Characteristics Of Teaching Profession

The characteristics of a profession and how teaching fits this profile

To be a professional as in someone occupied in a profession, eg a doctor, a lawyer or an accountant; that person needs to have a formal qualification and specialised training. This needs to be attained before they take up the practice or work. A craft would on-the-job training as in a trainee plumber would be required to learn from someone else. Just having an aptitude for teaching or having been a successful student may in some countries be sufficient to qualify one to be a teacher. This does not, however, qualify one as being in the ‘profession’ of teaching. People in a profession often carry responsibility for others and if not performed properly could harm those around

This trust leads to heightened societal expectations. Society expects a teacher to what they should teach and then how they should go about teaching it. An example would be an English teacher who teaches English as a foreign language. The teacher needs to know what is required to be taught (content) and to have the skill to be able to teach that content in a manner that is applicable to the students in a given classroom setting. Society requires that teachers are not only adequately qualified, but that they are licenced to teach too. Society expects teachers to show a high degree of expertise when teaching. The teacher is expected to know how to control a large class of boisterous teenagers. A teacher is expected to be able to teach all the students regardless of student intelligence and ability. Society expects the teacher to be a moral, upright person who has strong values and personal standards. Someone who will not hurt or harm the children entrusted to them for the time that they are at school or in the classroom. The video says that parents want three things to happen while their children are at school. They want their children ‘to be happy, safe and educated’. Happy would include not being bullied by teachers or peers, safe could include freedom from the influence of drugs and weapons and educated would include the teacher’s ability to teach and the

The first is that the teacher is properly educated and able to teach, then there are professional bodies that ensure teachers follow Codes of Conduct. Schools have teaching standards and requirements that teachers need to abide by. The governments have laws that control the teaching profession. Many schools have parent/teacher associations so as to facilitate communication of expectations between parents and the teachers/school. Teachers who do not live up to the expectations can be sanctioned by the school authorities and/or the government. These means are put in place so as to ensure that there are checks and balances to the governing of what happens between teaches and