aiou course code 8612 -1 assignment autumn 2022
aiou course code 8612 -1 assignment autumn 2022
aiou course code 8612 -1 assignment autumn 2022
Course: Professionalism in Teaching (8612)
Semester: Autumn, 2022
ASSIGNMENT No. 1
Q.1 Explain professional conceptions? Why are these necessary for prospective teachers?
Professional Conceptions
Depending on the educational context, it is possible to say that definitions of teacher professionalism focus on teachers’ professional qualifications such as “being good at his/her job”, “fulfilling the highest standards”, “and “achieving excellence” (Nihan, 2010). For example, Baggini (2005) claims that for today’s teachers, professionalism is interpreted in terms of what extent the teacher’s outcome the difficulties and what extent they are able to use their skills and experiences related to their profession. On the most basic level, ‘professional teacher refers to the status of a person who is paid to teach’; on a higher level, it can refer to teachers who represent the best in the profession and set the highest standards (Tichenor and Tichenor, 2005). Phelps believes professionalism is enhanced when teachers use excellence as a critical criterion for judging their actions and attitudes. In other words, professionalism is measured by the best and the highest standards (Phelps, 2006) as quoted by Nihan. However, although one need not doubt that most contemporary career teachers would readily identify and sympathies with at least some of these vocational priorities, it is arguable that there has over the years been a marked shift towards conceptions of education and teaching of more professional than vocational temper: conceptions, that is, which are more inclined to observe a fairly clear distinction between the private or personal, and the public or professional, and to define the occupation of teaching in terms of prescribed skills and rules of conduct. There are, moreover, some fairly weighty reasons for this. It may be helpful to examine different conceptions of educational professionalism, via comparisons of teaching with other familiar occupations and services. In this connection, we may first observe an important distinction of modern treatments of this question between restricted and extended professionalism. Although the distinction is usually observed in the interests of arguing in favour of the latter over the former, both notions of professionalism appear to conceive teaching as at heart a matter of the acquisition and practice of a range of skills of pedagogy and management in a contractually defined framework of professional responsibilities and obligations. The restricted version, however, conceives the skills and contractual obligations of the teacher somewhat more along the lines of trade expertise than professional knowledge – the expertise, one might say, of plumbers and electricians rather than doctors or lawyers. For the most part, restricted teacher expertise is taken to follow from familiarity with national or local policy guidelines and mastery, probably more in the field than the academy, of technical skills. The responsibilities of restricted professionals are therefore almost exclusively defined in terms of technical competence, and more or less direct accountability or conformity to the requirements of external authority. To this extent, although we may still speak of restricted teachers as more or less professional according to their conformity or otherwise to such requirements, restricted professionalism scores poorly on that criterion of occupational autonomy which is often held to be a key ingredient of the professional lives of doctors and lawyers. An ‘extended’ view of educational professionalism, on the other hand, aspires precisely to regard teaching alongside such traditional professions as medicine and law. On this perspective, teachers are to be regarded, along with general practitioners or legal advisors, as possessors of a socially valued specialist expertise which requires lengthy education and training – precisely because teaching requires educated capacities for independent judgment, rather than mere training in obedience to authority. Thus, just as we might well regard it as unacceptable for politicians or the general public – anyone other than those properly educated in complex issues of medicine and health care – to direct the decisions of doctors on important matters of medical policy and practice, so it could be considered inappropriate for politicians or employers to dictate to teachers what is or is not worthy of inclusion in the school curriculum, or what kinds of knowledge and skill are crucial for the professional conduct of teaching. On this view, the teacher should be regarded as someone who, by virtue of a sophisticated professional education, is well qualified to exercise a higher understanding of the nature of learning and pedagogy in meeting the particular and local needs of individual children in particular educational circumstances. Carr (1999) as quoted by Nihan refers to five commonly cited professionalism criteria focused in the literature. 
Q.2 Describe characteristics of professionalism comment why professionalism is poor in our schools. (20)
CHARACTERISTICS OF PROFESSIONALISM
- Appearance
A professional teacher is neat in look. It should be made sure to meet requirements of your school’s dress code, and special attention should be paid to appearance when meeting individuals at school.
2 Conduct
One’s behavior should be polite and well-spoken whether one is interacting with students, superior or co-worker. One needs to keep calm, even in tense situation.
3 Reliability
As the professional educator, one will be counted on to find a way to get a job done. Responding to the persons promptly and fulfilling promise on time is also imperative, as this shows reliability.
4 Competence
Professional teachers endeavor to develop into experts of their field, which sets them apart from the rest of the pack. This means continuing education by taking new course, attending seminar and to attain any related academic or professional degree/qualification.
5 Ethics
Teachers must adhere to a firm code of ethics. If there is a written code, it should be displayed all the times.
6 Maintaining Your Poise
A professional teacher must continue his good attitude even when facing a hard situation. For instance, if a colleague/teacher at your school treats you in a confrontational manner, you should not route to the same category of deeds.
7 Phone Etiquette
The phone etiquette is, as well, a key element of professionalism. It means to introduce yourself by full name, institution and designation when you dial a phone call. Be sure not to dominate the conversation and listen intently to the other individual.
8 Written Correspondence
In written communication, keep your correspondence brief and precise. Your manner to write should be gracious, polite, civil, courteous, respectful and formal without being “oppressive.” This should also be applied to an email correspondence.
- Organizational Skills
A professional teacher can swiftly and easily locate what is wanted. Your workplace should be tidy and ordered, and your materials should contain only what is needed for your presentation.
Q.3 What is professionalism in Islam? What strategies can be used to develop it among teachers?
Professionalism in Islam :
Professionalism as comprehended by many of us includes the fundamental components of education and qualification, standards and experience, norms and directions, morals and respectability, duty and responsibility, sensibility and reasonableness, and the reciprocal yet important scale of fee. Off late another component has turned out to be pivotal to be specific CPD – continues professional development. In the corporate world, rather than professionalism, ‘corporate governance’ is the jargon broadly used. In the administration field, professionalism is caught by the expression ‘culture of brilliance.’ Despite the distinctive terms being used, the topic being dove upon does not vary generally. It is tied in with completing an occupation well. It is tied in with persuading human asset to accomplish authoritative execution goals. It is tied in with accomplishing the best from accessible assets. It is tied in with making an organization aggressive and in front of contenders. Professionalism from the viewpoint of Islam can be clarified by a mix of the importance of two Quranic articulations, in particular al-quwwah and al-amanah. Verse 26 in Chapter 28 of the Quran says these two qualities in the descriptive word shape: “Verily the best individual whom you can utilize is the person who is alqawwiy (solid) and al-amin (reliable).” This verse has recorded the expressions of one of the two little girls of Prophet Syuaib, who had found Prophet Moses to have these two fantastic qualities while helping them to draw well water for their herds. In fact the Prophet of Islam Muhammad himself was known as al-amin or the trusted one, from his initial adulthood; qualifying him to be a man deserving of trust, with whom the tenants of Makkah energetically saved their assets for protection, without the store box offered by banks today. The thing type of al-qawwiy is alquwwah which can be deciphered as ‘quality’ and that of al-amin is alamanah which can be best interpreted as reliability.
Q.4 Define professional disposition. What are the ways to assess dispositions of prospective teachers?
PROFESSIONAL DISPOSITIONS :
Professional dispositions are characterized as the values, duties, and professional ethics that impact practices toward students, families, partners, and other groups and influence students’ learning, inspiration, development and also the teacher’s own professional development. Dispositions are guided by believes and states of mind identified with qualities, for example, mindful, fairness, trustworthiness, responsible, and social justice. For instance, they may incorporate a belief that all students can learn, a dream of high and challenging standards, or a guarantee to a safe and steady learning condition (NCATE, 2002).
Q.5 Describe teacher attributes which can improve quality of teaching. (20)
- Empathy:
One of the most important good qualities of a teacher is empathy. Let’s understand this quality through an example.
Imagine you are in your classroom and there’s a student who continuously performs poorly in his/her exams. You advised them to study and yet, they keep on getting low marks. Now, it’s natural for you to get angry because, despite your efforts, the kid is not performing well. However, you don’t know what’s going on inside them and what kind of conditions they are going through. What if the kid is facing issues with their family or if they have a learning disability? As a teacher, you need to put yourself in their situation and think like your student. This is what empathy is. You must understand the student and be available.
- Creativity
Do you remember how you used to be as a student? Did you enjoy your classes or were you bored during the lessons? As a teacher, you have to ensure that your students don’t get bored. It’s common for students to lose interest and attention. How do you make sure that they are listening to you? The answer is simple, be creative! One of the important qualities of an ideal teacher is creativity. By being creative, you can make your classes interesting. You can use the help of various online teaching tools to add life to the classroom. As more and more people move towards online classes and online teaching, the need for creativity in the classroom has become more important.
