TEACHING AS A

VOCATION
Jessie Genecera
Presenter
Teaching as a Vocation

Profession refers to the career that one opts for, getting extensive training and acquiring
special skills to become eligible for a job in it.

Reflection upon some further peculiarities of the practical deliberations of teachers may
support a case for resisting the inclusion of education among standard professions

Although it is not easy to identify the difference between the way in which the theoretical,
principled, or reflective deliberations and judgment of teaching to other profession, it is
observable that teaching has a legitimate affective dimension

It is customary to construe or interpret professional judgment as having a distinctly

impartial, disinterested or impersonal character
Teaching as compared to Medicine and Law

Law and medicine are interpreted as highly regulated occupations which are governed by
tightly prescribed rules and guidelines whereas teaching is flexible and is depending on the
needs of the students where the affective domain is also being accounted

An example is the Hippocratic code of medicine which rests on the impartial recognition of
certain universal rights to health, justice or whatever and with respect to those rights, any
ethics of profession seems very deontological (an ethical theory that says actions are good or
bad according to a clear set of rules)

With this, a good doctor or lawyer will be based on how they perform their duties rather than
what the consequences of their actions will be and in addition, allowing any kind of
relationship will build an affective consideration which is deemed unprofessional
Teaching as compared to ministry, nursing and social work

Teaching has not been regarded as a profession but rather, like ministry, nursing and social
work, a vocation in the sense that we should model our judgment on the phronesis (the
common good of our people/ the application of ethical knowledge ) rather than techne ( the
ability to make things / the application of scientific and logical knowledge)
THE AFFECTIVE
DOMAIN OF
VOCATION
The affective domain of Vocation

Vocation is from the latin word vocare which means “to call”. A term which is commonly used
in priesthood and ministry

Their obedience and service greatly differs from the rules and principles of other professions

In principle, a person could still be a good lawyer or doctor regardless if that person is a sex
addict or a liar or just a plain a-hole. However, these characteristics would undermine a
person if their vocation is to be a priest or minister

Since the basic foundation of priesthood and ministry is to transform the lives of others in
specific moral and spiritual respect, they should be examples of those values and virtues
The affective domain of Vocation

Since one of our job as teachers is to transform students into acceptable members of the
community in terms of their affective, moral, social and spiritual development, we should also
(at least) have the virtues and values that of a priest or a minister

In accordance to that, even if a person is skillful and knowledgeable with teaching, if they lack
certain crucial qualities and virtues, their suitability could still be questioned

Another occupation which is considered as a vocation is nursing which is also motivated by

commitment rather that money. For someone to be considered a good nurse, one must
possess a certain degree of genuine heartfelt care and concern
THE OCCUPATIONAL
ENIGMA OF
TEACHING
The Occupational Enigma of Teaching

Because of regarding teaching as vocation rather than a profession, it became a pretext to

reward teaching poorly in financial terms

It is also common for others to think that caring professions like teaching and nursing are
such easy jobs which just needs a whole heart and just a half brain

How would we consider teaching and education? A trade? A profession? A vocation? Or

perhaps an entire different thing? Right now we have a number of options

First, it might be argued that teaching conforms to the standard criteria of professionalism and
could be considered as a profession

Second, it could also be considered a vocation for it conforms to some criteria like there is a
case for regarding teaching as a kind of moral practice but lacks the professional organization
characteristic of other profession
The Occupational Enigma of Teaching

Third, we could consider teaching as an occupational category different from profession but
not closely to trade or “blue collar service”. In short, we could include teaching with
occupations like nursing, ministry and social works under vocation

Fourth, in relations to the training of teachers, it could be considered more of a white collar
service or trade and teachers as little more than ‘classroom technicians’

The fifth option would be a combination of different characteristics of all those discussed
occupational types because teaching is a complex activity
End of Slide