Professionalism, professionality and the status of the teaching profession

1. Professionalism, professionality and the status of the teaching profession invited seminar paper presented at the University of Ballarat School of Education 7th July 2008 Dr Linda Evans School of Education, University of Leeds, UK

2. The changing face of teacher professionalism in England 1970s • practically no centrally imposed curricular regulations • religious education • daily assembly – ‘broadly Christian’ • anything goes • autonomous professionalism late 1980s – mid 1990s (the market phase) • Educational Reform Act (ERA) • national curriculum • local management of schools (LMS) • a ‘new’ professionalism/re-professionalism? • professionalism determined by market forces • client-led focus 1997 – present (the targets phase: standards & modernisation agenda) • pursuit of excellence • literacy and numeracy targets • managerialism • pressured professionalism

3. Context and objectives • ‘new’ or modified professionalisms arising from the ‘standards and modernisation agenda’ • how successfully have professionalisms been renovated? • what have been the effects on teachers and the status of the teaching profession?

4. Key foci • ‘new’ professionalism as an instrument of change • the concept of professionalism • the substance of professionalism • (re)defining professionalism • the capacity of reform for achieving professional development • the concept of professional development • the substance of professional development

5. The concept of professionalism Literature review: • socially constructed • contextually variable • service level agreement • defined externally • defined by the professionals themselves • constantly being redefined • status • homogeneity

6. ‘New’ professionalisms • prescriptive • descriptive • analytical commentaries • research reports and analyses • key feature – reduced autonomy and control • re-professionalisation • proletarianisation

7. Professionality • Eric Hoyle: • professionalism - status-related • the institutional component of professionalisation • professionality - knowledge, skills & procedures • the service component of professionalisation • ‘extended’-‘restricted’ professionality continuum

8. ‘Restricted’ professionality Skills derived from experience Perspective limited to the immediate in time and place Introspective with regard to methods Value placed on autonomy Infrequent reading of professional literature Teaching seen as an intuitive activity ‘Extended’ professionality Skills derived from a mediation between experience & theory Perspective embracing the broader social context of education Methods compared with those of colleagues and reports of practice Value placed on professional collaboration Regular reading of professional literature Teaching seen as a rational activity Professionality orientation: teachers Eric Hoyle, 1975

9. The ‘restricted’-’extended’ teacher professionality continuum

10. Professionality and professionalism Professionality is: an ideologically-, attitudinally-, intellectually-, and epistemologically-based stance on the part of an individual, in relation to the practice of the profession to which s/he belongs, and which influences her/his professional practice. Evans, L. (2002) Reflective Practice in Educational Research (London, Continuum) Hoyle (2008) ‘the service component of professionalism’

11. Professionality and professionalism Professionalism is: • the ‘plural’ of professionality; • professionality writ large; • the amalgamation of individuals’ professionalities. Professionalism is: professionality-influenced practice that is consistent with commonly-held consensual delineations of a specific profession and that both contributes to and reflects perceptions of the profession’s purpose and status and the specific nature, range and levels of service provided by, and expertise prevalent within, the profession, as well as the general ethical code underpinning this practice. (Evans, L. (2008) ‘Professionalism, professionality and the development of education professionals’, British Journal of Educational Studies, 56 (1), 20-38)

12. Professionalism and professionality • Professionality is: an ideologically-, attitudinally-, intellectually-, and epistemologically-based stance on the part of an individual, in relation to the practice of the profession to which s/he belongs, and which influences her/his professional practice. • Professionalism is: the perceived enactment of professionality-influenced practice that is consistent with commonly-held consensual delineations of a specific profession and that both contributes to and reflects perceptions of the profession’s purpose and status and the specific nature, range and levels of service provided by and expertise prevalent within the profession.

13. The impact of government policy on teacher professionalism A closer look at professionalism • 2 main perspectives: • subjective professionalism • objective professionalism 3 reified states of professionalism • Professionalism that is demanded or requested • specific service level demands or requests • Professionalism that is prescribed • envisaged or recommended service levels • Professionalism that is enacted • as observed • Only the 3rd of these is ‘real’

14. From ‘demanded’ to ‘enacted’ professionalism The capacity of reform for achieving professional development • A ‘new’ professionalism isn’t a ‘new’ professionalism unless it is enacted. • Reform or policy change is a professional development initiative • How may reformers or change agents achieve professional development within a professionality-influenced professionalism?

15. comprehensive dimension perceptional dimension processual dimension epistemological dimension evaluative dimension procedural dimension rationalistic dimension motivational dimension productive dimension Key components of professionalism Subjective professionalism Intellectual component Attitudinal component Functional component

16. intellectual component What do practitioners know and understand? What does the professional knowledge base comprise? Are there specialist areas? Are there minimum (general) practitioner knowledge requirements? comprehensive dimension What is the basis of practitioners’ knowledge? • Common sense and experience? • Research and/or scholarship? • In which disciplines/subjects? • What depth? • What width? • Contextual differences? epistemological dimension To what extent do practitioners apply reason to decision making? Is practice underpinned by rationality, intuition, or a mediation of the two? rationalistic dimension

17. attitudinal component How do practitioners perceive things (issues, situations, people, activity, etc.)? How do they perceive their profession and its purpose? What perceptions do practitioners hold? What perceptions do they not hold? How widespread/consensual are specific perceptions? Are there any key/core perceptions? perceptual dimension How do practitioners evaluate things (issues, situations, people, activity, etc.)? How do they evaluate their profession and its purpose? What values do practitioners hold? How widespread/consensual are these values? Are there any key/core values? evaluative dimension How motivated are practitioners? What motivates them? How motivated are practitioners? What motivates them? motivational dimension

18. functional component What processes do practitioners apply to their practice? Advising? Educating? Regulating? Policy analysis? Knowledge generation? Learning? Inter-institutional collegiality? processual dimension What procedures do practitioners apply to their practice? What hierarchical procedures operate within the workforce? What stratification exists within the workforce? Mode(s) of communication? Mode(s) of implementing policy? Mode(s) of regulating? Mode(s) of innovating? How is responsibility distributed - for knowledge/role coverage? What layers of practice exist? procedural dimension What is the nature of practitioners’ output? How much do practitioners produce? What (if any) productive yardsticks guide them? What do practitioners ‘do’ – their remit and responsibilities? Is their workload determined by the clock – set hours? Is workload determined by the task – in response to need? productive dimension

19. The capacity of reform for achieving professional development The problems Reform or policy change initiators: • focus predominantly on achieving functional development; • ignore, or neglect, the importance of attitudinal and, in some cases, intellectual development; • are unaware of, minimize, or ignore the professionality-influenced heterogeneity of professionalism; • manifest simplistic, naïve inadequate understanding of human nature.

20. The professional development process • The process involves enhancing individuals’ professionality. • progression along the professionality continuum • What does the professional development process in individuals involve?

21. The professional development process in individuals Components: • recognition that there’s an alternative • a better way • ‘encountering’ a specific alternative • evaluating the specific alternative • recognising the specific alternative as a better way • implies recognition of the perceived relative inadequacies of previous practice/views/knowledge etc. • adoption of the perceived better way • evaluation of the newly adopted practice/views/attitudes etc. as better than what it/they replaced Evans (2008) work-in-progress

22. Professional development through reform or policy change Dependent upon: • attitudinal development on the part of the ‘developed’ or ‘developee’ that is congruent with the reform/change agenda; • shared perceptions of deficiencies and imperfections; • shared perceptions of what constitutes a ‘better way’; • change initiators’ willingness to accommodate this heterogeneity.

23. The effect of imposed policy & reform on teacher professionalism Has teacher professionalism been redesigned? • on one level, undoubtedly • compare 1970s with present day • on another level … • the professionality range remains wide • lack of uniformity/homogeneity • much ‘irony of presentation’ • ‘manifests itself in the manner in which members of an organization present an image of the organization to the outside world that is not wholly congruent with the reality of its daily practices.’ (Hoyle, E. and Wallace, M. (2007) Educational reform: an ironic perspective, Educational Management, Administration & Leadership, 35(1) 9–25 ) • the ‘paying lip service’ approach • ‘pernicious differences between the “paper” and the “real”’ (Stronach, I. et al (2002) Towards an uncertain politics of professionalism: teacher and nurse identities in flux’, Journal of Education Policy, 17 (1), 109-138)

24. Professional status Have teachers lost any of their status as professionals? • Is teaching any less of a profession than it previously was? • How do we define a profession? • How important is it to be a profession? • Developmentalism is professionalism re-invented and re-named, for greater applicability to 21st century working life.

25. Developmentalism … • means a commitment to (self-)develop(ment). • is an antidote to complacency. • is the mindset that engages practitioners in the business of striving to improve their practice. • manifests itself as relatively frequent and regular engagement in ‘ostensible CPD’. • is a component of the individual’s stance in relation to the practice of the profession to which s/he belongs, and which influences her/his professional practice • professionality

26. Practitioners with a strong developmentalist attitude will typically: • be analytical and self-critical in evaluating their own practice; • manifest single-minded concern for the quality of their work; • continually strive for excellence, according to her/his own definition and measurement of it; • perceive each new task as a challenge: an opportunity to perform better, and achieve more, than ever before; • be ‘extended’ professionals.

27. From professionalism to developmentalism • The calibrations on the ‘profession - semi-profession – non-profession’ yardstick are being increasingly blurred. • How may we make qualitatively-based distinctions between occupational groups? • Developmentalism • autonomous developmentalism • compliant developmentalism • How developmentalist are teachers, in comparison with other occupational groups?