Professionalism

The video clips used for discussion gave feedback and comments from different people, who gave their opinion on what it takes to be a professional. The clips focused on the views of how many professional occupations can have similar outlooks and characteristics, as that of a teacher. On a whole, the issues that were raised throughout the clips did pinpoint what was needed to be a professional, but they did not fully delve into all the negative viewpoints of being referred to as a professional.

Within the video, there were several comments made which reinforced that teaching requires you to be constantly trying to update your professional skills, and develop these. Teaching was referred to as a “calling” and a “caring profession”. Both the medics and teachers questioned believed that if you did not keep up with the new advances in the profession, then you would not be providing an adequate service to your patient/pupil. If someone within your community of professions was not doing the same amount of work, then the system would break down as there could be a lack of understanding between each professional.

One comment made suggested that in order to be a successful professional teacher, then you must ensure that you are becoming integrated into society. This means that believing that just because you have a diploma, that this is all the work needed to be done. The teachers believed that you must be reachable to the parents, pupils, community and the police, and that you must be prepared to go the extra mile. This could be done by discussing issues with other teachers or subject support groups, which was created to emphasise the huge benefits that came from discussing with others, in turn allowing you to develop other people’s skills and educate the communities.

Another comment that was made was very direct in stating that teachers need to be held accountable for their actions. It was clear they thought that teachers must be positive role models, and this was done by the way we speak and act, as our behaviours can be rubbed off on to others. The comment made also described that teachers must be held accountable for their own actions and they should be  benchmarking grades, in order to see how well their students are progressing.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *