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 EvansSchool of Education, University of Leeds, UK

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

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?

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

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

‘New’ professionalisms prescriptive

descriptive

analytical commentaries

research reports and analyses

key feature – reduced autonomy and control re-professionalisation proletarianisation

Professionality

Eric Hoyle: professionalism - status-related

• the institutional component of professionalisation

professionality - knowledge, skills & procedures

• the service component of professionalisation

‘extended’-‘restricted’ professionality continuum

Professionality orientation: teachers

‘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, Eric Hoyle, 19751975

The ‘restricted’-’extended’ teacher professionality continuum

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’

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)

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.

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’

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?

Key components of professionalism

Subjective professionalism

Functionalcomponent

Intellectualcomponent

Attitudinalcomponent

proceduraldimension

productivedimension

processualdimension

evaluativedimension

motivationaldimension

perceptionaldimension

epistemologicaldimension

rationalisticdimension

comprehensivedimension

intellectualcomponent

epistemologicaldimension

rationalisticdimension

comprehensivedimension

What is the basis of practitioners’ knowledge?

To what extent do practitioners apply reason to decision making?

What do practitioners know and understand?

Common sense and experience?Research and/or scholarship?

•In which disciplines/subjects?•What depth?•What width?•Contextual differences?

Is practice underpinned by rationality, intuition, or a mediation of the two?

What does the professional knowledge base comprise?Are there specialist areas?Are there minimum (general) practitioner knowledge requirements?

attitudinalcomponent

evaluativedimension

motivationaldimension

perceptualdimension

How do practitioners evaluate things(issues, situations, people, activity, etc.)?How do they evaluate their profession and its purpose?

How motivated are practitioners?What motivates them?

How do practitioners perceive things (issues, situations, people, activity, etc.)?How do they perceive their profession and its purpose?

What values do practitioners hold?How widespread/consensual are thesevalues?Are there any key/core values?

How motivated are practitioners?What motivates them?

What perceptions do practitionershold?What perceptions do they not hold?How widespread/consensual are specificperceptions?Are there any key/core perceptions?

functionalcomponent

proceduraldimension

productivedimension

processualdimension

What procedures do practitioners apply to their practice?What hierarchical procedures operate within the workforce?What stratification exists within the workforce?

What is the nature of practitioners’output?How much do practitionersproduce?What (if any) productive yardsticks guide them?

What processes do practitioners apply to their practice?

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?

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?

Advising?Educating?Regulating?Policy analysis?Knowledge generation?Learning?Inter-institutional collegiality?

The capacity of reform for achieving professional development

The problemsReform 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.

The professional development process

The process involves enhancing individuals’ professionality.progression along the professionality

continuum

What does the professional development process in individuals involve?

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 replacedEvans (2008) work-in-progress

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.

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)

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.

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

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.

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?