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In teaching, the path of professionalization involves acquiring the characteristics of high-

status occupations, which include certifications and accreditations and the existence of
professional associations. All these, I believe, together with the use of scientific knowledge which
is a subject that I will talk a bit about in this entry, are the pillars of better established professions.
In my previous entry, I stated how I believe school teaching incipiently displays one of the first
three characteristics. On this occasion, in the spirit of beginning to propose ways of
professionalization, I would like to discuss some aspects that are primarily related to
professionalization and to professionalism, somehow. To answer what it means for an educator
to behave professionally in the classroom involves exploring what is it that a professional
educator do the way only he or she can do it, which is or should be his or her specialty? I
think it is the work of designing and implementing learning experiences. Not a class. Not a talk. A
complete teaching unit, a sequence of lessons, an experience that is intentionally directed to
learning something. Not simply a class: one class can be well-executed by anyone. Or poorly-
executed… it is part of life! There are people who believe that because they explain things with
eloquence they can be good educators. No. Its charm is to design a whole process that can last for
months or years. A process that has ups and downs, that can face and will face unforeseen
situations and resilient individuals. In this sense, an educator has to be skillful like nobody
else. To design a learning experience it is necessary to define significant educational objectives,
design an assessment to see to what extent these are achieved and simultaneously support their
achievement, and then, and only after that, think about what activities you will ask your students
to do to achieve these goals. For me, this particular order of doing things is the only way to
guarantee evaluations are always relevant and serve learning. Otherwise, it is common for
assessments to deviate from what happens in class and then usual surprises arise: “But if they told
me they had understood, then what happened? Why did they do so bad?” A professional educator
will never believe his or her students understood something only because they say so. He or she
continuously verifies it with evaluations. He or she analyzes the results, discovers what they
understood and what they did not. A professional educator does not include “thinking tasks” for
the first time in an assessment or ambush his or her students with over-elaborated and tricky
assessments: he or she is a facilitator of learning, not a saboteur of the school experience. A
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professional educator knows that designing questions is not easy, particularly multiple-
choice questions with one correct answer which are so easy to do wrong. A professional
educator does not realize that reagents were outdated at the laboratory, at the same time with his
or her students do, and that therefore the experiment will not work. A professional educator does
not ask for an essay and then explains the rating criteria when students complain about
inconsistencies in the grading. A professional educator does not have students who get good grades
but “did not really learn”, because he or she does not give away grades; he or she takes them
seriously. A professional educator knows how to improvise, but does not only do it. A professional
educator plans ahead and is not naive to think his or her plans will literally occur; he or she knows
they are a framework. In the paradigmatic professions I mentioned earlier, the use and the role of
scientific knowledge in the discipline is particularly important and obvious. These professions
derive their selectivity and strictness to access a certification and professional association from the
use of scientific knowledge in medicine or engineering. In teaching, educational objectives of
great scope should be defined with broad sociological, not exclusively economic or academic,
criteria. Evaluations should be consistent with the foregoing, technically designed to measure and
support learning. Classroom activities should be designed with some support on the literature on
how learning develops and on informed thinking on good practices, not on the occasional invention
of an inspired professor or on a recreational exaggerated obsession. Professionalism is an attitude
toward work. Behaving with professionalism is important. Arriving on time, being enthusiastic
and committed, fulfilling tasks. The minimum trait expected from a professional educator is for
him or her to act with professionalism or in a professional way. As important as it is, however,
professionalizing education is not enough. The problem is that in many cases, these minimums
traits in school teaching are lost, and finding them again is considered a plus. A pedagogic
discourse focused on professionalism is inadequate: it involves good intentions, without technical
criterion. Good intentions without technical criterion are not acceptable in high-status professions:
if they were in teaching, then teaching is a low status profession. The importance of quality
research in education lies here and in the sciences that are relevant to it. Consequently, the
importance of more technical approaches also lies in education. It is difficult to find good theory
and easier to find motivational approaches rather superfluous. Despite the fact that there is a large
amount of research on cognition, development of literacy and mathematic skills, critical thinking
development and even on moral development, the use of these research advances by teachers in
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the classroom is scarce, even for the most successful. In many cases classes design is driven by
intuition of what may be right, what can work, or what can be motivating. In worse scenarios,
classes are simply improvised, and even worse, by some postmodern excuse: nothing can be
expected, reality is so complex, each child is a universe, also different from other universes, etc.
This does nothing to help children achieve better learning. By making use of this ability we all
have to read people and our environment, children very quickly realize when a class is improvised
or when teaching has become a meaningless ritual in which they can selflessly participate by doing
just enough not to have problems at home or at school. When I think about the future that I
would like for the teaching profession, the one I like best is something related to engineering.
Where teachers are engineers who design learning experiences by using a multitude of tools from
several disciplines: linguistics, psychology, cognitive science, the very nature of disciplinary
knowledge in mathematics, natural sciences, and social sciences. It is a community that has
learned to systematize and recognize the professional work of its practitioners. This requires
the joint work of the academy and of practitioners to continuously nurture and demand the
generation of educational knowledge which is relevant to educational reality.

Children and youth progress through a career development process as they mature. It consists of
four stages: Career Awareness, Career Exploration, Career Preparation, and Career Placement.
Adults also continue to grow and develop in their careers as they age, albeit at a slower rate than
children. Adults usually enter the final development process (the career placement stage) in the
latter stages of their secondary or post-secondary educational experiences. They then gradually
progress through an additional two stages: Career Maintenance and Career Mentoring. However,
adults who acquire a disability (e.g. adventitiously blinded adults) may need to cycle back through
some of the stages of the career development process. This is because they initially progressed
through the process as fully sighted people and may have many of the same misperceptions as the
general public about what a person can do with limited or no sight.
Following the acquisition of disability-specific skills, it’s important for adults who lose vision to
re-assess themselves in terms of the career development process. They will need time, in much the
same way that children and adolescents need time, to move through the six stages. The difference
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is that adventitiously blinded adults will not need as much time to go through the first four stages
of the process as children do.
Children experience the career awareness stage as they learn about themselves and what they enjoy
doing (interests), what they can do particularly well (abilities), and learn what’s important to them
(values or beliefs). It’s during the career awareness stage that children also learn about the world
of work: what jobs are available in the community, what jobs their parents and other significant
adults in their lives are doing, and what tasks are inherent to these different types of jobs. For
children who are blind or partially sighted, it’s important to let them explore tools, materials, and
activities associated with domestic chores and to give them responsibilities when they are old
enough to do tasks around the house. It’s also important to describe what others are doing outside
of their visual or tactual range – what tasks they are performing, what they are wearing, what tools
they are using, etc. – so that they can learn about jobs and job tasks though this kind of casual
or "incidental" exposure.
The next stage is career exploration and this is when children begin to investigate the careers that
are of interest to them. They learn the skills that are required and how to develop their knowledge,
skills, and abilities to enter career fields that appeal to them. They read biographies or
autobiographies of famous people and learn about their careers, watch movies or television shows
with characters performing in different jobs, observe adults doing things that they’d like to be
doing (e.g., performing music or competing in athletics), and ask adults questions about jobs of
interest and the careers associated with them. During the career exploration stage, children are
trying to sort the roles they see adults playing and determine which of those roles might suit them.
This is the time that they explore their talents and determine how others are using similar skills
and abilities in careers. It’s important that children actively engage in community-based functions
such as field trips or “take your child to work” days to encourage them to investigate topics and
tasks related to career opportunities. They need to attend performances in areas of interest,
participate in recitals and competitions, or join teams to see how their performance compares to
their same-aged peers.
In the career preparation stage, children and youth gather the knowledge they will need to perform
in their careers, including the basic literacy skills necessary to function in modern society and work
successfully in an information age. In addition, they continue to refine their basic work
competencies such as learning different organizational techniques and expected work behaviours
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such as following instructions. During the career preparation stage, they also refine their skills and
abilities through participation in school and community activities; as well as, at home with chores
as they assume more and more responsibility with age. All children have areas of innate ability.
It’s during the career preparation stage that they determine which of their natural abilities or talents
they want to strengthen through practice and training to a point that they can compete with others
whose talents are comparable. It’s during this stage that adolescents decide whether to prepare for
further academic training following their secondary school programs, pursue vocational skills
training, or go to work. Through engagement at school, chores at home and activities in the
community, such as volunteer experiences, youth develop skills that will transfer to future work
environments and prepare them for their careers.
Career placement is the stage that is most often experienced during late adolescence and early
adulthood, when young adults land their first job outside of their homes for pay. They typically
work at a variety of jobs, “trying them on for size”. It’s through placement into jobs that young
people learn what employers expect of them, how to be responsible and contributing members of
society, as well as the value of doing work for remuneration (whether it’s money or the more subtle
benefits received through apprenticing such as skill development and gaining experience).
They also have the opportunity through such engagement to secure references from people outside
of their immediate families who can vouch for their ability to perform on a job. This access to
prospective references is a critical factor for youth with disabilities as employers tend to pay more
attention to references from other employers than to those received from friends and family.
The career maintenance stage follows the successful landing of a job. During this stage, the worker
settles into a pattern, becoming comfortable with job duties and co-workers and finding a balance
between work and play. Adults who successfully manage their careers typically map out where
they’d like to be over time and strive to achieve those goals. The skills required to maintain
employment are largely social (learning to get along with co-workers, customers or clients) and,
to a lesser degree, vocational (learning the knowledge and work-related skills to perform well and
consistently meet productivity standards). Learning social skills is critical for individuals because
if their co-workers, customers or clients like them, they will help them keep their jobs – if they
don’t, they will work against them, either overtly or covertly, and maintaining employment will
be a challenge. While adults may change jobs a number of times over the course of their working
lives, it’s imperative that those changes be as positive as possible (moving to a new job because
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of an improved opportunity, a chance to assume more responsibility, or relocating to a new
community). To maintain a career, it’s important to consider how jobs people have had and are
doing relate to their overall career objectives and goals. If an individual’s job doesn’t connect to
their long-term career goals, it’s like starting over with each move to a new job. If individuals must
re-career due to downsizing or an injury or illness, they need to be prepared to discuss how the
work they’ve performed previously has transferability to their new career goals.
When adults near the end of their working lives, they often have the opportunity to mentor other
workers and guide them in their career development process. This career mentoring stage can occur
while an individual is still working or following retirement. The career mentoring stage is a time
to prepare young people or people new to employment to the expectations and demands of a career
field. It’s in the career mentoring stage where mature workers have an opportunity to share what
they’ve learned that has enabled them to be successful in their jobs and set the stage for others to
follow suit. Career mentoring may be thought of as succession planning: current workers teach
those who will take their positions in the future.
1.) Be humble. There is nothing that teaches a child or young adult mature behavior like modeling
it yourself. This isn’t just true when you are right. You also have to show your students what it is
like to be wrong, and admit it. This is never easy, no matter how old you are. Especially when you
are in front of several students who look up to you. And let’s face it, there are some students who
aren’t going to feel sorry for you. But that’s life. And you have to show them that right is right,
and wrong is wrong – no matter what.
2.) Encourage them to think for themselves. Treat your classroom like a group of individuals,
and celebrate their diversity. Create activities and discussions that foster conversations and
discovery about who they are, and how they can appreciate the differences between each other.
This type of focus from time-to-time will build a stronger bond between your students. Also, an
environment of trust will build, which can relax the atmosphere and help students focus more on
learning. It’s also important to help students understand the way they learn, and encourage them
to explore those parts of themselves as well.
3.) Perform volunteer work. Find a way to incorporate community service into one of your
lessons, and discuss how you contribute to the community you live in. Ask your students to tell
you ways you could perform community service as a group. Many schools will give students a
certain amount of time off if they are doing an activity that falls into this category. See if you can
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organize a community service event with your class. For example, if you are a music teacher, you
can take your class caroling at a retirement home. Or, you can have your class pick up litter on a
stretch of road. There are many ways you can instill a sense of pride in giving back among your
students.
4.) Show empathy. When we think of teachers as role models, we imagine sympathetic mentors
who listen to their students. Sounds simple, right? All you have to do is show that you care? It may
sound simple, but we have all had teachers that we didn’t connect with. Students can tell when a
teacher is tuned in or tuned out, and disconnected from them. On the opposite end of the spectrum,
we have all had teachers who went out of their way to show they care about us, and want to see us
succeed. We all have different personalities, and you should be authentic. But be mindful that your
students are looking up to you as an adult with life experience they don’t have. As they try to figure
out how to move into adulthood, make sure they know you’ve got their back.
5.) Point out the positive. Create a culture in your classroom that rewards kind behavior. The
importance of teachers is apparent in the link between positive reinforcement and their confidence
and behavior. Teach them to be constructive with their criticism, pointing out positives before
negative, or suggestions for improvement. Practice with exercises that allows the students to be
positive and critical towards each other. This is the kind of respect that debate class exercises can
teach children – how to agree to disagree. Teaching children to get in the habit of looking for good
in others is never a bad role model for behavior.

Ethics are well founded standards that make the actions right and wrong. It helps categorize
different values such as integrity discipline and honesty among others and apply them in daily
lives. Ethics influences behavior and allows an individual to make the right choices. Without ethics
it will be very difficult to regulate life and act responsibly. While the importance of ethics can't be
ignored in any walk of life it's imperative that they are practiced in the field of education. Ethics
in education are essential as they help run the system smoothly. it sets the standards of what's
acceptable and what's not hence protecting the interests of both the educators and the learners.
Ethics in education has been given a lot of importance over the years and institutions are
designing courses that help students understand these ethics. Ethics in education are applicable
on both the instructors as well as the students. While it's the teacher's job to make the students
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aware about these ethics the school management often takes it upon them to familiarize the
instructors with the ethics that are relevant to their profession. Every child should be educated and
the United Nations has made it one of the fundamental human rights of every child, recognizing
the harm in having uneducated persons and the importance of an educated citizenry. Unfortunately,
there are some barriers to effective learning that receivers and givers of education have dealt with
since time memorial, and some of these barriers are rooted in our ethics. The list of unethical issues
in education that sometimes act as stumbling blocks to effective learning can be said to be endless.
However, some of the common ethical issues in education faced by stakeholders in the education
sector are as follows: One of the commonest ethical issues in education is the choice of teacher a
particular child or set of children will have in the following year. Such issues usually ensue
between the principal, school administration and parents of the children. The choice of instructor
/or teacher usually ensue between the principal, school administration and parent. Two predictable
outcomes usually result from such an issue – the principal either reluctantly concurs to the parents’
request or he makes a blanket statement stating the policy against honoring parents’ opinion as
regards the choice of teachers for a particular class. The notion of zero tolerance policy against the
give-them-another chance policy cannot work across the board. Some quarters, especially parents
and guardians might be against the zero tolerance policy for reasons best known to them, others
support the idea. Both concepts can be applied simultaneously in all educational institutes. While
the zero tolerance policy is used for aggressive and anti-social and behavioral in-disciplinary
actions like carrying firearms in the school and bullying, the second chance policy can be used for
the encouragement of better academic performance. The second chance policy does not necessarily
mean one should spare the rod and spoil the child. Schools are continuously faced with the issue
of diversity stemming from students having different social and ethnic backgrounds. Public
schools in particular, have had to deal with issues relating to racial inequality and ethnic
differences. All educational institutes, particularly the public ones, need to address the issue of
diversity by modifying the curriculum. Ethnic sports and multicultural festivals should be
organized at schools, helping to bring together students of diverse backgrounds and helping to
promote unity amongst them. The inclusion of prominent historical issues from different ethnics
would also help students to get familiar with one another’s cultural, ethnic, racial, and even
religious differences. It has often been argued that examinations are not a true test of knowledge,
as some students suffer from what is sometimes referred to as “examination fever”, where even a
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brilliant student finds it difficult to pass the simplest examination. On a serious note, the argument
of how students should be graded and the parameters guiding such grades are always questionable.
On the other hand, who takes the blame for the failure of the student(s) – the rather incompetent
teacher or the lazy student? In addition to the ethical issues affecting learning mentioned above,
other issues worth noting include flexibility in the curriculum development, teaching strategy,
continuous assessments, knowledge transfer and best practices cross the board. Each of the issues
mentioned requires deep understanding and careful scrutiny to proffer effective solutions and
enhance the educational system.

This study focuses on teaching professionalism with special reference to its feminisation debate.
Professionalism and professional development of teachers is an important discussion to unpack
perspectives as to its definition in order to understand the entry points of professionalism and its
feminisation arguments. Furthermore this research contains a discussion and analysis regarding
the factors that influenced in shaping of teaching profession and professional development in
Pakistan and the theories behind the present concept of feminisation of teaching professionals in
social set-up. There are many hypothesis involved in the creation of teaching professionalism in
Pakistan however for the purpose of this study only historical, political, religious and socio-cultural
factors of teaching professionalism are evaluated. The study concludes that the British colonised
education moulded the professional development of teachers towards English education, religion
and socio-culture forces played a pivotal role in its feminisation context while it is the most
respectable and desirable profession for women nevertheless last choice for merit-worthy capable
people due to lack of standards and credibility of educational provision and low-level of training
skills; uneven practices of recruitment and promotions and low salaries packages.
People especially governments, do want teachers to change. For this purpose in most of the
countries, the government places emphasis on teacher training and their professional well-being.
Teaching today is a complex work, requiring the highest standards of professional practice to
perform it well. It is the core profession and the key agent of change in today’s knowledge society.
So, what is Professionalism? or what is the meaning of professionalism and professionals? If we
look at traditional theories of professions have characterised them in ‘trait’ term. ‘Trait theories
define a profession by a number of features, such as their foundation on a mission of service; the
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requirement to use a specific and definable body of knowledge; and the regulation of entry to the
professional group by a professional body. Professionalism or professionals defined and redefined
through the continuous struggle between and within different occupational groups. Hence the
values and attributes of professionals are fluid and subject to change and struggle. In short,
professionalism is a shifting rather than a concrete phenomenon (Hanlon, 1998: 47). Despite the
widespread use of term professionalism, the concept of ‘professional’ and professionalism remains
very contested in our society. Hoyle and John have recommend, debates around the notion what it
means to be professional focus on issue – knowledge, autonomy and responsibility. Moreover,
they suggest that, despite many recent challenges in relation to teachers’ professionalism, these
three issues remain important to consider. Their significance can be illustrated by examining a
traditional conception of professionalism.
The idea that an occupational group such as lawyers, doctors or teachers have a specialised body
of knowledge is central to any traditional definition of professionalism. Professionals are seen to
base their practice on a body of technical or specialist knowledge that is beyond the reach of lay
people. Hoyle and John further argue that traditionally this knowledge is seen as having two
component parts; first it has been tested by scientific method, thereby acquiring validity; second,
it is supported by a variety of the theoretical models and case descriptions which allow it to be
applied in specific cases. It is because professionals need to develop this body of ‘knowledge –
based skills’ that they need long periods of training, significant parts of which need to go on within
higher education.
Professionals, through specialist and usually long periods of training, are taught to understand this
research validated knowledge and to apply it constructively and intelligently according to the
technical rules governing the conduct of the profession.
This means that the professionals utilise a specialist body of knowledge which is the argument for
autonomy because professionals are seen as working in complex and unpredictable situation;
As professionals work in uncertain situations in which judgement is more important than routine,
it is essential to effective practice that they should be sufficiently free from bureaucratic and
political constraint to act on judgements made in the best interests (as they see them) of the client.
The three concepts of knowledge, autonomy and responsibility, central to a traditional notion of
professionalism, are often seen as closely interrelated. As said earlier it is because professionals
face complex and unpredictable situations that they need a specialized body of knowledge, if they
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are to apply that knowledge, t is argued that they need the autonomy to make their own judgements.
Given that they have that autonomy, it is essential that they act with responsibility – collectively
they need to develop appropriate professional values.
This may seem disheartening, but some positive statistics also came out of the report. One of the
most popular reasons (75%) for joining teaching was a desire to make a difference, and 80% said
they taught because they enjoyed working with children. Contrary to popular belief, just below
20% went into teaching because of long holidays. We look at these statistics in a bit more detail.
1) Heavy workloads
This was the most cited reasons for considering leaving teaching; of those who had had second
thoughts, 76% claimed it’s the amount of work that’s the problem. It was also a popular choice for
why people didn’t like teaching: 87% said workload was the worst part of the job. A further 53%
said that they felt they had insufficient time to reflect on their practice and 31% complained about
report writing.
When asked about work-life balance, 79% of young recruits felt they didn’t have this quite right –
with 46% working an average of six to 10 hours over the weekend. A worrying 81% of teachers
said that they do not have enough time to participate in hobbies and 80% do not get enough time
to relax. An improvement in work-life balance would involve “less unnecessary paperwork”, the
survey found.
2) Teacher bashing in the press
This was the second most popular reason given for thinking about quitting. This follows an OECD
report released last year which found that two-thirds of teachers felt undervalued. Although
teachers in the UK were above average in feeling valued, at 35% (unlike France where the figure
was only 5%), they still fared quite poorly.
A trainee in his third year at a primary school in Bedfordshire said: “Teachers feel undermined
and unappreciated.”
3) Constant changes
A quarter of respondents said “attacks on teachers’ terms and conditions” was another reason they
had thought about leaving. The last five to 10 years has seen a great number of changes in quick
succession. There’s been dramatic change to the curriculum, changes to pay structures and GCSE
and A-level rerform. When asked what they wanted from the government, new teachers called for
meaningful consultation and for reform to be taken more slowly.
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4) Challenging student behaviour
About 25% said difficult behaviour made them consider leaving teaching. When asked what would
have a positive impact on their teaching, 83% said that they wanted more time to plan and prepare
and 42% required mentoring or coaching from experienced colleagues.
This comes alongside criticism for low-level disruption with an Ofsted report published last year
saying that teachers are not doing enough to tackle unruly behaviour. The inspectorate found that
students are losing up to an hour of learning each day in English schools because of bad behaviour.
5) Ofsted
This didn’t come up in the top reasons for quitting but it wasn’t an option in the survey. However,
it’s a point that appears in the report in other sections. When asked what teachers dislike about
their job, a staggering 63% said Ofsted. Mary Bousted, general secretary of ATL, said that their
survey showed the government need to review the current inspection system.

References:

1. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000133010
2. https://nafme.org/professionalism-teaching/
3. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281069540_Perspectives_on_the_status_of_the
_teaching_profession_in_Pakistan_an_investigation_of_trainee_teachers'_reasons_for_ch
oosing_the_teaching_profession_the_role_of_the_teacher_and_problems_faced_by_train