a professional
is one who conforms to the technical or ethical standards of a profession.

ELEMENTS OF A PROFESSION
1.Initial Professional Education – Professionals generally begin their professional lives by
completing a university program in their chosen fields. This means long and arduous years of
preparation.

2. Accreditation – University programs are approved by a regulatory body like the Commission
in Higher Education (CHED) in the Philippines to ensure that graduates from these recognized
programs start their professional lives with competence.

3. Licensing – Licensing is a mandatory, not voluntary and is administered by a government

authority. In the Philippines, this government authority is the Professional Regulation
Commission.
4. Professional Development- This is an ongoing professional education that maintains or
improves professional’s knowledge and skill after they begin professional practice.

5. Professional Societies – Professional see themselves as a part of community. These

professional societies put dedication to the public interest and commitment to moral and ethical
values. Professional societies define certification criteria, manage certification programs,
establish accreditation standards and define a code of ethics and disciplinary action for violation
of that code.

6. Code of Ethics – Each profession has a code of ethics to ensure that .its practitioners behave
responsibly. Professionals can be ejected from their professional societies or lose their licenses to
practice for violating the code of ethics.

The teaching profession is governed by the Code of Ethics for Professional Teachers.
Violation of the Code of Ethics for professional teachers is one of the ground for the revocation
of the professional teacher’s Certificate of Recognition and suspension from the practice of
teaching profession (Sec.23, RA. 7836).

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHNG AS A

PROFESSION IN THE PHILPPNES
The first legal document that professionalized teaching was Presidential Decree 1006
issued by then President Ferdinand E. Marcos. It was only in the 1976 with PD 1006 known as
the Decree Professionalizing Teaching that the teachers in the Philippines became
professionalized.

In 1994, RA. 7836 otherwise known as the Philippine Teachers Professionalization Act of
1994, was passed to “promote quality by proper supervision and regulation of the licensure
examination and professionalization of the practice of the teaching profession” (Section 2).

During the pre- Hispanic period, there was no established formal schooling in the country.
So there was no formal preparation for teachers, too. The mother and the father and tribal leaders
served as teachers at home and in the community.

During the Spanish period, Educational Decree of 1863 provided for a normal school run by
the Jesuits to educate male teachers in Manila. Normal schools for women were not established
until 1875. So it was the Spaniards who started training teachers in normal schools.

In 1901, a two-year preparation for teachers was given by the Philippine Normal School.
Then the two year became four years since the two year academic preparation was seen
inadequate. To ensure quality teachers and make teaching at par with other professions, in
addition to a four year educate course, passing a licensure examination was made mandatory by
RA. 7836.