Professionalism, Professionality andTeacher Developmentseminar presented at the invitation of the Belgian Flemish Ministry of Education, University of Ghent, 20th May 2008

Dr Linda EvansSchool of Education, University of Leeds

l.evans@leeds.ac.uk

The job interview You are chairing the interview panel for the

appointment of the headteacher of a primary school in a Brussels suburb.

There are only two serious contenders: Marie-Anne Justine

They each have the same amount of experience. They each have excellent references. They each appear pleasant and amiable. They each appear competent and professional. They have each demonstrated good leadership

skills. Which one do you choose?

The deciding questions

In this school there is a very wide range of ability among the pupils.

How would you address that? What kinds of classroom practice would

you promote in order to deal with the problem?

Justine’s response

I think streaming works. And I think it …it’s the best solution to the problem. So I would introduce a policy of streaming children according to their ability…because, otherwise, it’s very difficult for the teachers to deal with. I mean, I’ve taught classes where there’s been a very wide ability range and it’s impossible to cope with … some of the children just can’t keep up with the work … so, I mean, it’s not fair on them and it’s not fair on the teacher either. So, yes – streaming is the answer.

Marie-Anne’s response

I would ensure that staff were trained on how to cater for children’s different needs. I’d perhaps do it myself – the training – because I’m experienced at catering for different abilities … different needs. I can tell you where any child in my class is on any book. But I feel I have to be doing that because, otherwise, you can’t have children working individually. And so, when teachers say, ‘Well, you can’t deal with kids individually’, I think you can deal with them individually, but it’s hard work, and it requires a lot of organisation…and so, that’s what irritates me when I hear people saying – well, not bothering about meeting a child’s individual needs. If you can’t meet the child’s individual needs …then that child might as well not be at school. …So, you’ve no choice. To be effective you’ve got to meet individual needs.

Accounting for the difference

Which teacher would you vote for?Why?

What accounts for the difference between Justine and Marie-Anne?

professionality

What do we mean by ‘professionality’?Professionality: refers to the knowledge, skills and procedures which teachers use

in their work combines:

professional ideology job-related values vision

reflects what the individual believes education and teaching should involve

incorporates individuals’ predispositions towards, and levels of: reflectivity rationality intellectualism (or intellectual curiosity).

influences perspectives Whilst professionalism principally relates to ways, or even codes,

of behaviour, professionality fundamentally relates more – though not exclusively - to ways, and levels, of thinking that underpins behaviour.

How may we define ‘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.

Evans, L. (1999) Managing to Motivate: a guide for school leaders, London, Continuum, (p. 39)

Professionality orientation

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

Eric Hoyle, 1975Eric Hoyle, 1975

Developing teachers

‘Extended’ or ‘restricted’ professional?

There’s nobody in that school with any vision - nobody with any educational philosophy. They don’t seem to realise what a curriculum really is. ...They’re two male members of staff - the head and the deputy - and they cannot see that that has implications for equal opportunities in the school! They seem to think that because we’ve got one girl who plays football, that’s it – everything is fine. And because the names on the registers aren’t separated into boys’ and girls’, they think everything’s working okay.

Helen, primary school teacher

‘Extended’ or ‘restricted’ professional?

I feel that I’ve got my fulfilment back in teaching, a bit, through re-appraising how I teach certain things, and getting satisfaction out of teaching things better the second time around, and...just a simple thing, like...I get a lot of satisfaction when children understand a topic I’ve covered. This year I’ve had a re-think on how to teach decimals ... and something as simple as that gives me a lot of satisfaction, when I’ve tested them and found that they could do it ... and there’ve been quite a few experiences like that in the last couple of years, and I’ve got satisfaction out of it.

Mark, primary school teacher

‘Extended’ or ‘restricted’ professional?Teacher: I prefer streaming the children. It’s easier

– makes my job a lot easier if I only have a certain, y’know, ability range to deal with … it’s what we’ve always done at this school, and it works, so, why bother changing it?

Interviewer: In what way does it work?

Teacher: Er … I dunno, really – it’s difficult to say. It just … well, it works. I mean, you can’t cater for every single child, can you?

‘Extended’ or ‘restricted’ professional?

You’ve got to be absolutely on the ball yourself and you’ve got to have a system which is so good ... y’know, the sequence of how you’re going to do things...which schemes you’re going to use for which particular needs, and so on. And, also, not only is it a lot of work, but it means that you, yourself, have to keep very au fait with what’s available, and when something new is introduced into the school you’ve got to be able to appraise that and your supplementary material in the light of what’s going to be mainstream... . So I suppose, in a way, a lot of my satisfaction is not coming directly from teacher-child contact, it’s coming from, I suppose, in my way, being as organised as I can, being as aware of what’s available as I can, reading as much as I can, and finding out as much as I can about how to meet individual needs for children.

Amanda, primary school teacher

The importance of professionality

It influences teachers’: perspectives attitudes:

job satisfaction morale motivation

professional practice: how they teach how they interact with colleagues their contribution to the organisation of the school or

college

Developing teachers

Teacher development is the process whereby teachers’ professionality and/or professionalism may be considered to be enhanced.

Evans, L. (2002) ‘What is teacher development?’ Oxford Review of Education, 28 (1), 123-137

Enhancing teachers’ professionalism

Teacher development on a profession-wide scale

Imposed by the governmentMinistry of Education

Educational reforma teacher development initiativeattempts to change professionalism

‘New’ professionalism

Changing professionalism through imposed policy or reform

Problems: The profession is not homogenous:

it represents a wide range of professionality orientations

Professionalism cannot be changed simply by someone in authority having a vision of a new or altered professionalism.

Understanding professionalism

Definition of professionalism: 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.

Understanding professionalism Professionalism has to be something that people (e.g.

teachers) actually do. It cannot simply be an idea or a vision in someone’s

head (e.g. a policy maker). There is a great deal of difference between an officially

set-down version of professionalism and professionalism that is enacted by practitioners.

3 reified states of professionalism (Evans, 2008): demanded or requested professionalism prescribed professionalism enacted professionalism

Evans, L. (2008) ‘Professionalism, professionality and the development of education professionals’, British Journal of Educational Studies, 56 (1), pp. 20-38

How do we develop teachers?

Understanding teacher development: Teachers are individuals. Plans and policy aimed at teacher development

must take account of that individuality. A professionality-based approach Promoting a profession of ‘extended’

professionality.

Professionality orientation

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

Eric Hoyle, 1975Eric Hoyle, 1975

Teacher Development: an ontological model (Evans, 2002)

ProfessionalDevelopment

AttitudinalDevelopment

FunctionalDevelopment

ProceduralChange

ProductiveChange

IntellectualChange

MotivationalChange

the process whereby professional performance may be improved

the process whereby people’s attitudes to their work may be modified

Professional Development:an ontological model (Evans, 2008)

ProfessionalDevelopment

FunctionalDevelopment

IntellectualDevelopment

AttitudinalDevelopment

proceduralchange

productivechange

processualchange

evaluativechange

motivationalchange

perceptionalchange

epistemologicalchange

rationalisticchange

comprehensivechange

The professional development process

Recognition of work-related deficiency or imperfect situation

1

Recognition of a ‘better way’

2

Motivation to adopt the ‘better way’

3

Adoption of the ‘better way’

4

Evaluation and refinement of adopted alternative

5

Recognition of new practice as an improvement

6

Evaluation and refinement of adopted alternative

5

Linda Evans (2008) - work in progress