Characteristics of a profession
Ezewu (1983) points out that for any employment or training to warrant the name of a profession, it must meet most of the following characteristics:
a) The members have to be Specially prepared for their jobs by a prolonged course of training;
Profession requires a lengthy period of academic and practical training. In order for one to qualify as a doctor, one undergoes training for five to seven years plus one year internship. Only the qualified doctors can perform operation on patients. There is a distinct difference between an amateur and a professional. Professional examinations and practicing license are issued to members. Most professions such as medicine and law lay down the minimum requirements needed to join the profession or to practice in various categories. Candidates have to pass professional achievement and aptitude tests administered by the professional bodies concerned.
In terms of teaching, the high skill is acquired through professional training in education, and the intellectual effort concerns the academic subjects which are studied in training. To satisfy these requirements all teachers should have been professionally and academically trained. However, this is not always so. In Kenya, there are teachers in primary schools particularly private ones without training in education. At the secondary level, teachers without professional teaching qualifications are still practicing particularly in private schools. The untrained teaches at the primary school level are not regarded as teachers for trfby have no career in teaching.
On the other hand, teacher training varies between six months to four years depending on the level. Some teacher training institutions have one teaching practice session while others have two. There is no regulation on the number of teaching practice sessions one should be supervised in before one is confirmed as having passed as a qualified teacher. Some candidates on teaching practice are supervised once while others are supervised more than six times. This creates the assumption by many that teaching skills are common sense knowledge on controlling learners which any person can practice. At times in schools the gap between a trained and untrained teacher is hardly noticeable. Some learning institutions in Kenya would rather have a diploma teacher from institutions such as Kenya Science Teachers Training College and Nairobi Polytechnic than a trained teacher at the university. This raises questions in regard to professionalism in teaching. Primary teacher training colleges admit students with low grades such as c- leading to the concept by society that teaching is a craft in which any untrained person can engage with limited qualifications.
b) The members have to practice their profession freely, but in accordance with existing laws;
A profession has a high degree of autonomy. This includes: The autonomy of the individual practitioner to make decisions in the interest of the clients and Autonomy of the profession as a whole to make decisions about the modes of operation. The profession claims autonomy in determining the conditions of practice and the right to determine the standards of membership. Members must practice their profession freely but in accordance with the laws of the land To open office without hindrance provided one respects the laws of the land
Although teachers have autonomy over students work in the classroom, this is limited in that the syllabus has to be covered and the head of department and the head teacher monitor the work. National examinations play a role in determining which areas in the syllabus should be emphasized.
In Kenya, there have been complaints by teachers particular in secondary schools over certain set books in English Literature as teachers felt the books did not portray moral values. However students still are examined on those set books. In some schools the administrator literary supervises what is taught and how it is taught. Teachers therefore become passive layers in their own area of specialization. Teachers do not practice their profession as freely as one would expect in Kenya. Teachers are employed by the government and private schools. There practice is from time to time regulated by these bodies.
c) The practice of the profession has to be guided by a code of conduct prescribed by the members for themselves;
Professionalism requires that practice must be guided by a code of ethics or rules of conduct. High ethical standards are part of professional personality. Professionals have a service ethos, which means that the interests of the clients come first. The members themselves must set the standards. In a profession, a code of conduct has to be prescribed by members to guide the practice of their profession.
In teaching profession the Teachers Code of Conduct is prepared elsewhere by the employer or TSC and teachers have to adhere to it. A breach of the code should result in certain measures against the culprit but cases abound where head teachers associate with vices such as embezzlement of school funds are taken to other stations or promoted. Teachers associated with drunkenness are at times transferred to other schools. Teachers cannot discipline their members. Since it is the governments that employ and prescribe codes of conduct for teachers, the teaching profession becomes subservient to the government and political manipulation.
d) There have to be well spelt out conditions of service;
It is only the civil service teachers that have their conditions of service clearly specified. It is difficult to pinpoint what their conditions of service are for teaches in private schools. In Kenya after a country wide teaches strike, their salary was improved. However, when the teacher's salaries are compared to the executive and administrators in the civil service, it is notable that they are poorly paid. In most private schools in Kenya, there is no Security of Tenure. Teachers can be appointed and sacked by their proprietors. No matter how many years a teacher has served the school he is not entitled to a pension.
e) The members have to be united together under one organizational form known as a union or an association;
A profession should have a board of operation. This is an overseer that supervises and disciplines errant members. Examples include the Medical Practitioners Board and Law Society of Kenya advices and disciplines doctors and lawyers respectively. In the case of teachers although the Teachers Service Commission deals with recruitment, salaries, transfers and discipline of teachers, it hardly touches on matters concerned with the improvement of the teaching profession. On the other hand, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) which should fight to uplift professionalism in teaching lacks that capability of doing so mainly because it is more of a trade union than an organization controlling quality in teaching.
f) The members and the profession have to be seen by the public as enjoying a prestige
The salary attached to a profession is partially a measure of the esteem in which the profession is held in society, a reflection of the restive scarcity of the skills required in the practice of the profession and partially an indication of the powers which the profession can exercise on its own interests.
Teachers do not in general receive salaries comparable to those received by professions such as medicine and architecture. One factor which perhaps prevents a more rapid increase in the salaries of teachers is that whereas the social functions of doctors, lawyers are immediate and clear, the functions and responsibilities of teachers are more diffuse and the effects are felt over a longer time scale. This makes teaching to be regarded as part of a normal process which is experimental for everyone. Teachers are among the lowest paid professional in the world thus they lack power to be vocal and voice their grievances. Economic hardships make them an easy prey for intimidation by those in power. It is difficult to upgrade teachers' en mass due to their large numbers and the discriminatory qualifications involved. Neither the educational background nor the professional training required is of the same standard between primary, secondary and tertiary teachers hence creating disparity in remuneration.
The final academic award obtained by the majority of members of a profession is regarded as a general indication of its intellectual standards. Only a minority of teachers have university degrees with a great percentage having certificates and diploma.
Members of a profession interact in training, employment and professional associations. Through these interactions a profession generates a distinct culture ! embracing its fundamental values, the norms that govern the behavior of ijf members its symbols. This culture creates professional solidarity, self esteem, self consciousness and uniqueness. . In teaching the professional culture is not very distinct. The degree of interaction between members is almost non existent. They also hold divergent views on teaching.
g) Essential Social Service
A profession performs an essential social service that is central to the well being of society. The practitioner is also concerned with the well being of the clients. Teachers perform an essential social service. Teachers throughout the ages have contributed to the improvement of the welfare of students. They have helped influence learners with values held and cherished in society such as value for hard work and respect for others. Teachers have helped in national development by pointing out obstacle societal development such as drug abuse and promiscuity among students. Some teachers have been involved in the rescue of girls from early marriages and initiation. Many teachers have helped students realize their potentials. Based on the above facts teaching can be regarded as a profession
h) Generates in Service Growth
Professions generate in service growth by exposing the members to new findings within their fields, further training and research. Teaching satisfies this criterion in that there have been in-service and refresher courses for teachers. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology sponsors some of the training. However, some efforts are seen as sporadic and not meant to create professionalism.
i) Unity
In a profession members are united and support one another e.g., most doctors are in solidarity. Teachers lack cohesion and are fragmented by qualifications and levels of specialization. Post primary teachers tend to keep a status distinction between them and the lowly paid primary school teachers. Teachers are also scattered all over the nation making it difficult to create unity of purpose. They lack a self governing Framework which they can claim to belong to.
Other factors hindering acquisition of Professional Status in Teaching include gender imbalance. There is a marked imbalance among the sexes in the teaching profession, with females being the majority at the lower levels particularly primary and secondarylevels and males being the majority at tertiary level. This gender imbalance has resulted in the diminishing of the general status of the profession compared to occupations dominated by men, It has also created the image of teaching as a woman's job.
Moraa orina answered the question on August 21, 2018 at 13:08