Teacher Professionalism

Introduction

This report critically evaluates an incident, situating it in the context of Gypsy and Traveller education; the group highlighted as the ‘most at risk in the education system ' (DfES, 2003). Teacher professionalism and how this has developed over the preceding decades will be considered, along with the social, economic and political aspects affecting professionalism. Marketisation in the context of education is examined, and it is argued that that marketisation, by its very nature, excludes vulnerable ethnic minority groups; and that this exclusion from education has an impact on an educator’s pedagogy and practise. Marketisation has changed the landscape of teaching and pedagogical practice and arguably the introduction of the

This ideology was founded on the premise that an occupation ought to have certain features in-order to hold the title of a ‘profession’ (Whitty, 2006; Swann et al, 2010). Whitty (2006) cites that the work of sociologists during the 1950’s and 1960’s sought to establish the set of characteristics that a profession should have, typical examples of these features included: the use of skills based on theoretical knowledge, a code of professional conduct oriented towards the ‘public good’, education and training in those skills certified by examination, and a powerful professional organisation (Millerson, 1964). Occupations such as teaching and nursing, did not meet these strict criteria (Whitty, 2006; Demirkasimoglu 2010), leading to teaching being labeled as a ‘quasi-profession’, and therefore having a lesser status than the aforementioned occupations. Despite this discord over whether teaching should be classified as a profession, several important developments occurred during the 1960’s that raised the professional status of teachers.These included more lengthy periods of study for trainees in 1960 and in 1964 the responsibility for setting the curriculum and teaching methods being laid at the feet of schools, and the educators working within them (Gillard, 2005). Some have referred to this time as the

It has been asserted that education became highly politicized from this period onwards, with governments seeking to define new concepts of professionalism, and in doing so, attempting to define the ideals and thoughts of teachers and their work (Swan et al, 2010; Olssen et al, 2004). Prior to the educational reforms of the 1980’s teachers in England exercised a significant degree of control over their work, and enjoyed a sizeable amount of trust from the public (Lefstein et al, 2010). It is claimed that a shift in public trust has taken place as a result of Marketisation (Lefstein et al, 2010; Whitty, 2000; Swann et al, 2008), with the idea as to whether professional workers could, or should, be trusted to act within the public interest being undermined; particularly by those favouring a market economy approach (Swann et al, 2008). Critics of the market orientated education reforms believe that running schools and education institutions on the principles of business, has introduced a ‘new managerialism’ to the teaching profession (Gleeson and Shain, 1999), and this managerialism has led education towards a prescriptive nature, both through professional development requirements and performance management structures (Evans, 2011). Autonomy appears to have given way to accountability (Hoyle and Wallace, 2005; Poulton, 2006).