Being a Teacher

Professional Challenges and Choices

Section Three | Teaching as a profession

Writers | Mike Adendorff, Mark Mason, Maropeng

Modiba, Lynette Faragher and Zandile Kunene
Editor | John Gultig

The SAIDE Teacher Education Series

Section three

Teaching as
a profession

3.1 Introduction..................................................................................... 27
3.2 Making sense of professionalism............................................... 29
3.3 Is teaching a profession?.............................................................. 31
3.4 Striving for professionalism......................................................... 37
3.5 The contradictory context of professionalism....................... 40
3.6 Professional accountability......................................................... 45
3.7 Conclusion........................................................................................ 52
Introduction 3.1
At the end of Section Two, we posed a challenge, asking you how you could become
‘part of the solution’ in our current teaching context, and what you could do to
empower learners to face their own challenges in the future.
When we last met Peter Adonis, he was beginning to realize that teachers would
not be in a position to help learners ‘become something in the world’ if they saw
themselves as victims, helpless in the face of difficulties. Does at least part of the
answer lie in the notion of ‘professionalism’?
But what is professionalism exactly? The word seems to mean very different things
to different people. Let’s listen in as a group of teachers at Artis Secondary, Peter
Adonis’ school, discuss the same newspaper article that Peter has read, about
renewed calls for professionalism among teachers.

Teaching and professionalism

Shahieda was upset: ‘There go the politicians again – flogging teachers
for being unprofessional, and blaming them for whatever problems they
can’t sort out themselves. After all, it’s only a minority of teachers who
set a bad example and make things uncomfortable for the rest of us.’
‘Isn’t that what why we have a Code of Conduct and a Council of
Educators?’ asked Elmarie. ‘When politicians attack teachers they makes
us seem more like naughty children than professionals. It’s like punishing
a whole class of learners because a few have done something wrong.’
‘Teachers do a good job of breaking down the profession themselves
when they come to work in open-neck shirts or the latest fad in hair-
styles,’ said Livingstone, an older teacher. ‘The breakdown in discipline
we’re seeing among pupils is what happens when you start relaxing
standards among teachers.’
‘Come on, Livingstone, you’re living in the stone age if you think that
professionalism amounts to a dress code,’ said Shahieda.
‘I agree,’ said Peter. ‘There must be something more to being a profes-
sional than keeping to a dress code. But just what do we mean by the
word “professional”? I’m not even sure that teaching is a profession.’
‘I’ve been thinking about how that word was used to keep us all in line
in the eighties,’ said Fana. ‘Do you remember? It was “unprofessional” for
teachers to discuss political topics in the classroom – unless we took it
for granted that what the government did was right.’
‘Yes, I know what you mean,’ said Peter, ‘People need to think about
what they mean when they use the word “unprofessional”. Behaviour
that is unprofessional for some people, may be quite acceptable to
others.’

These teachers bring to light some interesting issues regarding teaching as a profes-
sion. Like members of the police force and lawyers, teachers are often a target for
public criticism. Should teachers jointly take responsibility for controlling their own
conduct? And, in any case, what is professionalism? Does it mean more than a dress
code and punctuality?
As we can see from the dialogue above, the meanings of words are not fixed, but
‘built’ over time by the way people use them. So it’s not surprising that they come to
be used in very different ways by different people. It’s possible to use words to wield
power over people if you say, ‘It’s ‘‘unprofessional’’ to do this or that.’ You can shape
30 Teaching as a profession

someone’s way of thinking, in other words. No wonder there are sometimes vigor-
ous debates about which meaning of ‘professionalism’ counts, or whether the word
‘professional’ even applies to teachers.
So which meanings of these terms ‘matter’? What forms of professionalism will
help teachers in their efforts to serve learners? And does this contested concept
hold a key to the renewal of teaching in this country?
A concept is contested when
various groups disagree about
it and question it.

Learning outcomes for this section

When you have worked through this section, you should be able to:
• recognize and distinguish between the various meanings commonly attached to
the terms ‘profession’, ‘professional’ and ‘professionalism’;
• point out the problems with taken-for-granted, ‘common-sense’ views on profes-
sionalism in teaching;
• critically discuss the various arguments and practices associated with the idea of
teaching as a profession, and be able to distinguish which of these are more
beneficial and urgent for both educators and learners;
• recognize what factors in today’s world threaten to prevent teachers from acting
professionally; and
• critically discuss three key documents on which professional accountability in
South Africa is based: the South African Council for Educators (SACE) Code of
Conduct, the Education Labour Relations Council’s (ELRC’s) Manual for Teacher
Appraisal and the same body’s Resolution on the Duties and Responsibilities of
Teachers.
Making sense of professionalism 3.2
Activity 8: Your view
You will gain more from your study of this section if you begin by putting
down on paper your own thoughts on what the term ‘professionalism’
means. Make a simple list in your workbook starting with the words,
‘Professional teachers …’ Spend 5 to 10 minutes on this
activity. Its purpose is not to
Let’s find out how the term ‘profession’ is generally understood and how a ‘profes- test the ‘correctness’ of your
understanding of
sion’ differs from other kinds of occupation. professionalism. However, as
Eric Hoyle and Peter John are two writer-researchers who have thought hard you work through this section,
about the concepts of a profession and professionalism. In their 1995 analysis, you will find it useful to look
back every now and then and
‘Professional Knowledge and Professional Practice’, they summarize the thinking of compare what you read or think
a number of writers on the subject of teaching as a profession. Drawing on their with what you have written here
description, we will say that a profession is associated with the following qualities: – and to note whether your
thinking has changed or not.
We will remind you to do this
at appropriate points.
1. A crucial social function
A profession is an occupation that performs a crucial social function or service
requiring a considerable degree of skill and competence.

2. Specialized knowledge
Professionals draw on a well-established, well-tested body of specialized knowl-
edge, for instance medicine or the law. Acquiring this body of knowledge and skill
requires a lengthy period of higher education.

3. Professional competence
This competence is exercised in situations that are not wholly routine, but which
present new problems and require more than recipe-type knowledge or simple, Recipe-type knowledge
‘right or wrong’ judgements. For example, doctors may well face situations in which refers to simple, ‘how-to’
knowledge, rather than a
the best course of action is not clear, or in which two right courses of action are in deeper, theoretically informed
direct conflict with each other. In contrast, electricians often make relatively straight- understanding.
forward decisions, even though they draw on a variety of solutions that involve
technical knowledge.

4. Professional responsibility
The long period of education required by professions entails socialization into
A process of socialization
professional values, which focus on serving the client’s interests rather than deriv- would include learning the
ing economic profit. In other words, society expects professionals to make decisions attitudes, values and actions
that involve considerable risk, and to take a high level of responsibility for these appropriate to members of a
particular culture or group.
decisions in the interests of their clients, for example a doctor diagnosing and treat-
ing a patient’s illness correctly. These professional values are set down in an ethical
code of conduct, to which all registered and licensed members of the profession are
bound to adhere.

5. Professional autonomy
Professionals require considerable freedom or autonomy to make judgements,
Bureaucratic control would
because they have to draw on knowledge-based skills and values-based decision- involve having to apply a large
making in non-routine situations that are often complex and risky. This involves number of rules and procedures
relative freedom from very restrictive bureaucratic control by the government or in every imaginable situation.
from public interference.
This freedom extends to the professional organizations that have control over the
32 Teaching as a profession

professional responsibilities and conduct of their members. These organizations

enjoy the autonomy to register their own members, and to discipline them if they
infringe the code of conduct.

6. Professional accountability
In exchange for professional autonomy, the controlling body of the profession
assures society that its members are competent, responsible, and accountable. It
Your credentials are the also ensures professional control over their credentials and their entry into the
qualifications that prove that
you can do a particular type of
profession; and it ensures a high degree of accountability through published codes
work. of conduct, disciplinary committees, and audits.
However, this autonomy is not a ‘reward’ bestowed on a profession by a grateful
An audit is a careful, detailed
and official check on quality.
public, but a hard-won right acquired over a long period of time, which is always
open to challenge from members of society. For example, if people became suspi-
cious that doctors were too readily prescribing expens­ive medicines, which they
also sold from their own surgeries, these people might react by challenging doctors’
rights to sell medicines.
Is teaching a profession? 3.3
Activity 9: A
 ssessing teachers’ claims to professional
status

You will need around 20 minutes

for this activity.

Use the summary of professional characteristics you have just read and
the table we provide on the next page to compare the two occupations
shown here. If you feel that the description ‘fits’, just put a tick in the
appropriate column. If you feel it doesn’t fit, or doesn’t quite fit, briefly
write your reason for saying so. (If you are in doubt, think of the South
African situation, rather than of doctors and teachers in general.)
34 Teaching as a profession

Characteristic Doctor Teacher

1. Performs a crucial social

function
2. Able to draw on a well-
established, well-tested
body of specialized
knowledge
3. Expected by society to
use considerable skill in
non-routine, complex
situations
4. Required to undergo a
lengthy period of higher
education
5. Required to have strong
professional values,
which focus on client
interests
6. Expected to take a high
level of responsibility for
professional actions
7. Professional obligations
set down in an ethical
code of conduct
8. Has considerable
professional autonomy
9. Professional body
ensures competence
and accountability by
controlling admission
to the profession and
monitoring conduct

Weighing up teaching as a profession

When we did this activity ourselves, we found that doctors fitted the description
pretty well. When it came to teachers, we entered a number of ticks, but were hesi-
tant in ticking some characteristics. Here are our reasons:

1. Performs a crucial social function?

Yes, most people agree this is true, but their actions fail to support their opinion.
Some people think that if someone is available to control children’s behaviour and
see to their safety, computers and well-crafted learning materials could provide an
adequate means of learning.
Another important reservation we have is that some South African teachers do
not seem to regard their function as crucial. They give out this message through
their absenteeism, lateness, and lack of preparation.

2. Specialized knowledge?
Society is unlikely to place a convinced tick in this block. Although a great deal has
been written about teaching, there is considerable disagreement as to how reliable
it is, compared with other professions. There is also considerable disagreement
within educational circles about the various theories of learning and teaching (we
deal with this in more depth in Section Five).
Teaching as a profession 35

3. Skilled in non-routine, complex situations?

We unhesitatingly ticked this block when we thought of what is required of teachers
every day in the classroom. But we doubted that the majority of the public expected
this of teachers, especially if they had themselves experienced poor teaching. And
then there are educational administrators and researchers who seem to think (incor-
rectly) that teaching can be reduced to a limited number of ‘formulae’, making it
essentially a technical activity (we discuss this in Sections 3. 5).

4. A lengthy period of higher education?

Interestingly enough, a tick here becomes more and more appropriate, as time goes
by. A few years ago, the majority of South African teachers would not have qualified,
but now, more and more teachers have higher education diplomas and degrees.
In fact, it is increasingly difficult to gain a promotion post without a post-graduate
degree.

5. A focus on client interests?

We had no problem ticking this one, if we looked at the majority of teachers. Though
there would be many differences of opinion as to who teachers’ clients are (learners
or parents) and what their best interests might be.

6. A high level of responsibility?

Note the tendency for lawyers,
Yes, but the responsibility for the safety and good education of learners is shared architects and other
among many teachers (over a number of years, and, in secondary education, among professionals to share
several teachers in the same year). So the public is only likely to regard teachers responsibility by working in
teams. General practitioners
as highly responsible in the case of a crisis, such as when a child fails, or when there also tend to refer patients to
is a dispute about discipline. It is more likely to be impressed by the weight of specialist doctors when they
individual responsibility. feel that the responsibility for
diagnosing a particular illness
or prescribing a particular
7. An ethical code of conduct? treatment exceeds their level of
training or experience.
Yes. However, this is a recent development for all teachers in South Africa. The South
African Council of Educators’ Code of Conduct became legally binding only in 1998.
Before that, only the Teachers’ Federal Council (for white teachers) was allowed to
develop its own code of conduct during the 1980s. Again, this is evidence that
teachers are moving increasingly in the direction of a full profession.

8. Considerable professional autonomy?

Not quite half a tick here. The South African Council of Educators (SACE) has created
a certain amount of autonomy for the collective body of teachers. Yet its powers are
mainly regulatory (registering and disciplining) and developmental.
Control still rests to a great extent with the provincial departments of education
as employers and bodies responsible for schooling. Increasing control has passed to
the school governing bodies since the Schools Act of 1996, as schools employ more
teachers in additional ‘governing body’ posts. However, even when teachers are
relatively tightly controlled, they enjoy a degree of practical autonomy in their own
classrooms.

9. Controlled by a professional body?

Here we put half a tick. The SACE does control registration and licensing. This is an
example of professional accountability (see Section 3.6). However, the teachers
themselves share responsibility for control of their conduct with the provincial
education authorities. The teacher unions negotiate responsibilities and conditions
of service (including salaries) with the state as employer at the Education Labour
Relations Council (ELRC).
In South Africa, teachers are held to account through the regulations and require-
36 Teaching as a profession

ments of the provincial education departments and through an ELRC appraisal

system.

At this point, look back to what

you wrote in Activity 8, and Back to Artis Secondary
compare it with what you have
learnt since doing so.
Some of the staff at Artis attended a one-day seminar on professionalism presented
by their teachers’ union. They performed an activity very similar to the one referred
to above. This is part of the discussion that developed in the staffroom the following
day:

‘Well, I think we should forget about the whole idea of calling teaching a
profession,’ said Peter. ‘So much depends on how society sees an occupa-
tion – it all boils down to public perceptions. Our efforts to establish
ourselves as a profession will come to little if society in general doesn’t
recognize us as one.’
‘I wouldn’t say it all depends on what the public thinks,’ objected
Shahieda. ‘I think you’re being pessimistic.’
‘Well,’ said Peter, ‘a lot of people think that teaching’s something
anyone could do if they wanted to – that there’s nothing special about
teachers’ knowledge.’
‘Yes’, said Elmarie. ‘The public aren’t really aware of the responsibility
that good teachers carry for their learners, how they try to awaken an
interest in reading or science when it seems so remote from their learn-
ers’ lives, how they worry when a bright student starts doing badly.’
‘Maybe you’re right,’ said Shahieda. ‘People usually talk about respon-
sibility only when a teacher does something wrong. But I still think we’re
missing something here. Maybe the idea of recognition is just not that
important, and it’s something else we should be aiming at as a profes-
sion.’
‘I think so too,’ said Peter. ‘When I look at the description of a profes-
sion, what I see is something to strive towards, not an accomplished fact
– and we’re only part of the way there. Striving to achieve professional
status is a distraction from the real struggle.’
Fana had been listening without saying anything until now. ‘I agree,’
he said. ‘The real struggle is to transform our schools and our teaching.
For a long time many teachers have seen professionalism as a key to
improving their status. To them it meant dressing conservatively, being
particular about what political party you belonged to and choosy about
who you associated with.’
‘Remember when the word “professional” had a bad name?’ asked
Shahieda. ‘When the first teachers’ unions were formed in the late 80s,
members thought of themselves as “workers”, whereas the more conserv-
ative teachers’ organizations called themselves “professional associa-
tions”. Teachers were polarized: those who belonged to the professional
People can become polarized
associations tended to think that they had a monopoly on professional-
over an issue when they ism. Those who belonged to unions saw themselves as workers and
assume opposed positions over tended to reject the idea of teaching as a profession.’
an argument; if they disagree in
other words.
‘That’s right,’ said Peter. ‘But what really polarized teachers was the
question of whether teachers should go on strike.’
Teaching as a profession 37

Strike!
Strikes are by nature dramatic events, and the period preceding a strike is
always characterized by considerable tension – between workers and
employers, between different employee organizations, and even between
employees within the same organization. People fear loss of salary,
employment, the hostility of colleagues, even open conflict. Co-workers
who generally agree begin to divide. These are some of the reasons why
virtually no-one enjoys going on strike, or only chooses to strike as a
last resort.
But newspapers and other news media like strikes because they make
a good story. Unfortunately, all the drama tends to make us forget the
policy discussion, research and hard bargaining that make up employee/
employer relations. Nevertheless, strikes are certain to divide teachers
decisively on the issue of professionalism; they pose a very considerable
professional dilemma for many.

Activity 10: Teacher professionalism and teacher

unionism
1 Read the two brief passages that make up Reading 5 in your Reader:
‘Teachers want what students need’ by Randall van den Heever on
page 39, and ‘Tricky tension for teachers’ by Archie Vergotine on page Take about 10 minutes to
answer the questions.
41. These passages were written by the leaders of teacher organizations
on either side of a 1994 debate on strikes. Read them with care and
compare the use of the word ‘professional’ in each extract.
2 Can you justify depriving learners of their teachers for a day or more in
order to campaign for better conditions for teachers?
3 One side of the ‘strike debate’ believed that learners might be more
harmed by their teachers having to work in poor conditions, and under
poor conditions of service, than they would if teachers were out on strike
for a few days. Can you think of circumstances that might support this
argument?

On the one hand, Vergotine stresses the professional characteristics of teaching,

subordinating teacher concerns for the good of the learners. He writes of the tension
that results from being both a worker and a professional. On the other hand, Van den
Heever seems to justify teachers’ use of the strike as a possible strategy. He sees no
tension between professional work and union activity. Notice how he uses the word
‘professional’ as an adjective to describe a type of work, rather than laying a very
strong emphasis on the idea that teachers are professionals.
Can you justify depriving learners of teaching in order to campaign for teacher
rights? You might have said, ‘Under no circumstances’ to this question (see point 4 in
Section 3.2 and the discussion of responsibility in Section 3.6, ‘Beyond accountabil-
ity’), that it would be a breach of professional responsibility, set a poor moral example
to learners, and squander the remaining respect that people have for teachers.
Or you might have said that learners’ rights need to be balanced against teachers’
rights to take home an income that enables teachers to support families of their
own. You might have pointed out that in many countries such as Australia and
Canada, teacher unionization and strikes are not regarded with dismay, and have at
times secured important reforms in the schooling system. You might have picked up
that time lost through strike action should be compensated for – presumably by
running catch-up classes.
Could poor teaching and service conditions harm learners more than a strike? It
has long been argued that if teachers’ salaries or conditions of service are allowed to
fall too far behind those of other occupations, the calibre of people drawn into
38 Teaching as a profession

teaching will drop – to the long-term disadvantage of learners.

In 1998 the retrenching of temporary teachers brought the National Professional
Teacher Organizations of South Africa (NAPTOSA), which had always opposed strike
action as being unprofessional, to the point of striking. This policy was seen to
threaten an increasing burden on the remaining teachers and consequently to
threaten the quality of teaching. It was argued by all unions that even though this
policy aimed to achieve redistribution of resources to disadvantaged schools, the
way the policy was being implemented meant that many of those disadvantaged
schools were having to shoulder the burden of staff reduction.
Such shifts in the reasons for striking, coupled with a legislation that identified
former professional organizations as ‘unions’ if they engaged in collective bargain-
ing, tended to narrow the gap between various teacher organizations in the later
nineties. Yet the fundamental issues expressed by the two writers in Reading 5 (on
pages 39 and 41 in your Reader) remain. The questions of moral responsibility
towards the ‘client’, of conflicting principles of right action, mean that the decision
to strike is a professional issue for teachers.
Striving for professionalism 3.4
We suggest that neither taking for granted your status as a professional, nor aban-
doning your identity of a professional is a healthy way to see yourself as a teacher.
Instead we recommend a different approach, one that Peter was beginning to
develop in the last dialogue, namely that of striving towards, not professional status, 1 See Clause 6.2 of the SACE
but professionalism. Code of Conduct, Reading 9
This shifts our understanding of professionalism from a state or condition, to (page 52), and 1.80 of the
Manual for Teacher Appraisal,
something we can aim for, an ongoing goal that allows us to keep abreast of educa- Reading 9c (page 58), in your
tional trends and developments, in other words to remain ‘life-long learners1’ Reader.
ourselves.

To strive for professionalism is not to see it as a state or condition, but as a goal.

But what forms of professionalism are most likely to help teachers in their efforts to
serve learners? In order to introduce some clarity into this picture of striving for
In the world of teaching, the
professionalism, we need to distinguish between two forms that ‘professionalism’
term ‘professional
may take: professionalization and professional development. development’ usually refers
to in-service programmes of
capacity-building aimed at
improving teachers’
Professionalization and professional development competence and practice.
We prefer this term to Hoyle
and John’s ‘professionality’,
The concepts of professionalization and professional development both express because we can extend the
former term to include a
goals or values to strive after, but the actual goals of these two forms of professional-
striving towards improved
ism are rather different. competence and practice. The
The goal of professionalization is to achieve public and legal recognition of an word ‘professionality’ is an
invented term that is not yet
occupation’s full professional status. This usually involves:
generally recognized.
• working to establish a self-governing body, like the Bar Association for lawyers, or
40 Teaching as a profession

the South African Council of Educators; and

Look back to the list of
professional qualities at the • strengthening credential boundaries so that it is not too easy to enter the profession.
beginning of Section 3.2, where
we describe professional
competence and professional
Given the need to assure the public of special knowledge and good service, there
responsibility. are good reasons for these goals. Over time professionalization leads professionals
to develop a market for their services, to define who is competent to provide these
services, to restrict their numbers by imposing ever-higher entrance qualification
requirements, and to achieve the exclusive legal right to supply these services
(Hoyle & John, 1995: 7). By these means they assure themselves of job security, social
prestige and the ability to demand higher salary levels.
The goal of professional development on the other hand, aims to improve the
A non-teaching example of
‘professionalization’ occurred
quality of service provided – teachers’ skills, values and practice, in the interests of
in the late nineties in the form clients. This form of professionalism needs little explanation, but the urgency of
of the ‘Talk to my lawyer’ South Africa’s need for it becomes clear if we think back to the ‘moral minimization’
advertising campaign, which
sought to get more people to
that Fataar and Patterson found in their study of teachers’ coping strategies.
employ the services of lawyers. One can see from this comparison that professionalization tends to focus more
A teaching example occurred in on the attainment of status and rights (extrinsic motivation), while professional
recent years in the pre-school
sector, which expanded
development focuses on taking teaching responsibilities seriously (intrinsic motivation).
with the increased demand
for qualified pre-school
teachers from clients (in this Activity 11: Professionalization and professional
case parents).
development
1 Read the article ‘A culture of teaching’ by Wally Morrow, Reading 6 on
page 43 in your Reader.
2 Morrow emphasizes the need for teachers to discover or rediscover their
special responsibilities as teachers. Is he calling for profession-alization
or professional development? Explain your answer briefly.
You will need about 30 minutes 3 Morrow also says that the reconstruction of education in South Africa
for this activity. is not merely a matter of individual teachers ‘trying harder’. What reason
does he give for this?
4 Like Fataar and Patterson, Morrow is writing mainly with dysfunction-
al schools in mind. This is where the need for professional develop-
ment is probably most urgent. Do you think it is also a necessity in
more ‘functional’ schools, or are they places where teachers can
afford to get on with achieving professionalization goals?

The whole of Morrow’s article points to the need for teachers to see themselves as
crucial agents in bringing about a ‘culture of teaching and learning’. The concern
here is not about teachers’ status or autonomy, but about their ‘special responsibili-
ties’ to serve their ‘clients’ and society.
Professionalization may contribute to practitioners’ professional com­p etence
and ability to serve society by establishing professional bodies like the SACE, but
may not necessarily result in the development of professional competence. Indeed,
some features of the professionalization agenda are more likely to deflect practi-
Self-aggrandizement is the tioners’ attention from self-improvement towards self-aggrandizement (Hoyle &
desire to increase one’s status
John, 1995: 16). This is partly why the SACE has strongly identified with the profes-
or power.
sional development function, as have the various teacher unions.
The Artis teachers pointed out that there are several reasons why the public is
unlikely to be convinced in favour of a professional status for teachers, even though
some of their reasons may be unsound – some people can’t imagine how a teacher
taking seven-year-olds through a number game can be called a professional. The
point is that professional status must be earned, not simply claimed, and will only
be forthcoming if teachers as a group demonstrate client-orientated responsibility,
and base their author­ity to teach on specialized knowledge and a high degree of
competence.
For the individual teacher, long-term job satisfaction is more likely to result from
the daily accomplishment of this knowledge and competence, than from the
increased status gained through professionalization. Long-term satisfaction is based
Teaching as a profession 41

on competence in serving others, and the self-esteem that it gives rise to. This is not
quite the same as the pleasure asso­ciated with professional status, which results
from political effort in favour of oneself and one’s colleagues.
According to Morrow, what the situation demands is a collective effort, which
requires all teachers to contribute and participate in professional development, for
example by sharing resources with less fortunate schools.
Agreeing with Morrow, we advocate that teachers pursue, individually and collec-
tively, a goal of professionalism-as-professional-development, aimed at serving the
best interests of learners with ever-increasing competence. They should not let
themselves be distracted by too much attention to issues of status and autonomy,
so that it can truly be said of all teachers that ‘teachers want what learners need’. As
one union organizer and campaigner for school/community renewal from
Soshanguve commented, ‘You’re a teacher before you’re a member of a teacher
organization.’
Having argued strongly in favour of the pursuit of professional development, we
must hasten to prevent some possible misunderstandings:
• First, we are not saying that professionalization is an unworthy aim in itself, simply
that it has the potential to be, and often is, self-serving. It would be more helpful
to think of professionalism as a continuum rather than two completely separate When something is in a
forms. At one extreme is the status-seeking professionalization process described continuum it changes gradual-
ly, keeping a common character
above, at the other extreme are simplistic ‘recipe’ efforts to improve teaching, from one extreme to the other.
which have little connection with the idea of teachers as professionals.
Establishing a teachers’ council, a code of conduct, and certain minimum
credentials for qualification as a teacher would be somewhere between the
extremes, nearer to the ‘professionalization’ end. What we have called ‘profession-
al development’ would be closer to the ‘improvement’ end.
In fact, teachers and teacher organizations don’t need to make an either/or
choice here. We are arguing that teachers, collectively and individually, need to
prioritize, putting the professional development ‘agenda’ (and therefore learners)
ahead of the professionalization one. It is through professional development that
teachers’ status as professionals will come to be more widely recognized.
• Second, we are not advocating that teachers should not engage in union activi-
ties, both those relating to professional development and those relating to ‘bread-
and-butter’ issues. History has all-too-frequently demonstrated the need for
teachers to be collectively vigilant with respect to salary levels.
• Third, we still think that teachers need to strive against the many current trends
toward de-professionalization in the world of teaching. When we examine the
current situation on the issue of professional teaching, we find that the context is
quite contradictory. For example, some ‘professional development’ programmes
actually tend to de-professionalize teaching.
 The contradictory context of
3.5 professionalism

Favourable policies
On the one hand, current official policies are generally favourable to professional
development, on the other hand, the legacy of apartheid as well as current trends
towards de-skilling often work against professional development.
Research conducted in KwaZulu-Natal in 1998 by the President’s Education
1 The four documents studied Initiative (PEI) Research Programme, the University of Natal Pietermaritzburg (UNP)
were the Norms and Standards and financed by the Joint Education Trust (JET), set out to examine the ‘fit’ between
for Teacher Education (1998:
Committee on Teacher
the latest policy and practice of teaching. It analysed four key documents,1 which,
Education Policy, or COTEP); taken together, set out the responsibilities and expected norms of professional
the SACE Code of Conduct conduct, as well as the frameworks for developing and appraising teacher compe-
(1997: South African Council
for Educators, or SACE); the
tence.
Manual for Teacher Appraisal The analysis found a general coherence and consistency among the documents,
(1997: Education Labour despite the fact that they had been drafted by different agencies. It found that they
Relations Council, or ELRC);
and Duties and Responsibilities
‘work together to promote teaching as a profession, and attempt to create a balance
of Educators (1998: National between professional accountability and professional autonomy’ (1998: 37). In
Department of Education). combination, the policies require:
• planned professional growth on the part of teachers;
• accountability through democratic appraisal; and
• a demonstration of competence in teaching practice.

The unfavourable legacy of apartheid education

Unfortunately, the legacy of apartheid works against professional development. It
See Reading 3, ‘Teachers, iden- was only in the mid-nineties that teaching in South Africa began to emerge from a
tities and space’ by Heather racially fragmented education system characterized by top-down administration,
Jacklin.
which took very little account of real teacher professionalism except to control
teachers ideologically. Any teaching that encouraged learners to question the situ-
ation they were in, or the government’s part in creating that situation, and any
participation in any form of resistance to the machinery of apartheid government,
was branded ‘unprofessional’ by the state and by many teachers. As a teacher on the
Cape Flats explains (Reeves, 1994):

I could never understand why I had to submit my exam question paper

on prescribed books in English to an inspector who would often acknowl-
edge that he hadn’t even read the books. How could I claim to be a
professional when I handed over responsibility for my work to some
outside person?

The school curriculum, the examination system and an authoritarian inspection

system were all designed to leave little room for teacher initiative, interpretation
See the account of and creativity – or for teachers to use fine judgement in complex, non-routine situ-
bureaucratic accountability by ations. All of these, of course, would have been marks of the professional. Rigid
Linda Darling Hammond in
Reading 8 on page 47 of your
bureaucratic regulation was applied in a routine way, with everyone from the prin-
Reader. cipal down to the learners being forced to comply without questioning.
This unquestioning approach was also instilled by the dominant form of profes-
sional education in most black and Afrikaans-language universities, fundamental
Teaching as a profession 43

pedagogics, which was presented and taught as the ‘science’ of education, and Fundamental Pedagogics
therefore as beyond criticism (Tayor and Vinjevold: 132–133). This oppressive stance claimed to be scientific and
hardly encouraged individual teachers to acquire a professional knowledge base. objective in nature, homing in
on the ‘essences’ of the
And attitudes bred over decades do not die out overnight. ‘phenomenon of education’.
However, as an orthodoxy it
discouraged dissent, and in
fact incorporated many
De-professionalization assumptions based on the
State’s ideology of Christian
National Education.
In addition to this unfavourable legacy, current international trends tend towards
de-skilling and de-professionalization. Since the late seventies, teachers in the US
and Britain have resisted these trends with limited success. Unfortunately South
Africa has also been influenced, even while many teachers remain set in unprofes-
sional ways of thinking. To meet this challenge, we therefore need to better under-
stand some of these counter-professional trends.
When any trend takes root in society, there has to be a context to provide fertile
ground for it. In countries like the US and Britain, teachers have seen their profes-
sional autonomy eroded over the last two decades. This has happened in the
context of a conservative backlash against the progressive educational trends of the
sixties and seventies, accompanied by the election to office of conservative political
leaders in those countries. Added to this were the threats of competing economies
such as the Japanese economy. The schooling system was blamed for relatively
poor economic performance, and it was expected to produce a more competitive
workforce.
The usual tendency of conservative governments is to decrease spending on
social services such as welfare and education. This indeed happened in both of
these countries in the late seventies and eighties, while at the same time teachers
were held to account for the results they had produced in the light of government
spending (of taxpayers’ money) on education.
In Britain, teachers’ relative freedom to make their own decisions in the classroom,
which they had slowly won and enjoyed in the sixties and early to mid-seventies,
was increasingly restricted by the introduction of the National Curriculum and the
increasing perception of teachers as technicians. Centralized administration and
bureaucratic control regulated what and how teachers could teach. In the US, where
the control of schooling is much more decentralized, and the curriculum far less
standardized than in Britain, bigger schools (especially secondary schools) have
tended to become impersonal bureaucracies.

De-professionalization in South Africa

Educational trends in the US and Britain often tend to influence South Africa. So we
need to ask: is the context right for these de-professionalizing trends here?
At first appearance the answer is no. In policy terms, the transition to democracy
in the nineties has created a context that seems favourable for improvements in
professional development. In fact, draft transformation policies in education were
well-advanced before the new government took power in 1994 and teachers are
acknowledged as key roleplayers in the transformation of education.
Another reason for optimism about teachers’ professional development is that
South Africa spends a significantly higher proportion of its government’s operating
budget on education (22.1% in 1999/2000) than countries like Portugal, Chile and
Egypt. This proportion compares favourably with those of developed nations like
the US and Britain. And in South Africa, the various provinces spend between 85%
and 95% of the education budget on educators’ salaries (Tayor and Vinjevold, 1999:
27). So these contextual factors certainly favour professional development.
However, the educational context has many contradictions and many reasons for
teachers to be vigilant as the scope for de-professionalization trends increases. This
scope is increasing locally because:
44 Teaching as a profession

• educational bodies have to redress costly system imbalances inherited from

apartheid;
• educational bureaucracies tend to adopt a technical approach to teaching and
in-service teacher training;
• global economies require that schools create a competitively productive work-
force, which also puts pressure on schools to become more like technical training
institutions; and
• overseas companies promote education materials that require little of teachers.

The effects of de-professionalization

How might such forces affect teachers who are striving to develop themselves as
professionals both individually and collectively? Here are some of the effects that
have been observed in schools overseas and at home.
• The underestimation of teachers’ knowledge and capabilities, leading to ‘profes-
sional development’ programmes that are ‘done to’ teachers, rather than carried
out with them, or by them.
• Narrow in-service training of teachers based on ‘recipes’ for effective teaching.
This usually takes the form of isolated, one-to-five-day courses focused on partic-
ular problems or techniques. The techniques tend to remain external ‘tools’; they
do not combine into a coherent, long-term course of professional development
that builds internal vocational commitment or professional qualities.
• Knowledge-making (the work of researchers and writers) comes to be viewed as
quite separate from and superior to knowledge transmission (supposedly the
work of teachers, who are often considered to simply ‘transmit’ a simplified version
of the knowledge to learners).
• The idea becomes widespread that anyone who can control a class of young
learners can transmit knowledge in the appropriate form. The pre-service educa-
tion of teachers is therefore reduced to education in ‘subject knowledge’ (math-
ematics, languages, science or whatever) plus an introduction to practical meth-
odology, the basics of which can supposedly be taught quite quickly. The rest is
supposed to be learnt ‘on the job’ in schools, where theory is often downplayed or
ignored, and the emphasis falls on mastering a number of practical skills and
techniques.
• Hasty in-service training results in misconceptions about the teacher’s role. For
instance, many South African teachers have come to believe that facilitation and
learner-centred teaching do not require much preparation or actual teaching.
• The increasing flow of ‘teacher-proof materials’ such as teaching kits, reading
laboratories, sophisticated learning texts, videotapes and computer-aided
instruction. Some of these have considerable value as teaching aids, but many are
designed to minimize or eliminate the role of the teacher. To be profitable, they
also have to address the broadest audience possible and this standardization
(especially if imported from overseas) fails to recognize local conditions.
• Added to this, all but the best of these ‘teacher-proof’ materials reinforce the idea
that there is one correct answer to every question. They don’t ask open-ended
questions requiring interpretation because these would require a professionally
skilled teacher.
• Finally, these materials reinforce the common misunderstanding that knowledge
is something ‘out there’ that learners have to ‘take in’. This view fails to see that
knowledge is something that learners have to construct for themselves from new
learnings, in conjunction with what they have learnt and experienced already –
often with the guidance of an educator (see Section 5.7).
• Under the pressure of economic necessity, high learner-classroom ratios result in
large classes that teachers are not equipped to handle. This can lead to teachers
developing ‘survival strategies’ (like the ‘chalk-and-talk’ approach) that fail to
Teaching as a profession 45

‘Teacher-proof’ materials are designed to minimize the role of the teacher.

deliver quality teaching.

• When education is driven by economic needs such as global competitiveness,
outcomes-based education tends to be understood in a narrowly technical way. A
narrow ‘educational objectives’ approach more suited to technical training replac-
es a more integrated, formative approach that seeks to foster all aspects of the
learner’s development. Competence is perceived in terms of demonstrable skills
that can be assessed in a straightforward, measurable way, but the values and
purposes that connect and inform these skills are considered ‘luxuries’.

Activity 12: Professional judgement in teaching

1 Read the brief excerpt from What’s Worth Fighting For in School?
Working Together for Improvement by Michael Fullan and Andy
Hargreaves (Reading 7, page 45 in your Reader). These British writers
have vigorously opposed the trends towards de-professionalizing
teaching in Britain.
2 Think of an example from your own experience in which you or another
teacher had to ‘make a discretionary judgement in a situation of unavoid-
able uncertainty’ in the interests of a learner or learners. Describe it
briefly in your workbook.
3 What made the decision difficult? Do you agree with Fullan and
Hargreaves that ‘[in] teaching, as in a number of other occupations,
the core of its professionalism is best defined and described not in terms
of pay or status or qualifications, but in terms of the distinctive kinds of
action and judgements that professionals typically make’? You will need about 20 minutes
for this activity.

Compare teaching with an occupation like plumbing. If a plumber’s client complains

of water pipes making banging sounds in the wall, the plumber knows two or three
possible solutions to such a problem. He will try one method (say, checking the hot
water cylinder pressure valve), and if that doesn’t solve the problem, he will try the
next treatment and so on, until the problem is solved. The attempted solutions are
technical and recipe-like, and are either right or wrong. Qualified plumbers are
extremely well paid in South Africa, but they are not considered professionals.
Teachers in South Africa are not widely considered to be ‘full professionals’ in the
sense that doctors, lawyers or managers are. Teaching is unlike plumbing in that one
46 Teaching as a profession

‘right’ approach may conflict with another ‘right’ approach. Yet those who are at all
conscientious, practice professionalism in their decisions and actions every day,
balancing one learner need against another. What truly matters in professionalism is
that these decisions and actions reflect competence and quality in knowledge, skills
and values, and that they are made in the best interests of those learners.

Licensed to teach?
At Artis Secondary, Elmarie was indignant. The Principal had put quite a
lot of pressure on her to help him out with a staffing problem. As she
explained to her friends in the staffroom at break: ‘You know Rosemarie’s
leaving at the end of the term. Her husband got a post in Ladysmith, and
she’s decided to move there with him. Now the Boss wants me to teach
her two Grade 11 economics classes for the rest of the year. I told him I’ve
never even studied economics, but he said it shouldn’t be difficult to swot
up enough to get the kids through their exams!’
‘You probably won’t find it so bad,’ said Livingstone. ‘Quite a few of us
play Jack-of-all-trades. If you’re a teacher, you can teach anything if you
just swot it up and keep a step or two ahead of the pupils – like you prob-
ably did in your first year of teaching!’
‘But isn’t this being unprofessional when you think about it?’ asked
Fana. ‘I mean, isn’t the saying “Jack-of-all-trades, master of none”?
Elmarie’s qualified to teach English and geography. When teachers have
to teach in areas they aren’t qualified in at all, what are we saying to the
community about the value of schooling?’
‘That’s what worries me,’ said Elmarie. ‘I’m not qualified to teach
economics. Look, I know a thing or two about teaching, so I can probably
keep the classes busy and maybe even learning something. But how am
I going to be able to answer tricky questions? And at the end of the year,
I’ll have to give an account of myself if a lot of them fail.’

Elmarie has a problem, and there’s certainly more than one way of looking at it. We
will come back to the problem of teaching on the basis of insufficient content
knowledge in Section 5.3, but right now let’s try to get a better understanding of
‘giving an account of oneself’, and how it is connected to professionalism.
Professional accountability 3.6
The intention of developing professional competence is one thing, but how does an
occupation provide a reasonable warranty of competence and quality service so
that the public can have the assurance that learners are being given the best possi-
ble attention?
In a democratic society, teachers need to provide such a warranty, otherwise the
professional privileges of control over their own responsibilities and standards will
not be recognized, or will be withdrawn. There must be a mechanism for finding out
whether teachers are ‘delivering’, and not breaching the constitutional rights of the
learners. This is where the principle of accountability comes in.
Linda Darling Hammond’s article ‘Accountability for professional practice’(Reading
8, page 47 of your Reader) points out the importance of educational accountability
in a modern society. She sets out to dispel some of the confusion surrounding this
issue by categorizing a number of different forms of accountability. Three of these If a teacher is guilty of miscon-
are as relevant to teachers in South Africa as they are to teachers in the US: duct that involves breaking
society’s laws, he or she could
• legal accountability, which implies that some fairly serious harm has already face criminal charges in court,
been done (this process is not only expensive; it is reactive rather than proac- in addition to disciplinary
action within the profession.
tive); This is, of course, the case for
• bureaucratic accountability, which was the predominant means of educational members of any profession.
management and accountability under the apartheid government, and which is
still with us; and
• professional accountability, which as we will discover, offers proactive rather than
reactive reassurance.

Activity 13: Bureaucratic accountability

Read pages 47–50 of the article ‘Accountability for professional prac-
tice’ by Linda Darling Hammond (Reading 8 in the Reader), then note
down your thoughts on the following questions:
1 What are the advantages of bureaucratic accountability, if any? You will need about 40 minutes
2 What are its disadvantages for teachers? for this activity.

3 What are its disadvantages for learners?

Darling Hammond mentions the good intentions behind bureaucratic accountabil-

ity. It has the advantage (at least in theory) of ensuring that:
• clients such as learners are treated equally and consistently, so that de­cisions
affecting them are not made subjectively by officials and teachers;
• rules and standard procedures are in place to control the actions of of­ficials, and
there are unpleasant consequences for those who do not follow them; and
• time and money are saved by laying down standardizing procedures and services
(this point is not mentioned by the writer).

According to Darling Hammond, the disadvantages of bureaucratic accountability

for teachers (and implicitly for learners) heavily outweigh the above advantages
because:
• teachers become functionaries following the prescriptions and regulations
handed down by authorities without scope for their professional development
(‘Just follow the syllabus!’);
• teacher accountability takes the form of inspection based on rule-following and
exam results, and as a result it cannot guarantee educational outcomes or profes-
sional competence because it can only hold teachers accountable for following
standard procedures; and
48 Teaching as a profession

• it makes the false assumption that standardized procedures are appropriate for all
students in all educational circumstances.

As the following two teachers explain (Reeves, 1994: 39, 41):

You became completely mechanical and ‘routinized’ in the system. You

run to get permission for every little thing you do. The lack of democracy
in schools is profound. Staff meetings are generally one-way shows, with
the principal doing most of the talking. Policy is simply decided on, and
your function is to implement it.

Our school was very efficient. Teachers were completely caught up in

performing their bureaucratic functions – getting their marks in on time,
preparing schedules and reports by the due date and so on. We were so
busy being functionaries of the system that we never had time to think
about our real role in society.

Professional accountability
If accountability is necessary in a democratic society to control corruption, negli-
gence, incompetence and the abuse of trust, is holding teachers to account compat-
Ideas are compatible when
ible with the idea of teaching as a profession? And are there forms of accountability
they exist in harmony.
other than bureaucratic and legal accountability that can function in teaching? The
answer to both these questions lies in what Darling Hammond calls professional
accountability.
Read the brief section headed ‘Professional accountability’ in Reading 8 if you
haven’t done so already. Darling Hammond suggests that professional accountabil-
ity holds much more promise than legal or bureaucratic accountability. It provides a
sort of ‘forward-looking’ accountability by emphasizing the regulation of practition-
ers at the point of entry into the profession, guaranteeing that whoever enters it has
been thoroughly prepared for the demands of the work. Emphasis therefore falls on
the preparation, evaluation, selection or ‘screening’ and certification of candidates
for the profession.
How would you judge the In South Africa, teaching is moving in this direction through compul­sory registra-
action taken by Elmarie’s
principal in the light of
tion by the SACE and the Norms and Standards for Teacher Education (2000) docu-
professional accountability? ment, which outlines processes of quality assurance for teacher education institu-
She is certainly not qualified to tions and defines the norms and standards for evaluating teaching qualifications.
teach economics. But what can
her principal do if a qualified
The Norms and Standards for Educators describes seven key roles that effectively
economics teacher is simply combine to form a picture of a competent teacher. The qualifying teacher must
not available at the time? achieve applied competence in various aspects of these roles. In other words they
have to be able to demonstrate:
• the practical ability to perform various actions required of teachers, having
considered carefully a range of possibilities;
• foundational competence, or the ability to understand the knowledge and theo-
retical thinking that underpins such possibilities; and
• the reflexive ability to connect practical performance and decision-making with
Turn to Reading 9b, ‘Duties and an understanding of relevant theory, and to adapt to changing and unforeseen
responsibilities of South African
educators’ (page 55 in your
circumstances appropriately rather than in a haphazard way.
Reader), and read through the
brief description of the seven In exchange for this regulation at the point of entry into the profession, teachers
key roles of teachers from the
gain relative autonomy of practice, for example, the deregulation of teaching.
Norms and Standards for
Educators. Some of these roles Unfortunately, the entry level qualifications of many South African teachers have
will be discussed in Section not equipped them with the confidence to exercise any real degree of professional
Five, when we deal with the
autonomy in the classroom. They feel threatened by the relative freedom that
teacher as a knowledge-worker.
Curriculum 2005 offers them in how they plan their lessons and help learners achieve
learning outcomes. Hence the need for in-service professional development direct-
ed at giving teachers this confidence.
Teaching as a profession 49

As Darling Hammond argues, professional accountability promises society

competent teachers, an expanding knowledge base, and an overriding concern for
the welfare of learners. As legal accountability provides the possibility of redress
in court after a teacher has been guilty of some misconduct, so professional account-
ability provides assurance of good service prior to the teacher’s actual engagement
in teaching.
What about holding teachers to account in their day-to-day practice? This is the
business of codes of conduct such as that which binds all teachers registered with
the SACE, and of appraisal systems such as the Manual for Teacher Appraisal negoti-
ated at the ELRC. We need to examine these two key policies and assess whether
they are:
• compatible with professionalism (professional development and professional
status);
• compatible with democratic rather than bureaucratic management of teaching;
• likely to improve the quality of teaching and learning in South Africa, and restore
teachers’ professional self-esteem; and
• able to construct professionalism, accountability and teachers’ self-view in a way
that is beneficial for all concerned.

Activity 14: The SACE Code of Conduct

Turn to the SACE Code of Conduct (Reading 9a, ‘A code of conduct’) and
the extract from the ELRC ‘Manual for teacher appraisal’ (Reading 9c).
These two official documents will probably have a very considerable You will need 60 minutes to
bearing on your life in the years to come. So we strongly recommend that read and digest the policies,
and to respond to the
you read them actively, and keep in mind the following questions: questions.
1 Do you find the Code of Conduct enabling for teachers, or do you think
it is a ‘whip’ to beat teachers with? (Mention an example or two as
evidence for your opinions.)
2 How do you think the Code might differ from policies of the past?
3 Towards which form of professionalism do the Code of Conduct
and the appraisal system ‘lean’ (professionalization, or professional
development)?
4 What sort of accountability – bureaucratic, legal or professional – do the
Code and the appraisal policy ‘construct’?
5 What kind of self-view do they construct for teachers?

Contrary to the impression created by many media reports that SACE is a body for
‘whipping teachers into shape’, we found only about half the clauses in the SACE
Code of Conduct dealing with the educator and the learner to be prohibitive. The
other half hold up positive principles for teachers to strive for:
• acknowledging the uniqueness, individuality and specific needs of each learner;
• recognizing learners as partners in their own education;
• helping them to develop values in line with the Bill of Rights and the Constitution;
and
• promoting gender equality.

This pattern is carried into the other sections too, where principles like recognizing
parents as partners in education and keeping abreast of educational trends and
new developments outnumber prohibitive rules such as those prohibiting teachers
from discussing confidential or official matters with unauthorized persons.
This is not to say that prohibitive rules are regrettable, or that they are not neces-
sary. We are simply saying that the Code of Conduct is as much a set of enabling
principles as it is a mechanism for controlling teachers. As such, it not only spells out
what teachers may not do, it is designed so that teachers can internalize its positive,
enabling principles as general guides and goals, with room to use their own discre-
tion as to how to follow them.
This design will become very apparent if you compare the SACE Code of Conduct
50 Teaching as a profession

with the kind of service conditions that prevailed in years gone by. The example
here is from America, but the views of conduct appropriate for teachers were similar
in many countries at the time.

TEACHER’S CONTRACT

This is an agreement between Miss ................................, teacher, and the

Board of Education of the ................................ School, whereby Miss ..............
.................. agrees to teach for a period of eight months, beginning Sept. 1,
1923. The Board of Education agrees to pay Miss ................................ the
sum of $75 per month.
Miss ................................ agrees:

1. Not to get married. This contract becomes null and void im­mediately
if the teacher marries.
2. Not to keep company with men.
3. To be home between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. unless in
attendance at a school function.
4. Not to leave town at any time without the permission of the chairman
of the Board of Trustees.
5. Not to smoke cigarettes. This contract becomes null and void imme-
diately if the teacher is found smoking.
6. Not to drink beer, wine or whiskey. This contract becomes null and
void immediately if the teacher is found drinking beer, wine or
whiskey.
7. Not to ride in a carriage or automobile with any man except her
brother or father.
8. Not to dress in bright colors.
9. Not to dye her hair.
10. To wear at least two petticoats.
11. Not to wear dresses more than two inches above the ankles.
12. Not to use face powder, mascara, or paint the lips.
13. To keep the schoolroom clean:
a. to sweep the classroom floor at least once daily.
b. to scrub the classroom floor at least once weekly with hot water
and soap.
c. to clean the blackboard at least once daily.
d. to start the fire at 7:00 a.m. so the room will be warm at 8:30 a.m.
when the children arrive.

(Source unknown)

Two things are especially interesting about the 1923 contract: there is not a single
reference to actual teaching, and every clause is a mechanism of control, either a
prohibitive rule or a rigid regulation. This contract is a very clear example of bureau-
cratic accountability, where it is only possible to hold teachers to account for
complying with regulations, not for educational outcomes, which aren’t even
mentioned.
Compared with this document, the SACE Code is a model of commitment to
professional development and democracy because:
• its architects include practising teachers;
• it is based on the Bill of Rights and the Constitution;
Teaching as a profession 51

• it considers learners, parents and employers to be ‘partners in education’; and

• it requires teachers to exercise authority with compassion, respect the dignity
and rights of child learners, and promote gender equality.

Clauses 7.1 and 9.1 of the Code require teachers to co-operate with colleagues and
to ‘behave in such a way as to enhance the dignity and status of the profession’ (7.1). The 1999 Manual for
The Code does not encourage self-seeking aims, but several clauses incline towards
professional development. Clause 2.2 insists that the quality of education in this
Teacher Appraisal is
country depends on the dedication, self-discipline and training of teachers. Clauses driven by a
7.2, 7.3 and 7.4 require teachers to keep abreast of educational developments, commitment to the
promote the ongoing development of teaching as a profession, and provide profes- professional
sional support for new members of the profession. development of
At the time of writing, the 1999 Manual for Teacher Appraisal (Reading 9) is well teachers.
on its way to being accepted by the same teachers who in 1990 participated in a
defiance campaign against the appraisal policy introduced by the apartheid educa-
tion authorities. Many teachers are ‘impressed by the fact that [this new] appraisal
system [is] not marked by negative fault-finding, but [is] driven by a commitment to
the professional development of teachers’ (National Teacher Appraisal Pilot Project
Report, 1997: 54).
The SACE Code of Conduct and the appraisal policy create considerable scope for
teachers to use their professional discretion in practising a number of principles,
therefore they cannot be considered bureaucratic. The ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ are expressed
in broad terms rather than as precise regulations. Obviously this Code can be used
as the basis for a legal case of misconduct brought against an erring teacher, but the
main, positive thrust of the Code is towards ensuring that teachers conduct them-
selves professionally rather than as bureaucratic regulation-followers.
Appraisal, too, is clearly no longer seen as a form of judgmental ‘inspection’ aimed
at rewarding or penalizing teachers for compliance or non-compliance. Instead, as
we can see from Reading 9c, it is aimed at development as much as it is aimed at
making teachers accountable – to themselves as much as anyone else.
A simple test should suffice to highlight the self-view that is constructed by these
two accountability mechanisms. Glance through each of them again, and ask your-
self whether you feel that your self-esteem has been diminished or enhanced?
Again, it might be helpful to imagine yourself as a teacher bound by the require-
ments of the 1923 contract and to ask the same question.
If the SACE Code of Conduct has any faults, these lie in what it leaves out. We think
that one point that could have been more explicit is the promotion of non-violent
means of resolving conflict, including the use of alternatives to corporal punishment.
However, as Brijraj says in the audiotape, the Code is a living document, and with
teachers represented on SACE and the ELRC, it is very probable that the two account-
ability mechanisms considered here will be modified to fit changing circumstances
and perceptions.

Beyond accountability
Finally we need to ask whether accountability mechanisms are enough to ensure
that teaching quality and professional development are maintained, that a vibrant
culture of teaching and learning is developed, and that teacher self-esteem is
restored.
Our answer to the above question would have to be no. Accountability involves a
sort of unspoken transaction and obligation between professional and client. As
you have seen, it is part of an understood ‘bargain’ in which the freedom to use
professional discretion is allowed because there are clear assurances that standards
have been met.
There can be no doubt about the necessity of such social arrangements in a
democracy. However, because it is an obligatory transaction, its power to motivate
teachers to perform their multiple tasks to the best of their ability is limited, espe-
52 Teaching as a profession

cially when no-one is looking. For instance, one may be well-qualified and able to
come across well within the context of appraisal, but mark homework in a slapdash
way, or be careless in how one handles a delicate situation involving learners.
Would you be happy to According to Eric Hoyle and Peter John (1995: 110),
have your own
Systems of accountability are vital to the attainment of quality educa-
children taught by
tion, but they are not in themselves sufficient. They must be balanced by
someone who is not responsibility.
under an obligation of
accountability? Although ‘accountability’ and ‘responsibility’ are often used in such a way that they
mean much the same thing, ‘responsibility’ is the broader concept. For example, I am
being responsible if I accept that accountability is necessary, but the reverse does
not apply.
Keeping in mind what we have said about accountability involving an obligatory
transaction between teachers and society, responsibility involves a more internal
and intrinsic commitment to principles of good practice and to a set of values that
prioritize the interests of the learner, even when no-one else is aware of it. However,
this does not mean that it is only a matter for individual conscience, as the next
reading shows.

Activity 15: Resilient schools

Look back to Section 2.9, where we described teachers who ‘give up’ in the
face of difficulties. Do you know any such teachers? If not, imagine one,
and as you read the extract from Pam Christie and Mark Potterton’s study
In this activity you will need 10 of effective South African schools (Reading 10 on page 64 in your Reader),
minutes for the reading, and and the brief discussion below and on page 55, jot down a few points in
about 5 to 10 minutes to jot
down points and questions. your workbook that you might want to convey to this teacher, or ques-
tions that you might want to ask if you were the Head of Department.

Here responsibility is seen as a quality that goes beyond the obligations of account-
ability, as a characteristic that is crucial in those schools that have succeeded despite
the odds against them. It is seen as a shared responsibility on the part of the whole
staff, as well as an individual, internal commitment to the welfare of learners.
Collectively taking responsibility for their own school, teachers in these ‘resilient’
schools do not act like victims, or sit around complaining and waiting for a govern-
ment department to tell them what to do.
Let’s return for a moment to the particular problem Elmarie faces at Artis
Secondary:

‘So what are you going to do, Elmarie?’ asked Peter.

‘Well, I suppose I could refuse to teach the economics class, and the
Boss will have to do whatever he can to get a substitute economics
teacher out of the Department, though he says it’s very unlikely. I don’t
know, maybe that would be the best for the kids in the long run. But
what if it takes ten weeks to get a replacement like it did the last time?
Then they’ll have lost out on a term’s teaching. I’ve always been curious
about economics whenever I’ve heard them talking about it on the news.
I suppose I can give it a try, though I’ll be learning along with the kids,
that’s for sure. And I won’t be going out much in the evenings.’
‘If you do decide to take it on,’ offered Peter, ‘I’ll suggest to the Boss
that we share out your detention duties so that you can get home a bit
earlier.’

Being responsible is essentially a moral commitment. It implies that one can be

relied on by others, and by oneself, not to put one’s own interests first when this is
inappropriate, and not just to act on one’s whims of the moment. It could even mean
opposing an official accountability measure for good educational or moral reasons.
If Elmarie was overcommitted and did not have time to prepare properly, she could
Teaching as a profession 53

show a sense of responsibility by not agreeing to teach in a learning area for which
she has no qualification.
Responsibility therefore goes ‘deeper’ than the explicit requirements of account-
ability. It is more closely associated with a ‘calling’ or ‘vocation’ such as we discussed
in Section Two. Take one last look back to what
you wrote in Activity 8, and
compare it with what you have
learnt since.
3.7 Conclusion
We come back to the questions with which we introduced this section. We hope you
have found some answers and suggest that you look back to the learning outcomes
to assess yourself.
We started out by suggesting that, in addition to a sense of vocation, profession-
alism might be what’s required for today’s teachers to become ‘part of the solution’
rather than part of South Africa’s education problems. Could a concept that seems
to have so many different meanings hold one of the keys to the renewal of teachers
and teaching in this country? This question led us to explore the many meanings
attached to the term ‘professionalism’.
After assessing teaching against the characteristics of generally recognized
professions such as doctors and lawyers, we concluded that we should not assume
that teaching is a profession, but rather think of professionalism as something to
strive towards. This in turn led us to investigate different forms of professionalism.
We did this by asking which forms would best help teachers in their efforts to serve
learners as well as build their self-esteem by doing a job that others would recog-
nize as professional.
We found that teachers did not have to make an either/or choice between status-
seeking professionalization and professional development. There are some good
reasons for teachers to pursue some of the aims of professionalization, but they
need to prioritize, putting the professional development ‘agenda’ (and the learners)
ahead of the professionalization one.
Since accountability to learners and parents is crucial to the idea of professional
teaching, we also examined various forms of accountability. We found that teachers,
individually and collectively, need to move from bureaucratic forms of accountabil-
ity towards more professional forms, embracing reasonable minimum qualifica-
tions, a code of conduct established and maintained by teachers, and a democratic,
developmental system of appraisal.
Finally, we found that even formal accountability measures such as these need to
be accompanied by responsibility, a more internal and individual commitment to
the interests of learners – something closely related to what we have called a ‘voca-
tion’.
But we also need to examine what professionalism demands of the teacher as the
person responsible for organizing and maintaining an effective, safe environment
for learners and learning, as a ‘knowledge worker’, and as someone likely to have a
considerable influence on learners’ values. In the following section, we address the
question of how teachers can regain, or establish, their professional authority in the
learning environment for which they have responsibility.

Key learning points

1. There are various meanings attached to the term ‘profession’. Some have
greater value than others, so teachers need to use the term with care.
2. Essentially, there are three elements that society recognizes as constituting
a profession:
• Knowledge. Professionals are expected to use considerable skill in non-
routine, complex situations where interests are often in conflict and where
simple techniques or ‘recipe’ knowledge are insufficient. There­fore they
must be able to draw on a well-established, well-tested body of special-
ized systematic knowledge, requiring them to undergo a lengthy period of
higher education.
Teaching as a profession 55

• Responsibility/accountability. Professionals are required to act in the best

interests of their clients, taking responsibility for their professional actions
in performing a crucial social function. These and other professional obli-
gations are often set down in an ethical code of conduct, according to
which they can be held accountable.
• Autonomy. Professionals, collectively and as individuals, enjoy considera-
ble freedom from regulation in making professional decisions. In exchange,
society expects the professional body to ensure the competence and
accountability of its members by controlling admission to the profession,
registration, responsibilities and conduct.
3. For teachers, professional status is not an accomplished fact, it is something
to strive towards.
4. The question of whether teachers have a right to strike or an obligation not
to strike, is very much a professional question, involving issues of moral
responsibility towards the client, and the complex nature of situations where
different ‘goods’ are in conflict with each other.
5. Different forms of professionalism have different goals:
• Professionalization seeks to gain recognition for the professional status of
an occupational group such as teachers. It is concerned with such aims as
the pursuit of professional status and autonomy, the setting up of a self-
governing professional body, and ‘gate-keeping’.
• Professional development aims to improve the quality of service provided
and the professional competence of teachers in the interests of clients.
Teaching and learning constantly develop and quality teaching requires
continual professional development.
6. Teachers need to prioritize professional development, so that their profes-
sional status has solid foundations. But in the light of the global trends
towards de-professionalization, some aspects of professionalization remain
important to ensure that teachers are not perceived as mere technicians.
7. Of the various forms of professional accountability, two are particularly rele-
vant to teachers in South Africa:
• Bureaucratic accountability ensures that rules and standard procedures
are in place to control the actions of teachers. Procedures and services are
standardized, and inspectors check that teachers comply; there is little
scope for professional development or discretion.
• Professional accountability ensures, ‘in exchange’ for relative autonomy of
practice, that whoever enters the profession has been thoroughly
prepared. Hence ‘screening’ and certification are important, and all teach-
ers must be registered (by SACE, in South Africa). Professional accountabil-
ity promises competent teachers, an expanding knowledge base, and an
overriding concern for the welfare of learners. It also includes measures
such as a code of conduct and an appraisal system.
9. Codes of conduct and appraisal systems may be bureaucratic or profession-
al in nature. To be professional, they need to be both democratic and clearly
focused on teachers’ professional development (both the SACE Code and
the ELRC appraisal system are). They need to provide professional guidance
and allow scope for professional discretion rather than emphasize regula-
tion-following.
10. Accountability is not enough to ensure professionalism among teachers.
Responsibility is also a key requirement. It is a more internal commitment to
principles of good practice and to the interests of the learner, and is there-
fore associated with the idea of a ‘calling’ or ‘vocation’.
56 Teaching as a profession

Tutor-marked assignment 1
After several years of teacher retrenchment and low enrolment in teacher
education, there is once more a demand for teachers. Imagine that a
young cousin, nephew or niece has approached you for advice on becom-
ing a teacher. You sense from what this relative says that he or she has
not thought about this career choice in much depth, and may be partly
motivated by such benefits as supposedly long holidays and short
working days.
1 Compose the letter you would write to this person, in which you set out
what you see as being required of teachers in South Africa today. Your
letter should be 800 to 1000 words long (about three A4 pages, hand-
written or typed in double spacing).
2 In planning what to write, engage with the ideas you have read about
in Sections Two and Three. Try to get the recipient of your letter to
think seriously and critically about:
• teaching as a vocation;
• the contexts in which teachers will be working; and
• professionalism and accountability.
Demonstrate your understanding of these concepts in some depth.
3 Avoid being merely sentimental and superficial about teaching. For
instance, do not merely express ‘how wonderful it is to work with chil-
dren, and to prepare the leaders of tomorrow’.
4 Under no circumstances may you repeat sections of text from either
the Learning Guide or the Reader. Try to turn the ideas you find here
into questions for your relative to answer. For instance: ‘Before you buy
a timeshare on the South Coast, have you thought about the time
you will need to spend during some holidays doing further study or
attending in-service courses?’