Careers and Professionalism
In reading the S.K. Bilkin chapter ‘Can Elementary School Teaching Be a Career?’ I was curious to read how the teachers at Vista viewed themselves within the whole structure of the education system. A system made up of children, parents, teachers, school level administrators, central administration and the board of education. Everyone is focused on the same goal, educating children, but there seems to be a perceived lack of respect between almost all of the players. It is the status of children as our clients that gets lost. Children are taken for granted in our society, instead of managed like a precious natural resource and a unique expression of our creativity as a society. The de-valuing of teachers also de-values those who are taught.
Teachers are caught in the middle of the bureaucracy. Having specialized training to execute their jobs, caring deeply about the work they do, working beyond the confines of the work day all fit definitions of being a professional. What teachers do not seem to have is a path of advancement in the classroom. If becoming an administrator (more $, more power and prestige) is the only career advancement path for teachers than teaching appears to be pretty low in the hierarchy of education careers. The classroom is a messy place, where the rubber hits the road and getting promoted out of the mess demeans the job of teaching. Promotions need to be redefined. To provide a career path for TEACHING, the focus needs to change to the children and not the running of the institution.
The US model of teaching as women’s work, a natural extension of mothering (like teaching baby birds to fly) is also a barrier to changing public perceptions of this career choice. Though the teachers in this chapter did not focus on that. The discrepancy between the public view of the job, 9AM-3PM, 3 months of in the summer and the actual time and effort teaching requires; including the emotional drain of working with children is a barrier to be viewed as a professional career. While the teachers in this chapter did not identify with the inherent sexism that might be limiting their careers, they did go through personal heroics within their own family circle to be teachers. I am not sure that this is not the blight of every working mother, career woman or otherwise.
Lastly, I wanted to comment personally on the status of teaching as a profession. The first time I attended the University of Washington I was a double major, Art and Art Education. One major was all about ego and creating great objects, the other was about being selfless in creating artistic experiences for and creativity in others. The saying that was bantered about at that time was “Those who can’t do, teach.” I did not feel the rigors of the education classes compared to my studio classes, and my ego was winning out. I did not complete the education program, short one-quarter of student teaching. I went to grad school for my MFA, in retrospect, I was chickening out.
My career has been in design and architecture, in a high profile job, in a high profile company and met all the definitions of a professional career. I did gain money and status in my position, I had specialized training. But I was missing a critical component; I didn’t care about shareholder value any more and what we were creating wasn’t something that I felt any ownership of. The work lacked meaning. I did not feel I was contributing to the human experience, which the best creative endeavors do.
In making this career change, I bring expectation of and experience in professionalism. Teaching is a career of great value, and if teachers present it as such and not discount the client (children) by being anything less that professionals we can all raise the bar. Vista teacher’s quest for professionalism took a defensive stance instead of an assertive stance. An assertive stance would mean teachers would view administrators as working for them and would be pro-active and partnering in relationships parents (Ayres, To Teach…, Chapter 2). School systems must support career development at the classroom level and provide a career path that celebrates teaching skills instead of promoting great teachers out of the ranks. Promotions out of the classroom as the professional career path devalues the work teachers do in the classroom. Won’t it be great if everyone in education was trying to be promoted into a teaching position, turning the pyramid upside-down?
Indeed. What if the reward of years of excellent work in schools was to finally be given your own classroom?
ReplyDeleteThe challenge with most career ladders that have been tried is that they do, at some level, take teachers out of the classroom for at least some of the time. There seems to be no way around this -- if excellent teachers are to mentor newer teachers, if teachers are the ones developing curriculum, if teachers are the ones working on overall school operations and policy, then they will be spending at least some time each week away from the kids.
But it is to bad to have others covering one's class for a few hours a week? Why do so many teachers resist even that?
I think having another teacher cover your class for a couple hours a week would be a benefit to the student. It would be a little tricky, as the squigglies are clever. As long as the sub assignment was consistent, I think the students would benefit from having material presented by a different voice than their regular teacher. This idea leads to a team teaching concept where more than one teacher is in front of any class.
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