Schirmer |1 Ashley Schirmer EDU 101 Instructor: Dr.

Karla Henderson September 9, 2010

Is Teaching a Profession? Debate Notes

Institutional Monopoly of Services There are many different kinds of teachers who teach how-to services, for example, Yoga teachers have their own places they teach. States can approve emergency certification waivers to deal with teacher shortages. 3.5% of teachers in 2005 were on waivers. This happens a lot in high poverty districts. The rate of out of field teachers in high-poverty districts is 34%. Teaching is the only profession that allows noncertified individuals to practice the profession. Substitute teachers are also allowed to teach without a teaching certificate. Other professionals like doctors and lawyers do not have substitutes or out-of-field individuals that come to replace them when they have situations where they cannot serve their clients.

Autonomy Teachers feel pressure from peers or the institution they work for because their practices can be questioned. Basically teachers can do what they want in the classroom as long as it falls within the set guidelines of what experts consider appropriate learning behavior. Regulatory laws from state and federal levels The opinions of the community New teachers are observed and evaluated on a regular basis by supervisors, veteran teachers. All teachers are observed for performance evaluations by supervisors. They are burdened with paperwork to prove they are following set guidelines. The need for safety for students has cut the amount of autonomy teachers have. More people want to be sure teachers are being held accountable. Teac hers performance=students performance They no longer have professional autonomy about the best way to teach a course. Some schools have a school-wide behavior policy and reward system rather than letting teachers make the decision

Schirmer |2 Larger class sizes and fewer resources have dramatically narrowed the range of decision making. The autonomy teachers have is the resources they use however; it often comes down to either using inadequate resources or buying adequate ones out of their own pockets. Teachers should guard against all unnecessary restraints on their autonomy to continue working towards students needs.

Education and Training Professionals are seen as holding certain knowledge that the general public doesnt have. For example, a doctor has the knowledge on how to perform a triple bypass. From a traditional perception of what constitutes a profession certain criteria are missing. For teachers to have the same level of training in comparison to Doctors the NCATE (which accredits more than 600 colleges and programs nationally that graduate 2/3 of teachers) has initiated a redesign and transformation to make teaching a more respected as a profession with heightened preparation. The panel suggested the restructuring and rebranding of teaching as a practiced based profession like law and medicine. They suggested a more closely monitored induction period like a doctors residency and a career long professional development. The problem is no connection between the clinical experience and learning received in college. Ideally the panel suggested students would teach in the morning then spend the afternoon learning theory connected to the mornings events, then prepare for the next day.

Self-governance The federal government has become more and more active in school law over the last 40 years. School personnel are required to follow, know, and understand, all of the laws, policies, and common laws that govern a particular school. They have to follow specific policies, especially those related to discipline set up in the student and staff handbooks. Teachers are governed by their Board of Education, Unions, and the Department of education. The community also has a degree of governance over the public schools. Teachers have little say over who, what, when, and where they teach and in some cases how they teach.

Public Trust They should have a high degree of public trust but when public schools are doing badly the public turns against them quickly because they are paying taxes to give their students a place to learn.

Teachers salary There are 5-6 times as many public school teachers as there are doctors. Doctors pay more for their education

Schirmer |3 Teachers are seen more as public employees instead of having the level of professionalism of doctors and lawyers. Parents rarely have a say as to which teachers their students have. They also have to pay if they choose to send their children to a school that is out of their district. Doctors are chosen by their patients, no one is required to see a certain doctor. In order for teachers to be paid as much as doctors they would have to attract students on a voluntary basis.

Professions have: Possession of an esoteric Knowledge base Long and substantial amount of training required for entrance Existence of a professional association that can speak authoritavely for the occupation Code of ethics Significant professional autonomy Strong orientation toward service and client welfare Usual paradigm cases of professions are fee for services occupations Quasi-professions- it will have some characteristics of a profession but will have them to a lesser extent than the paradigm cases of professions. Organize strikes Members of a professional association rather than a union?