4S) T & T- 1A (18-Feb-2018) Bharghava Shyam-

Date: 18-Feb-2018

Name: A.N. Bharghava Shyam

Admission Number: MAE15007

Question:

Submit an essay on how professionalism can be developed in teachers. Do refer to relevant readings and literature to support your thoughts and arguments. Do make use of your own observations and experiences to reflect upon and develop your arguments.

Response:

One individual person will go to the doctor when they get an illness only; One will go to the engineer when they want to construct some building; one will go to the police station, when they face individual/communal illegal/legal problems (as per their feelings), etc. People need help from professionals when they feel/face a problem of lacking something. Hospitals {Health}, Courts {Justice}, etc. also comes under in this way.

But the domain of education is different and special, it is required for all compulsorily, because human behaviour is incomplete in nature. All animals are complete in nature, because they are just biological and physical in nature, but Humans are sociological (a class, caste, gender, citizen, regional, etc.), biological, psychological, physical, etc. beings in nature, it happened ontogenetically in the nature. Human’s sociological experiences are not inherent in children/human nature, it need to acquired. Those sociological, psychological experiences are gained from nearby surroundings/environment according to time, situation, place and persons. For giving this sociological experiences in child, formal education is needed for children for making them to fit in society as a citizen. The education systems will also globalize (nationalize) sociological experiences to child.

Professional means who involves in prolonged training with formal qualification. This is the google dictionary meaning, this also says that Professional is to do work with some qualifications in continued way. Qualification means a condition in fulfilled state of process.

Teaching and learning are the major fundamental characteristics of education. So teaching and learning are main things for professionalism in education field.  Teacher means who works with some qualities of having some Ideas/principles in a certain way with competence (do something with knowledge) and skill (to solve the problem) while dealing with knowledge for children. Professionalism says about of a practicing of an activity with competences and skills.

So I feel, professionalism can be developed by practicing of acceptance, because professionalism is a process not end. For process we need to accept, if professionalism is an end, then it has only past, nothing to do with present. Professionalism is a process to work, then it has present, so it will develop future. Professionalism can be developed in teachers in very different ways. Professionalism is developing (learning) process for teaching.

How to develop the professionalism of teachers?

Professionalism can be developed by practicing of ever self-motivation by accepting the process of life. Motivation will come when there is hope in life. Self-motivation also comes from hope (not mostly from expectations). Hope will generated when there is a possibility for achieving something.

I feel, self-motivation for professionalism can’t be trained, but it can be developed through the education (Enlightening experiences) through the- Visual (seeing) experiences, reading experiences, Audio (Listening experiences) and Kinesthetic (Bodily movements) experiences. Self-motivation will come by the environment around him/her. Self-motivation and society/system-support are dynamically interrelated for the development of professionalism in teachers. Professionalism is an ever learning process. By seeing or listening or by reading or by bodily movements or by the interjection of all these will impact on professionalism. For visual, reading and audio they depend on others, for that we need to change ourselves first, because mostly “Their (Others) attitude is the result of our action”. Some objective things have to there for kinesthetic learners to experience and learn with teaching competence and skills, which will help the students in learning the subjects in a conscious relative manner (if knowledge will not be relate to student’s life, then it will become completely abstract/non-figurative knowledge)

If we want to make teachers professional(ism), we need to be professional first, because our society is complex society, most of the things are interrelated, and professionalism is also complicated, anywhere we need start teaching (making realizing g) competence and skills.

Professionalism is the mean/process of to do work with expert knowledge, it is organic (everything will be valuable, if one will be in misplace it will trouble a lot) work, there accepting all the diversified things in our life is very important to develop professionalism, because professionalism to do work and focus on knowledge not on outcome.

I have faith in this both statements “Truth is a Pathless land” (J. Krishnamurti) and “Freedom with Responsibility” (Anurag Behar). Professionalism is a developing competence and skills by means, it is a truth. If you organize the truth, then the truth also starts losing it essence/source and it will be mechanical, because it has fixed outcomes, they only focus on this product, then that process will become mechanical. In mechanical process if we lose anything, nothing will not affect us (but we pretend like affected) e.g. If lost I lost my phone, my life may not become reverse, but I feel disturbed/reverse, but nothing might be there & when I get new phone I will forget about old phone after some time. But in organic process if we lose something that affect will be there for longtime e.g. If I lose my hands I feel disturbed/reversed, If I get artificial hand also I feel I really lack something. If you will not think about any outcome then you might become useless. If there is only freedom (free from responsibilities) then there is no value for work. So we need freedom to exit from mechanical work with responsibilities through the self-motivation. But if you have freedom and responsibilities for that outcome then that process will helpful a lot.

I think this (freedom with responsibility) will be there in informal work culture. I feel Professionalism can be developed by informal (comfortable) setting only, in formal setting we may pressurize, because we need focus on outcome-product instead of work. Most of the things will depend only on the product, not on the process of work, if we focus on outcome then the work might become mechanical and later causes frustration, for teacher if we say I need good marks for students means they think about marks (outcome) only and may forget about right pedagogy, it may create frustration in the process and the process will become mechanical (No value will be there, but we think that there will be some value) with outcome. In Informal sector freedom will be there with some responsibilities. There will control/supervisory will be there by considering individual priorities. Here the authority will give freedom and also responsibilities. Ex. Telling about the process work and reminding about outcomes without pressure. Filed work visits schools the teacher will mostly focus teaching plans for making children to understand the subjects not mostly getting marks there freedom will be there with some responsibilities. We will focus on our skills, by leaving tension about outcome.

All (informal, formal & casual) work process (outcome oriented, freedom/responsibility oriented outcome & not bothering about outcome) all will work in developmental process of professionalism, but in system I think informal arrangement will develop teachers in to their work/practice.

There will be three kind of settings will be there for work. First is formal setting you (I) will be under the control of some authority, there you need to completed your work by given time, here some fixed outcome will be there, here is there is no value for individual concerns. Second is informal setting, here is also you (I) will be under the control (guidance) of other, this is also like formal setup but individual concern will take into the consideration. Third is causal setting, there no will control you, if you are interested only, then only we can work without any supervisory. This is not outcome oriented nor process orientated.

In the formal sector, there is only teacher and student relation will be there, but in the informal sector, the teacher and student relation will be there with friendship and in the casual sector, I think there will be no relation at all. Teacher Professionalism is a process of making students morally (concern with principles of right and wrong) active individual in life (present), this is not outcome, but it is lifetime process, that can be done with hope, that will happen in informal culture.

In the name formal & casual work culture also informal work/practice culture will be there. In the name of informal work culture also casual or formal work culture will be there. Just by name, it is very difficult to define the characteristics of work/practice. We need experience for defining the informal practice for professionalism.

What kind of informal work will develop teacher professionalism?

Process of observing, understanding, the students (observable things) behaviour, socio-economical backgrounds; curriculum (observed things) facts and how it affects present, in the institution settings like schools and families. Trusting relationship, caring attitude, non-judgmental, non-authoritative, fearless environment, etc.

We need to know the value of professionalism, because if we stop professionalism (competence and skills) in education, then there will no good teaching at all, learning become mechanical (No value will be there, but we think that there will be some value for products), the children will happy by seeing marks only, not by seeing the subject knowledge.

With professionalism of the teacher, the student’s subject knowledge will develop and automatically s/he will get marks, then they feel happy about by their subjective knowledge.

CONCLUSION: The Process

Professionalism is the mean/process of to do work. When we are getting/giving freedom in work, it encourages us/them to work a lot. In the informal system this will happen. Professionalism is organic (everything will be valuable, if one will be in misplace it will trouble a lot) work, there accepting all the diversified things in our life. To do work means facing diversified conditions only, “Because we can’t step in the same water (metaphor for all the things including work) again”. In an informal way of work environment, there freedom will be there with responsibilities. This I only need to create this.

Feedback by Indira Vijayasimha (Faculty)

Grade: ‘A-’

It is an original essay and is logically developed. It is very interesting how you have suggested the middle path - between formal/mechanical processes and completely free situations. Some referencing and better editing would have made me give you an A