Professionalism in Education – A way towards development
Prof. Pradeep Jobanputra
Asso. Professor and Head, Department of Computer Science
P.D.Malaviya College of Commerce, Rajkot
1. Introduction :
Education is a dynamic field of constant development. Till date it is a dilemma that is
education a profession or service? But contemporary development in education has
identified education/ teaching as a profession. Helsby (1999, p. 93) said in relation to
teacher professionalism: „There is nothing simple or static about the concept of
teacher professionalism : it is constantly changing and constantly being redefined in
different ways and at different times to serve different interests‟. Professionalism
deals with specialized knowledge, a definite skill set, high quality work, high
standards of ethics, consistent appropriate behaviour, High work morals and
motivation with a desire to achieve excellence, Democratic collegial relationship with
co workers, and interest in getting mastery with a team work.
1.1. Profession
A profession is an occupation to accomplish the tasks of the job to achieve the weldefined objectives with high standards of ethics. It requires advanced education and
training with professional skills grounded in quality output, research and practice in
the field.
1.1.1. Teaching is a profession
A teacher is a professional therefore; a teacher is expected to display
appropriate, professional Behavior Appearance and Dispositions in order to
achieve professionalism in his teaching career.
Excelling in the profession of teaching a teacher makes something different in
the class, the teacher to impart the knowledge and skills basically provides
information, he then teaches his students to convert the information into the
knowledge and to put the knowledge into practice to acquire the skills. So the
first requirement for a teacher professional is to acquire correct, relevant and
appropriate information from reliable sources and there is an extensive body
of knowledge about teaching that must be known by the teacher. The teacher