Some very thought provoking PD on
professionalism. Whilst I come from what I had always believed to be a
professional background, actually the teaching profession (clue in the name!)
is actually far more professional than being a marketing data analyst (15 years
ago in the UK). My perception of “professional” has been more about wearing a
suit and the surface features of a job rather than the underlying beliefs.
Despite this, throughout my
career I have had to behave like a professional in that:
·
My team were
all mutually accountable to each other,
·
There were
certain expectation over my appearance,
·
I had to
have confidence in what I was doing and saying,
·
I was
reliable – I did what I said I would, when I said I’d do it
·
I was
continually improving my skills
·
I was
organised
I wanted to find out more about
what “being a professional” meant so I googled it and from the mindtools.com
website I found these key points:
1. Specialised
knowledge.
2. Competency.
3. Honesty and
integrity.
4. Respect.
5. Accountability.
6. Self-regulation.
7. Image.
This is directed towards industries
other than teaching however following on from Tony’s PD all of the above apply
to the teaching profession.
During the session we had to try
and differentiate between teaching and professional practice and essentially
teaching practice is what is going on in the classroom (or habitat!) – the
actual, visible, day to day actions, whilst professional practice is everything
else and is also what we are governed by and signed off for our registration.
This was a new thought for me, as I hadn’t considered this. The fact that we
have 4 commitments and 4 principals and it is essentially these that we are
judged against when applying for registration.
4 Commitments:
1.
To learners
2.
To parents
and the community
3.
To society
4.
To the
profession
4 principals;
1.
Autonomy
2.
Justice
3.
Responsible
care
4.
Truth
Because of this we are
professionals first, teachers second. This has flipped my previous thinking on
its head, as I’ve been far more concerned about my day to day than my
professional side.
Having said that, within teaching
practice there are 4 essential aspects I need to work on (I had written
“master” but I don’t believe you can ever “master” them);
1.
Positive
behaviour management
2.
Curriculum
knowledge
3.
Instructional
practice
4.
Formative
assessment
My professional practice supports
my teaching practice so the 2 are interlinked and Tony talked about an iceberg
and human “rust”.
Tony also mentioned a book
written by Michael Fullen -
“Professional Capital” and in this book Michael Fullen has a formula for
Professional Capital:
PC=f(HC,SC,DC,)
Where HC is Human Capital – your
values, work ethic, dispositions and experiences, SC is Social Capital – your
people skills, that you share and grow, you are able and willing, have honest
conversations, that you learn through and with each other, and DC is Decisional
Capital – that you make good decisions, plan, do review.
As they are a function of each
other you need all 3, just 2 or 1 is not good enough.
The PD session finished with Tony
talking about the differences between the All Blacks and the Warriors. The All
Blacks are a high performing team who are mutually accountable to each other;
they put pressure on each other to improve and are committed to the greater
cause. They set high standards and high expectations. Whereas for the Warriors under
performance is acceptable and players are comforted not challenged.
When asked the question of what
team do I want to be on?.... The All Blacks of course. I want to be part of a
high performing team who sets high expectations and has high standards. A team
where we need to be comfortable being uncomfortable, where we are pushed and
confronted, challenged and expected to grow. A team where I know I have the
support I need, and that as professionals we are respected and valued. In
short, the team at SPS.
