DEDICATION
2.4 Literature on Teachers’ work
2.4.1 Understanding Teacher Professionalism
The notion of teacher professionalism as presented in the literature is complex and contested in nature. The contested nature of professionalism in general, or teacher professionalism in particular, arises from the diverse interpretations or meanings that are associated with it. This contestation indicates a strong opposition to a monolithic view of professionalism (Duhn, 2010). The diverse interpretations of what professionalism means emanate from various historical and social contexts (Wang, 2012), which often provide the basis for its seemingly changing nature. In a paper presentation, Whitty (2006) traces the debates on the nature of professionalism back to the 1950s where professionalism was more aligned to the profession (group of people) as opposed to an individual. When professionalism is understood in the context of a profession, it is judged against pre- defined ‘hallmarks’ of a profession such as; specialised theoretical knowledge, length of training, organisation of a profession and a code of ethics that members of a group adhere to (Heystek & Lethoko, 2001; Whitty, 2006). In this way, professionalism was a means of granting teachers some level of authority, despite lacking the accountability processes.
This type of professionalism is referred to by Whitty (2006) as the traditional type as it conforms to the criteria set out for other professions such as law and medicine. This form of professionalism allows the professions significant control of their work, and is referred to by Gamble (2010) as a form of ‘pure professionalism’. For this reason, Heystek and Lethoko (2001) argue that the teaching profession does not fit into the category of traditional or pure professionalism because of the nature of teachers’ employment which is largely bureaucratic.
The involvement of the state in various countries in the employment of teachers, and to some extent in the control of their work, is about professional mandate (Whitty, 2006);
bureaucratic professionalism (Gamble, 2010), demanded professionalism (Wang, 2012), managerial professionalism (Stefanides-Savva, 2012). These forms of professionalism focus on teacher accountability while limiting teacher autonomy, and are therefore, regarded as inverses of traditional professionalism (Whitty, 2006). Such a focus on accountability would then mean that the individual teacher is, not only responsible for monitoring his or her work, but also for being accountable for learners’ progress even though the decisions of ‘what needs to be taught and how’ (curriculum issues) are made at national level and not by the individual teacher (Stefanides-Savva, 2012). Sachs (2001), however, proposes an alternative; a democratic professionalism, which she claims is characterised by cooperation and collaboration among all education stakeholders.
Writing from the United Kingdom perspective and focusing on policy texts from different eras, Whitty (2006) observes that in the 1990s, the states in many countries became prominent in determining, not only the employment, but also the regulation of teachers.
This increased involvement of the state saw changes in terms of how teacher professionalism was conceived and defined in national policies. Whitty (2006) notes that teachers were expected by the state to operate within specific parameters with the aim of fulfilling a particular ‘professional mandate’ which was in line with the educational reform/s in public schools. This professional mandate is closely aligned to demanded and bureaucratic professionalism.
In an extended explanation of bureaucratic professionalism, Gamble (2010) posits that this form of professionalism is fraught with issues of standardisation; the state’s way of ensuring that teachers maintain and adhere to specific standards. Seemingly, what Gamble (2010) meant was that bureaucratic professionalism is about the technical issues that teachers ought to be accountable for, as stated in various policies. Likewise, Wang (2012) describes the demanded professionalism to be all about the expectations that the government/s have from teachers. Because in most countries governments seem to have more power in the design of educational policies, they play a huge role in ‘imposing’ the kind of professional standards that they want from teachers (Wang, 2012). Through policy document analysis of state or educational policies, Wang’s (2012) study found that in China, teacher professionalism is strictly understood as a matter of toeing the line drawn
by the authorities. Additionally, because of the historical-cultural context of China, teacher professionalism in the policies emphasises the moral qualities that teachers should aspire to. Therefore, the underlying assumptions of ‘professional mandate’, ‘bureaucratic professionalism’ and ‘demanded professionalism’ seem to be about raising the professional status of teaching (Tuinamuana, 2011).
Raising the professional status of teaching also appears to be aligned with the ideas purported by advocates of managerial professionalism (Evetts, 2012). Managerial professionalism is seen by Evetts (2012) to be about employees who are socialised into responding to rather universalistic demands or standards, and in the process, serving the public interest or the state. This observation is premised on the ideas of managerial control, under which the ‘professional value’ of teachers is usually determined by the competencies that the employer/state or the public expect from teachers. These expectations are burdensome on teachers who often feel the pressure to perform at particular levels and fulfil responsibilities as per public/state expectations (Craig &
Fieschi, 2007). In this way, professionalism is seen as merely concerned about whether teachers (professionals) achieve the prescribed standards which are often externally-set, in a bid for increased accountability (Tuinamuana, 2011), which is often characterised by high competitiveness and individualism (Evetts, 2012). Those who support managerial professionalism claim that it is usually linked to “effectiveness, efficiency and compliance with policy” (Wang, 2012, p. 20). Being compliant with the policies, which are usually deigned by the state, and ensuring that they are effectively and efficiently implemented, is arguably the focus of the bureaucratic, demanded and managerial professionalism respectively.
Alternatively, democratic professionalism functions in opposing ways to the three forms of professionalism discussed above. This form of professionalism is seen by Sachs (2001) to encourage cooperation and collaboration among teachers and other stakeholders in education, as opposed to experiencing teaching in an individualised manner. When engaging in this form of professionalism, teachers do not only promote democratic values of fairness and equality but are involved in the transformation of education (Thomas, 2012). Therefore, argues Thomas (2012), the kind of professionalism that is proposed by Sachs (2001) is, not only democratic, but also ‘activist’. Through cooperation and collaboration, teachers are granted opportunities to engage in decision-making about
issues pertaining to their profession – a distribution of responsibilities which is claimed by Stefanides-Savva (2012) to create a system of checks and balances which serve to minimise disparities between theory and practice. In this way, Stefanides-Savva (2012) argues, teachers may feel a sense of responsibility and personal commitment in enacting policies whose drafting they would have contributed to. Hence, teachers’ identification as knowledge and pedagogy specialists (Thomas, 2012).
The above review of the different conceptions of professionalism seeks to highlight how they differ in their foci and functions which is likely to have profound influences on how professionalism was understood by teachers and parents in this study. As also indicated in the literature reviewed by Johnston (2015), the use of the term professionalism is shifting and therefore prone to conflation. These diverse understandings may have contributed profoundly to the kind of rhetoric that the teachers and parents have about teachers’ work. The review of literature on teacher professionalism showed a close relationship between professionalism and commitment and caring. There is therefore, need to briefly review literature on committed or passionate and caring teachers to show the connections to professionalism.