Professionalism in Teaching (EDU433)

Assignment I (spring 2020)

Total Marks: 20

Green defines the profession as a being function that comprises action directed at some specific
end and could be a human need. According to Carr and Eraut, there were diverse interpretation
given to meaning of profession but they did not satisfy the difference. Ritzer explain it with the
help of two sociological theories the functionalist theory and conflict theory. Both theories tell
about society differently. According to functionalist society is a orderly entity in which members
contribute to make it stable with integrity.

Functionalists considers that society members follow the norm, value and common morality
that could be a high level of responsibility. In contrast the conflict theory perceive society as
constantly changing entity inwhich members continue to cause disintegration and
disorganization that is influenced by the domination. According to Wilkins above dynamic
process constitutes the three types of education formal education in schools and higher
education, nonformal education at workplace and religious institutions and third type is
informal education which include the everyday learning.

According to Burke and Stets identity is a set of meanings people claim as individual that set
them apart from others. According to jenkins identity represent the ways inwhich individual
and groups are distinguished in their relations with other individual and groups. Burke and sets
agree on multiple identities that individuals have in society due to inter relatedness aspect of
their social lives that allocate multiple roles to them.

Professionalism, according to Freidson is an ideal type where the organization of and control
over work is realized by the occupation instead of by the market or by a hierarchy. Hargreaves
and Goodson define professionalism as something which defines the quality and character of
people's action within that group. In functionalist theory traditional professionalism was
characterized by following traits, skills based on theoretical knowledge, adherence to
professional code of conduct self regulation trust based Clint relationship. So all professions
became different based on their expert knowledge, social demands , needs, cultural importance
and economic value.

According to Hoyle and John there are three dimensions of professionalism which are
knowledge, autonomy and responsibility. Conflict sociologists and professionals association saw
that greed for more wealth and power influenced by professional competence and cause
adverse effect on ethics and trust between professionals and public. Barnett explain it as,
knowledge, understanding and skills are changing continuously.

Differences in needs and understandings led to lack of consensus in the meaning of

professionalism Contemporary meanings of professionalism focuses the influence of social,
political and economic contexts. Evans warns that this external imposition could cause
professionalism to remain an ideal that fails to become an enacted functional reality resulting
from external and internal real observations in the field. In education, Helsb explains the
significant role teachers play in the social construction of professionalism. This significance is
described by Boyt et al. “the ability of teachers to exert influence on their work through their
attitudes and behaviors”.
Above shows the importance of knowledge, autonomy and professional responsibility in
educational practice. It also shows that how to improve the level of professionalism of
professionals, this improvement require the ability to identify and emphasize the individual
characteristics. According to Evan professionalism is concerned with attitudes of professionals.

Hargreaves and Goodson define professionalism as social and political mission use to increase
the interest of an occupational group. According to Hoyle and Wallace professionalism is a
training and development route through which occupation accepted as professions. Evan claim
that professional development as a form of new professionalism discounts their much aspired
autonomy and control over their work. Whitty, Ball, and Evan explain that global movement of
education reform led the governments of many countries to formulate tje polices that
introduced professionalization to increase the professional practice of teachers, school leaders
and support staff. These new polices must devise as that public schools can compete the
private schools. Ground realities must be kept during the formulation of these polices.

According to Hatcher managerialism have impact on organizational culture by amplifying

control over performance. The roles and functions of principals, teachers, administrators and
teacher assistants were redesigned according to the restructuring of educational projects. In
many parts of the world teachers are expected to adopt the professionalism in their school.
School principals decide on behalf of them "what to teach, how to teach, and how to
understand the students.

Conclusion:

This article is very important because it explains the "identity" through the sociological Theories
and tells how one or group of people obeying or following the norms, values and customs. It
also elaborates the professionalism which is very important at work place like school or in any
business. It also tells about how different countries are trying to devise the polices which
enhance the professionalism in teachers, principals, and management staff.