Profession and Professionalism

Pratte and Rury (1991) defined professionalism as “an ideal to which individuals and occupational
groups aspire, in order to distinguish themselves from other workers.” The prestigious status that the
expert professionals enjoy is based on the following characteristics of a profession: 1) a distinctive body
of knowledge, 2) the membership control, and 3) the commitment to the welfare of the client.

1) Expert Knowledge

Professionals are expected to have expertise to do their work. The status of a profession has in part
been a reflection of its identification with a distinctive body of knowledge. Because of this expertise in
knowledge, organizations that employ professionals are not typically based on the authority of
supervisors, but rather oncollegial relationships among peers (Ambrosie & Harley, 1988). Knowledge is
the basis for decisions that are made with respect to the unique needs of clients. The professional
autonomy and authoritative power of the professionals over their practices are also derived from this
expertise of the professionals.

2) Professional Autonomy

The expert professionals assume collective responsibility for the definition, transmittal, and
enforcement of professional standards of practice. They also control the education and licensing process
of its members. The selection process starts from the admission process into the educational agencies,
typically university programs at graduate level. Because of the competition to the limited number of
students admitted to the program, the better prepared candidates are selected. In completion of the
program, the candidates of the professionals have to pass the rigorous test on the expert knowledge,
followed by continuous evaluation during the internship period. This certification process not only
controls the induction of members to a profession, but also promotes the acquisition of standardized,
formal knowledge required to its members through their interaction with the experts in the profession.

3) Motivation on Public Services

In addition to the requirement of expert knowledge in theory and practice, the professional
practitioners pledge their first concern to the welfare of the clients. Codes of ethics in the professional
practices are usually established by the professional association and enforced by the peers in the
profession. If any client is not satisfied with the services provided by a professional, he or she initiates a
legal process instead of reporting the case to the supervisor.

As discussed so far, teachers are substantially different from the expert professionals in professional
training, induction process into the field, professional autonomy, practitioner-client relationship, and
social status. These differences not only characterize the nature of teaching but also determine the
nature of education that the American students receive at schools. As teacher professionalism has been
a major concern among the proponents of American education reform since early 1980s, more attention
on the status of American teachers seems to be needed.

Teaching Profession

Profession is the phenomenon of vital activity created by division of labor that social,
economical and technological factors require. Teaching profession has originated from the social
and economical changes that have arisen in societies and can be described as “a professional
occupational group of education sector possessing social, cultural, economical, scientific and
technological dimensions”. Profession of teaching is based upon a specialization on a certain
field, teaching skills, didactics and some certain personal characteristics that the profession
requires. There is a close relation between the fact that individuals who select teaching
profession possess the knowledge of subject matter, teaching skills and suitable personality traits
and whether the mission which is attributed to this profession is successfully fulfilled.

Teaching profession began to develop with the emergence of education as a field of profession
and vocation. It has been argued for a long time whether teaching is a profession or not. In the
end, it was agreed that teaching is a distinctive profession and that it possesses all of the qualities
that a profession should possess (Tezcan, 1996). Teaching profession could be described as “a
professional occupational group of education sector possessing social, cultural, economical,
scientific and technological dimensions” (HacÕo÷lu, 1997; as cited in Erden, 2007). For an
occupational group to be classified as a professional occupation, it is necessary that it provides
services in a determined field, goes through formal training which offers expert knowledge,
possesses professional culture, has admission control, possesses professional ethics, owns
professional establishments and is considered as a profession by the society (Erden, 2007;
Tezcan, 1996).

• 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.

Characteristics of teaching profession

Teacher’s knowledge of the subject matter

For a vocational field to be classified as a professional career field, it is necessary that the people who
perform the vocation possess specific knowledge and skills. Teachers who have comprehensive
knowledge of their subject matters let their students actively participate in the lessons. These teachers
are aware of the problems the students encounter while learning and are ready for any questions put by
the students and the answers these teachers provide are not evasive or ambiguous (Woolfolk, 1998). It
requires a formal training period for an individual to specialize in a subject matter. This period is four
years in Turkey for all kinds of expertise and it is also the same in nearly all the other countries. Today
knowledge is produced and consumed quite rapidly. The information the teacher conveys to his
students should be up-to-date and should reflect the latest scientific facts of the field. The individual
usually ends his career development when he graduates. This is not a correct approach. The fact that
information is produced rapidly demands that it is updated.

3. Teaching skills of the teacher

A teacher cannot succeed if he cannot convey his knowledge to his students no matter how competent
he is in the subject matter. Therefore, the teacher needs to have teaching skills (Erden, 2007; Tezcan,
1996)). Teachers control the learning and teaching process by way of planning and carrying out the
lessons, evaluating students, maintaining the order in the classroom and ensuring that their students
participate in activities which could be beneficial for them to reach the goals of the lesson (Ün AçÕkgöz,
2004). Teachers acquire this skill through vocational courses and practices included in teacher education
programs. Clifford (1997) states that, for an effective teaching, a teacher should possess basic qualities
such as “expertise on the subject matter, motivating for learning, awareness of student differences,
planning the teaching process, knowing and using teaching-learning strategies, designing learning
environment, effective communication and objective evaluation” (as cited in Ün AçÕkgöz, 2004). In this
chapter, teachers’ teaching skills such as “planning the teaching process, offering variety, using the
instruction time effectively, creating a participatory learning environment, monitoring the development
of the students and ensuring the students’ self-control” are dealt with.

1. Planning the teaching process: Planning includes creating learning experiences for reaching
prespecified goals, determining teaching methods and techniques, and practices and evaluation
activities (AydÕn, 2008). Burden and Byrd (1994) states that annual plans are significant for teachers and
preparing semester, unit, weekly and daily plans constitutes a route guide for determining when to
teach what. It is within the teachers’ responsibility to design and prepare learning activities considering
the fact that each and every student has a unique way of thinking and different interests (Cangelosi,
200). Morrison, Ross and Kemp (2004) mention that while planning, it is necessary to determine how
much time it will take the student to acquire the required knowledge, where the teaching process will
take place and how the students’ learning achievement will be evaluated. And planning, which occupy a
dominant place in teaching process, is the teachers’ most significant responsibility (Gözütok, 2004).
According to Moyles (1992) the majority of the disciplinary problems emerge when the teachers cannot
begin their lesson in the way they planned. Therefore, the success of the teaching process depends
greatly upon the fact that its plans are of high quality (Senemo÷lu, 2007).

2. Offering variety: Monotony is one of the most important factors that lead the teaching process to be
boring and disciplinary problems to arise in the classroom. Monotony arises in the classroom if the
teacher lectures in the same way every day, asks similar questions, rewards students in the same way or
make use of the same gestures, facial expressions or tone of voice (Erden, 2007). In the classroom, a
successful teacher should motivate the students and diversify teaching approaches, class formation and
types of assignments by making use of verbal communication, which is “a method of carrying out the
exchange of emotions and opinions”, and also “body language (nonverbal communication), which is
effective in initiating, resuming and ending a communication process and which complements verbal
communication” (Hotaman, 2005). A teacher should both clearly convey his messages to the students
and be an effective receiver of their messages (Barker, 1982). Such an active and effective receiving
helps the students gain emotional security (Nelsen et.al. 2000).

3. Using the instruction time effectively: According to Montague (1987), one of the most important aims
of classroom management is using effectively the time available for instruction. If the time spent with
direct teaching can be increased, the amount of learning will naturally increase as well. Cipani (2008)
states that all teachers should 1418 Davut Hotaman / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010)
1416–1420 have a behavior modification program regarding these unexpected student behavior for
using effectively the time available. The students should be able to acquire the aims of the lesson within
the prespecified time of the lesson. Moreover, the time allocated for the specified aims should be
sufficient. Without the skill of using the instruction time effectively, other skills might not be effective
enough and a good classroom management and organization saves the teachers from many hardships
they could experience (Macrea, 1998; Jones, 2000; Macrae, 1998).

4. Creating a participatory learning environment: The students need to participate actively in the
teachinglearning process for learning, that is to say, a permanent change in behavior caused by
experience to take place. An effective teacher actively involves his students in the teaching-learning
process. The structure of education and the ideology of society require a democratic classroom
management because the school helps the individual develop a healthy personality in agreement with a
democratic life (Hotaman, 2004). In a democratic classroom, the teachers involve the students in the
lesson but do not encourage them to rebel. As is in the formulation of classroom rules, the teacher also
lets the students participate in the decisions regarding what to study in the classroom (Edwards, 1997).

5. Monitoring the development of the students: An effective teacher carefully monitor the students’
level of understanding and apprehension of new information. When the teacher spots gaps in learning,
he makes up the deficiency and corrects the mistakes. Evaluation of the teaching-learning process
enables receiving feedback on the development of the students. Feedback serves functions of guiding,
motivating and reinforcing (Sönmez, 2007). Sometimes, even children of the same age group differ in
terms of pace of advancement, interest, ability and needs. Thus, it should not be expected that all the
students will demonstrate the same level of achievement in all of the activities. Developmental delays
might obligate the student to demonstrate different behaviors than his peers. If this situation is
ridiculed, it causes loss of self-confidence in the students and therefore affects the learning process
quite negatively (ÇakmaklÕ, 1998).

6. Ensuring the students’ self-control: Children need three types of sources for self-control; positive
emotions towards their own selves and the others, grasping the difference between right and wrong and
alternatives for problem-solving. Some of the strategies for ensuring children’s self-control are
preventive, some are remedial and some develop plans for modification, however all offer a positive and
effective disciplinary approach to the parents. As learning how to learn is essential nowadays, an
individual who has developed self-control can plan for his career or future, can guide and monitor
himself (Eaton, 1997; Gordon, 1998).

4. The personality traits of the teacher

Some arguments exhibit that the personality of the teacher is the most important variable in the
classroom(Sönmez, 2007; Gürkan, 1993; Oktay, 2001). Many studies conducted on teachers have shown
that a sufficient teacher in terms of personality affects his students in a positive way and an insufficient
teacher in terms of personality alienates his students from school or even from learning itself (Gürkan,
1993). Getzels and Jackson (1965) states that the educational features of a teacher is evaluated by who
he really is rather than what he does (as cited in Gürkan, 1993). Küçükahmet (1987) also states that the
personality of teachers has many effects on the students; all the elements that make up the personality
of the teacher have an influence on the learners and a positive classroom atmosphere; and once a
positive classroom atmosphere is created, it continues to affect the student even outside the classroom.
Research shows that friendly, flexible, tolerant, humorous teachers who pay attention to their students
have a more positive effect on the students’ learning and attitudes when compared to the ones who
does not possess these traits (Hamachek, 1972). Direct, self-confident teachers who are at peace with
themselves accept different opinions, are tolerant and encourage participations and interactions from
students, while anxious and insecure teachers worry about students’ emotions towards themselves. It
has been found that the students of friendly teachers are inclined to scientific subjects and more
creative. Teachers who possess such personality traits provide emotional support for their students
(Erden, 2007). In this chapter, personality traits such as tolerance and being patient, being open-minded,
flexible and adaptive, being affectionate, understanding and humorous, success expectancy, being
encouraging and supportive and a democratic personality are mentioned.

1. Tolerance and being patient: As children of school age have a hard time in distinguishing between
right and wrong and try to prove themselves, they might demonstrate a great deal of negative behavior
in the classroom. In this case the teacher should be tolerant and patient towards some of the faulty
behavior of the students (Erden, 2007). Tolerant and patient teachers have a chance of modifying
students’ behavior. It is important that teachers Davut Hotaman / Procedia Social and Behavioral
Sciences 2 (2010) 1416–1420 1419 tolerate not only unexpected student behavior, but also different,
unusual and contradictory opinions (Hamachek, 1972).

2. Being open-minded, flexible and adaptive: In today’s societies in which social change has gained
speed and a lot of great advancements take place in science and technology, the teachers need to be
open-minded, flexible and adaptive in order to improve themselves and their students. Teachers who
possess these traits know that their ideas, emotions and perceptions might be different from the ideas,
emotions and perceptions of other people. They can see situations in other people’s perspectives
(Erden, 2007). Making use of unexpected situations alongside the planned activities is related to the
teacher’s adaptive personality traits.

3. Being affectionate, understanding and humorous: Affection plays an important role in students’
personality development and their becoming self-confident and social individuals. The students who
love their teachers develop positive attitudes towards the school and lessons and thus succeed.
Affectionate teachers establish positive and supportive relationships with their students. Humorous
teachers ensure a friendly and enjoyable atmosphere in the classroom. Humor eliminates the walls
between teachers and students and reduces the distance. Students feel close to their teachers. Lessons
become more enjoyable and pleasant (Erden, 2007). If the teacher is sincere, understanding and patient,
this will lead the students to think positively; however, contrary behavior will have a negative effect on
the students (Duke, 1984).

4. High success expectancy: The expectation of the teachers towards the students and the success of the
students are highly correlated. When teachers have high success expectancy towards their students,
they make time for them, encourage them to learn and believe that they will succeed in learning and
thus, it can be said that teachers become more attentive to the teaching process. Moreover, when the
student feels the high success expectancy of the teacher, he also believes that he will succeed and
develop a positive academic self-concept (Erden, 2007). In other words, students learn as much as the
teachers expect them to. As a matter of fact, some studies show that teachers’ level of expectancy
towards the students has a considerable effect on students’ success. Students who urge their teachers
to review their notes, knowledge and methods should choose teaching profession (Henson and Eller,
1999).

5. Being encouraging and supportive: Teachers should support and encourage their students to learn. A
supportive teacher ensures that the students have self-confidence, learn by themselves and develop a
positive academic self-concept (Erden, 2007). The studies have demonstrated that encouragement and
support not only affect the students’ academic achievement, but also reduce undesirable behavior and
disciplinary problems (Henson and Eller, 1999).

6. A Democratic personality: The people required by modern-day societies are educated in

environments in which freedom, democracy, confidence and responsibility predominate. At school, this
responsibility belongs to the teacher because the main element of the education system is the teacher.
First and foremost, the teacher should believe in human rights, inevitability of differences and the
goodness of a democratic way of life (Demirpolat, 1999). Everything should be grounded on
participation in the planning, practice, monitoring and evaluation processes of a democratic classroom
environment. When the rules of the classroom are set up together with the students themselves, it gets
easier for them to learn and apply the rules and share the responsibility. Dewey states that school is an
institution which is based on simplification, transparency and balance and these facts enable the
learners to change their environment together and to establish relationships in a democratic and sincere
(open) attitude (Gutek, 2001).

Effective teaching requires well-rounded instructors who are

confident in the material they teach as well as their own skin.
Students have a keen ability to sense if a teacher is nervous, unsure
or lying. Being genuine is one of the most important personal
characteristics that a teacher can possess. There are other personal
and professional characteristics as well that are necessary for
effective teaching.
1. Teachers must be knowledgeable about the subject they are teaching. They must understand the
concepts thoroughly and be able to explain and articulate them in detail. They must have the
knowledge to engage students and to judge where and how to be of assistance. They also ideally
have practical, hands-on experience with the subject matter.
2. The best teachers care about their students and are passionate about the material. If a teacher is
bored with the material, then the students will also be bored and less likely to learn. Passion and
enthusiasm draw students in to learning. It excites their minds, creates curiosity and inspires
them to raise their energy levels in class.
3. Humans have an innate sense of what is just and what is not. Favoritism and unfair treatment can
scar students for a lifetime. The best teachers do everything they can to ensure their classroom
is fair and just. Students can only grow and learn in an environment they feel is safe and honest.
4. Students quickly disrespect teachers who are unprepared. Being unprepared shows your lack of
care about the students and the material. It makes you appear incompetent. Be prepared for
every class in order to win and maintain your students' respect
5. Creativity lets teachers think outside the box and work around problems. Creativity helps teachers
reach students in enjoyable, memorable ways. It cures boredom and raises moral and
enthusiasm in the classroom.
6. Students learn best in a positive atmosphere. Humor is the best way to break the ice and dispel
awkward or negative situations. Teachers who are comfortable enough to laugh at their own
mistake are strong examples of confident, witty individuals. Humor is also an effective way to
teach students difficult and dry concepts.
7. Respect others to gain respect in return. Teachers who respect their students are respected
themselves. Teachers who respect their students' privacy, who speak to students individually
after class and who are sensitive to their students' needs and feelings tend to be the most
respected.
8. Being in a position of authority, teachers must know how to take the lead. There is no room for
shyness and timidity. Leaders must have a vision, a goal toward which they are directing the
students. They must inspire and encourage students to implement action. The best leaders are
the best listeners.