EDU433 Lectures 8-12

FIVE PERSPECTIVES ON PROFESSIONALISM

Five perspectives on professionalism that have been found in the literature will be elaborated.

Analysing professionalism of teachers

The study of professions and professionalism has a long standing tradition in sociological research from the beginning of the 20 th century (Evetts 2006, Crook, 2008). Sociologists have tried to identify the specific values that are connected to professions and at the same time tried to identify criteria to separate professions from other types of occupations. As in most debates on professions and on professionalism the characteristics of professions are connected to positive and prestigious elements, many occupations have tried to identify their professionalism, thus trying to become part of the elite. This applies also to teachers. In many publications that are focused on teachers, the use of the term educational professional is used deliberately to indicate and emphasize the prestige and status of the teacher. Teacher policies are full of ‘professional standards’, ‘professional development’, ‘professional communities’, etc. In many of those publications it is unclear whether the concept of teacher professionalism is considered as an indication of the status quo or as an ideal concept that is worthwhile to strive for. As a result the concepts of profession and professionalism have become diffuse and lack conceptual clarity. In this paper we will use the following definitions (Evetts 2009, Koster 2002, Hargreaves 2000):

• Profession: a distinct category of occupational work
• Professionalisation: a process in which a professional group pursues, develops, acquires and maintains more characteristics of a profession
• Professionalism: the conduct, demeanour and standards which guide the work of professionals.

In the past century, the sociological discourse on professions and on the professionalism of teachers has used different and shifting perspectives, emphasizing different aspects of professionalism (Evetts 2006). In our study of relevant literature on professions, we have identified five different perspectives on professionalism: Archetypes and attributes One way of looking at the professionalism of teachers is by comparing them to classical professions like doctors or lawyers and to identify similarities and differences. Using these classical professions as ideal examples, typical characteristics were derived which could be used to separate between professions and non-professions and to identify similarities or differences with other occupations. In this approach, the focus is on identifying categories for occupational classification (Gewirtz et al 2009), where the classical professions are considered as archetypes of ‘true professions’. Typical attributes are (Snoek, Swennen and Van der Klink 2009):

• Professional autonomy, through professional monopoly of the members of the profession who have control over their own work
• Control over entry requirements to the profession and the further professional development of the individual members. Professions also have the power to judge, and subsequently even to exclude, members who do not keep to the professional standards and ethical code of that profession.
• An ethical code as a means to win the trust of the public and public bodies (often governments) that have the power to license the profession and its members; and to serve as a guideline for good conduct of the members of that particular profession.
• A strong academic knowledge base (Abbott 1988), consisting of formal or technical knowledge (Goodson and Hargreaves 1996). “Academic knowledge legitimises professional work by clarifying its foundations and tracing them to major cultural

values. In most modern professions, these have been the values of rationality, logic, and science. Academic professionals demonstrate the rigor, the clarity, and the scientifically logical character of professional work” (Abbott 1988: 54).

• Freedom of establishment. Members do not have a job contract but are independent and self employed.

When the teaching profession is held against the framework of characteristics of the classical professions, the conclusion is clear: teaching can not be regarded as a true profession. Teacher do not control the entrance to their occupation, they have no freedom of establishment, but are employed by schools. As a result teachers have only limited autonomy over their work. In many countries there is no ethical code for teachers. Also the academic level of the teaching profession is considered by many authors as limited (Verbiest 2007). It is still relatively rare for teachers to be research trained and to have carried out post-graduate studies (Erixon, Frånberg and Kallós 2001). As a result, teaching, like nursing, social work and librarianship, is often called a semi-profession (Etzioni 1969). Although the fact that the comparison with classical professions is widely used in debates on professionalism, this approach is also criticized. Professionalism defined in this way is seen as an artificial construct with always contested definitions (Crook 2008), a shifting phenomenon reflecting whatever people think it is at a particular time (Hanlon 1998). It seems more useful to explore the characteristics to the teaching profession today, than comparing it to some proposed ideal (Whitty 2008). The professionalisation project A second way of looking at professionalism is by strengthening the ‘professionalisation project’ (Larson 1977) with the emphasis on the development of a professional body that restricts the entrance to the profession, thus creating and maintaining a monopoly position from which the profession can safeguard its quality and be involved in debates about power, influence, status and bargains about working conditions and professional autonomy. In this perspective, the focus is not on an idealized concept that acts as a frame of reference to judge all occupations that want to call themselves profession, but on the process of growing self-awareness of an occupational group, on professionalism as an aspirational target (Power 2008). In this process the focus can be on the development of the knowledge base of a profession, on the improvement of standards for professional performance, on restricting the unlicensed entrance into the profession, the development of mechanisms for self-control and self-accountability and on defining ethical codes to emphasize explicit professional virtues. Examples of such professionalisation projects can be seen in several professions who have developed their own societies, professional journals and ethical codes like journalists (Crook 2008), teacher educators in The Netherlands (Koster 2002) and in the present development of a professional register for teachers in The Netherlands. In this approach the characteristics of classical professions are used as a frame of reference for development instead of judgement. In discussions on the professionalisation projects, two different perspectives are used, one focussing on idealistic conceptions emphasising specialist and ethical virtues (like trustworthiness, collegiality, service), and another focussing on exclusionary and self-interested aspects focussed on market closure, status and power (Larson 1977), leading to negotiations and bargains with governments over professional mandates, influence, jurisdictional competitions and working conditions. (Gewirtz et al 2009).

The idealistic conception can contribute to the increase of societal trust in a profession, while the critical conceptions can easily lead to the reduction of societal trust in a profession. High expectations in modern society A third way of looking at professionalism of teachers is by focusing on expectations in the present day competitive society. Present day post-modern and neo-liberal society can be characterized by a strong emphasis on economic and technological changes. Economic changes have led to a stronger globalized, market oriented and competitive perspective with stronger central regulations (Gewirtz et al 2009). This changing market oriented context for society and schools has resulted in changes in the expectations not only towards school leaders, but also towards teachers, emphasizing accountability, rationality, competitiveness and control. (Evans 2008; Goodson and Hargreaves 1996; Robertson 1996). ‘Schools (like many other public institutions) have been rationalized, cut-back, made more economically efficient, less of a tax burden and set in competition against one another for ‘clients’.’ (Hargreaves 2000: 168). In this approach the term ‘new professionalism’ is often used, indicating that the changing context of schools asks for a change in qualities expected from professionals, with a focus on effectivity, accountability, national safeguarding and control:

• A strong focus on the quality of work and a stronger emphasis on output requirements.
• Public accountability, where teachers have to explicate how their teaching contributes to achieving the intended learning outcomes.
• Implementation of standards describing competences and qualifications of beginners and expert members of professions. For the OECD, the development of such standards has a high priority: ‘The overarching priority is for countries to have in place a clear and concise statement or profile of what teachers are expected to know and be able to do. This is necessary to provide the framework to guide initial teacher education, teacher certification, teachers’ ongoing professional development and career advancement, and to assess the extent to which these different elements are being effective.’ (OECD 2005: 131) Most of these standards have been developed by national governments with limited or no involvement of teachers (Snoek et al 2009).

Especially in England it has been argued that these features of new professionalism lead to a deprofessionalisation of teachers and an over-emphasis on the role of managers (Whitty 2008, Hargreaves 2000). At the same time, the knowledge society and technological changes with its ‘instantaneous, globalized availability of information and entertainment’ (Hargreaves 2000) ask for other qualities of modern professions:

• Increased attention to the life-long professional development of professionals throughout their careers. It is generally accepted that in our knowledge intensive society, lifelong learning becomes essential for career-long professional development (European Council 2009; ETUCE 2008).
• A focus on new forms of relationships and collaboration with colleagues, students and their parents (Hargreaves 1994: 424). Whitty (2008) not only emphasizes collaborative professionalism between colleagues in the school in professional learning communities, but