Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Are Teachers Professionals?
It had never occurred to me to consider teaching as any thing other than a profession before our class discussion on February 25. For the last 18 years I have been able to, by law in the states of SC and NC, call myself a "professional forester" because of I met three criteria: I graduated from a university with a nationally accredited forestry program (Go Hokies!!), I completed 2 years of supervised work experience in a full-time forestry position, and I took and passed a state administered exam in my field. Do teachers licensed by the state not meet all three of these criteria also? I began the process of becoming certified to teach by enrolling at Winthrop to gain the eduational background I need to go from one profession (forestry) to another (teaching). Will teaching in a K-3 classroom require less specialized knowledge than I needed to develop and carry out sound forestry practices? I doubt it. If anything, I feel it will require more knowledge and skill to adequately handle a classroom full of diverse, dynamic children. I look forward to reading Strike's article for tomorrow night's class and see if it changes my point of view.
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2 comments:
I agree that the training, certification and regulation by the state do make us a professional on one level. Quasi-professional may be a more accurate description. Though there is a formal certification process, there are similar procedures for other trades that we do not consider professional, such as carpenters and plumbers.
I think the real advantage to a professional status is the recognition by the majority of the public. In this arena, we are not seen as professionals, because we do not accept responsibility for the outcome of our performance. The doctor, lawyer, engineer, and CPA can all be sued for not performing at a certain level. I can't think of an instance where an elementary or secondary teacher was sued, because of poor performance of her student. In fact, the NCLB law that is supposed to provide accountability is constantly berated by teachers. If they have a better idea, then let's hear it. Perhaps we should let parents sue teachers for their child's performance as they would other professionals that provided a below par service. We can't claim professional and then blame our results on parents, teacher, local government or lack of support for the community. We are the professionals, so we need to find a way to make it work.
My former profession was a health care manager. I was not seen as a professional by most. I did earn a great deal more than most teachers, because the systems I managed produced profit that I earned a percentage amount. The professionals I managed had an autonomous governing board, but if something went wrong with patient care they would pay a heavy price.
Teachers could change this perception if they started to act like professionals. Practice your work with care and accept responsibility for results. This means that all of our public coverage cannot be complaining. Let's provide solutions, not excuses. Then we will be treated as professionals.
As for me, I do not care one-way or the other. As a manager, I spent six years in college learning how to manage systems. Both my peers and the clients we served respected my work. I was financially rewarded for my success. I plan to do no less in the teaching field.
I hope that this will be a topic that a lot of people will be willing to share their opinions about in class tonight. I agree with you about viewing teaching as profession. I think I have always thought this because of having educators in my family. This again, reflects back to making people aware of what occurs in the classroom. Because I was around people involved in education, I was made aware of it. Many people are not and will not voluntarily find out about the profession for themselves.
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