Understanding Teachers’ Perspectives on
                                             Professionalism
            Mercedes S. Tichenor                                                                 John M. Tichenor
            Stetson University                                                                    Stetson University
                                                           Abstract
               What does it mean to be a professional and to exhibit professionalism? Depending on the context, these concepts
            may evoke many images and have multiple definitions. In this paper, we examine what it means to be a professional
            and to exhibit professionalism in the field of education. We go beyond theoretical definitions of teacher professionalism
            to explore what it means on a practical level. Specifically, we use focus group interviews to ask inservice teachers what
            they believe are the basic qualities of professional teachers and what aspects of professionalism ideal teachers exhibit.
            According to teachers in this study, professionalism is exhibited in many ways and encompasses both attitudes and
            behaviors.
               What does it mean to be a professional and to      not just anyone can play professional baseball, or
            exhibit professionalism? Depending on the con-        be an accountant or engineer, or practice law or
            text, these concepts may evoke many images and        medicine).
            have multiple definitions. In the world of sports,        While teachers may be viewed differently than
            professionals are distinguished by the level of skill other professionals, the importance of effective
            that competitively sets them apart from amateurs.     teachers in societal change cannot be underesti-
            Likewise in music, professionals have a level of      mated. In fact, the classroom teacher is arguably
            skill that enables them to perform beyond the         the single most important individual in directing
            amateur level and often, as in sports, qualifies the  student success. Although authors such as Stronge
            professionals to be paid for their performance. In    and Tucker (2000) agree that the teacher is the
            the business world, “professional” is often synon-    most important school-based factor in student
            ymous with “successful” or at least refers to         achievement, there remains an uncertainty of
            behavior that is expected of individuals in specific  what comprises “effective” or “professional”
            occupations. Doctors, nurses, physical therapists,    teaching. By understanding and sharing a com-
            pharmacists, and others are health care profes-       mon definition of “professional” and “effective,”
            sionals with clearly delineated roles, responsibili-  perhaps we can improve teaching so that more
            ties, and limits on their occupational behaviors.     students will benefit from successful educational
            Moreover, professionals in the “classic” fields of    experiences. In this paper, we examine what it
            law, medicine and theology have codified rules        means to be a professional and to exhibit profes-
            and expectations for behavior developed over          sionalism in the field of education from the per-
            many centuries (Hart & Marshall, 1992). In these      spective of practicing teachers. While there are
            examples, there are many shared understandings        many descriptions of teacher as professionals and
            regarding what it means to be “professional.” In      its importance, little research has examined what
            the field of education, however, being a classroom    practicing teachers think about this subject. We go
            teacher is not always associated with being a         beyond theoretical definitions of teacher profes-
            professional. That is, American society does not      sionalism to explore what it means on a practical
            generally view teachers in the same way as they       level. Specifically, we use focus group interviews
            view other professionals; the belief that “anyone     to ask inservice teachers what they believe are the
            can teach” is not found in other professions (i.e.,
                                                               Volume XXVII  •  Number 1 & 2  • Fall 2004 & Spring 2005     89
            Mercedes S. Tichenor & John M. Tichenor
            basic qualities of professional teachers and what      colleagues. Morrow (1988) believes professional-
            aspects of professionalism ideal teachers exhibit.     ism is the degree to which one is committed to the
                                                                   profession and notes that individuals vary in their
                  Teachers as Effective Professionals              identification with their profession and in their
               On the most basic level, the definition of          support of the profession’s values—i.e., teachers
            “professional teacher” refers to the status of a       have varying levels of professionalism. Kramer
            person who is paid to teach. It can also, on a         (2003) contends the most critical elements of
            higher level, refer to teachers who represent the      teacher professionalism can be classified into three
            best in the profession and set the highest standard    categories: attitude, behavior, and communication.
            for best practice. For example, Wise (1989) de-        These three broad areas cover a wide range of
            scribes professional teachers as those:                behaviors and characteristics that should be
                                                                   demonstrated in the professional lives of teachers,
               [who] have a firm grasp of the subjects they        from being on time and dressing neatly to under-
               teach and are true to the intellectual demands      standing learning theories to clearly communicat-
               of their disciplines. They are able to analyze      ing with colleagues, parents, and students (Kra-
               the needs of the students for whom they are         mer 2003).  Additionally, Cruikshank and Haefele
               responsible. They know the standards of             (2001) categorize “good teachers” in multiple
               practice of their profession. They know that        areas including being analytic, dutiful, expert,
               they are accountable for meeting the needs of       reflective, and respected.
               their students (p. 304-305).                            In  The Moral Base for Teacher Professionalism,
                                                                   Hugh Sockett (1993) lays out a broad theory of the
               This definition clearly illustrates that teaching   moral foundations of teacher professionalism. He
            at a professional level is an advanced and complex     describes professionalism as the “manner of
            undertaking. Both Clement (2002) and Seifert           conduct within an occupation, how members
            (1999) point out that becoming a professional          integrate their obligations with their knowledge
            teacher is a process that takes time to master.        and skill in a context of collegiality, and their
               Stronge (2002) categorized the attributes,          contractual and ethical relations with clients” (p.
            behaviors, and attitudes of effective teachers into    9). Using composite descriptions of idealized
            six major areas: prerequisites of effective teachers,  teachers in three classrooms, he identifies five
            the teacher as a person, classroom management          major aspects of professionalism for teachers:
            and organization, organizing for instruction,          character, commitment to change and continuous
            implementing instruction, and monitoring student       improvement, subject knowledge, pedagogical
            progress and potential. The first two areas exam-      knowledge, and obligations and working relation-
            ine the teacher as an individual, while the remain-    ships beyond the classroom. 
            ing four explore the responsibilities and practices        A teacher’s character refers to personal virtues
            of teachers. He further summarizes the character-      such as patience, determination, courage, and
            istics of effective teachers into three statements:    respect for children. Sockett (1993) claims that we
            the effective teacher recognizes complexity, com-      often overlook the importance of character by
            municates clearly, and serves conscientiously.         focusing on performance of the teaching act.
               Hoyle (1980) portrays professionalism as the        However, he believes that it is impossible to
            quality of one’s practice. In other words, the         separate the character of the individual teacher
            behaviors exhibited by a professional teacher are      from the act of teaching. Sockett’s (1993) second
            what identify a teacher’s professionalism. Simi-       category of teacher professionalism is commit-
            larly, Hurst and Reding (2000) associate specific      ment to change and continuous improvement. He
            behaviors with teacher professionalism, from           states (p. 7), “Striving to adjust to change seems
            appearance and punctuality to using proper             inevitable for a professional if teaching is to be
            language and building strong relationships with        good, since children in classrooms are never
            90    The Professional Educator
                                                                    Understanding Teachers’ Perspectives on Professionalism
            replicas of those who have gone before.” Teachers          Clearly, the concepts “professional” and
            exhibiting this behavior are constantly looking for    “effective” have many layers and belie a single
            ways to improve their practice and adjust to the       definition. As Stronge (2002) contends, “effective
            individual needs of students. Mitchell and Kerch-      teaching is an elusive concept.” In other words,
            ner (1983) describe a similar trait in which teach-    defining exactly what is meant by “effective” or
            ers adapt their teaching strategies based on analy-    “professional” teacher is no simple matter; there
            ses of the students’ learning situations.              are many definitions. Stronge and Hindman
               Next, teachers must have a depth of knowl-          (2003) state, “Some researchers define teacher
            edge and understanding of what they teach as           effectiveness in terms of student achievement;
            well as pedagogical knowledge and the skills to        others focus on high performance ratings from
            teach. Sockett (1993) correctly makes the distinc-     supervisors; and still others rely on comments
            tion between these two aspects of professionalism;     from students, administrators, and interested
            one may have a solid grasp of subject knowledge,       stakeholders” (p. 49). The issue at hand is not to
            but not have the pedagogical knowledge and             come up with a single, all-encompassing defini-
            skills to teach students. He believes pedagogical      tion of professional or effective teacher. Rather, it
            knowledge goes beyond subject knowledge to             is to establish parameters of behaviors and charac-
            include an awareness of the teaching context. In       teristics that can be fostered among teachers.
            other words, teachers must be effective in the         Further, while the literature describes the com-
            “hows” of teaching such as questioning, class-         plexities of being a professional teacher, these
            room management, and curriculum delivery.              descriptions are mostly theoretical in nature and
            Sockett (1993) believes that modern education          informed by general observations rather than
            emphasizes the pedagogical aspect of profession-       empirical research. The purpose of our explor-
            alism above and to the detriment of the other          atory study was to begin an empirical examina-
            categories.                                            tion of professionalism from practicing teachers’
               The final category in Sockett’s typology of         perspectives. Therefore, we asked, “how do prac-
            teacher professionalism involves obligations and       ticing teachers define professionalism?” To an-
            working relationships beyond the classroom. This       swer this research question, we have embarked on
            broad category includes characteristics that allow     a multi-stage study to understand practicing
            teachers to work with colleagues, parents, and the     teachers’ perspectives of professionalism. In this
            public. Sockett (p. 8) describes this aspect of        paper, we describe the first stage of the study:
            teacher professionalism in the following way:          exploratory focus group interviews with elemen-
                                                                   tary school teachers. 
               …outside the classroom a teacher has wider
               obligations and working relationships with                               Method
               colleagues and with parents in the exercise of          To determine what teachers think about
               his or her role as a teacher. Professionalism       effective teaching and professionalism, focus
               requires that we go beyond classroom perfor-        group interviews with teachers were conducted at
               mance or classroom activity as descriptors of       four elementary schools, each of which is a profes-
               teaching acts to the complete and complex role      sional development school (PDS) partner with a
               a teacher fulfills. Public education needs          university teacher education program. This collab-
               teachers who are able not only to shine in the      orative relationship offers students and faculty at
               four categories mentioned within the class-         the university a context for bridging theory and
               room but also to undertake the demands of           practice. Education majors have opportunities to
               partnership with other professionals, of collab-    visit a variety of classrooms, observe mentor
               orative leadership, and of a wider role within      teachers, work with children, and be part of a
               the school.                                         greater learning community. Teachers have op-
                                                                   portunities to participate in a number of profes-
                                                               Volume XXVII  •  Number 1 & 2  • Fall 2004 & Spring 2005     91
            Mercedes S. Tichenor & John M. Tichenor
            sional development activities, such as conferences,       intensity, extensiveness, and specificity. Some
            study groups, and workshops. While the PDS                characteristics identified by the teachers overlap
            relationship may have some impact on the teach-           and may represent aspects of more than one
            ers’ perspectives on professionalism, the schools         theme, but we categorized the characteristics
            are otherwise very ordinary. Further, each ele-           where we thought was most appropriate.
            mentary school in the PDS partnership serves a
            diverse population of students with many on free                              Findings
            or reduced lunch.                                            According to teachers in this study, profes-
                Focus group interviews were appropriate for           sionalism is exhibited in many ways and encom-
            this study because they help reveal the percep-           passes both attitudes and behaviors. After examin-
            tions, feelings, and thinking of people about issues      ing the data, we recognized that teachers’ com-
            (Krueger & Casey, 2000). At three of the elemen-          ments fit into well-established categories of teach-
            tary schools, the principals asked for volunteers to      er professionalism and the qualities of ef-fective
            participate in the discussions. The number of             teaching. However, we purposely grouped teacher
            participants at these three schools were eight,           comments according to Sockett’s (1993) five
            nine, and eleven. At the fourth school, the discus-       categories of professionalism: 1) character, 2)
            sion occurred at a faculty meeting, hence most of         commitment to change and continuous improve-
            the teachers participated (approximately 40 teach-        ment, 3) subject knowledge, 4) pedagogical know-
            ers). While we recognize that a group with 40             ledge, and 5) obligations and working relation-
            participants does not adhere to standard focus            ships beyond the classroom. These categories
            group methodology which calls for group sizes of          cover a wide range of aspects of professionalism
            6 to 8 (Krueger & Casey, 2000), we nonetheless            and effectiveness and provided a comprehensive
            wanted to include the perspectives of the teachers        coding scheme for the teachers’ comments.
            at this PDS site. In order to obtain teachers’ spon-
            taneous responses, none of the groups were                Character
            informed of the topic of the focus group inter-              Teachers in this study seem to agree with
            views beforehand. Each focus group lasted ap-             Sockett’s proposition that personal virtues such as
            proximately one hour and included teachers                patience, determination, courage, and respect for
            across grade levels, subjects, and years of teaching      children contribute to professionalism. In each
            experience. The sessions were facilitated by two          interview, teachers first commented on the charac-
            university faculty members who asked teachers             ter component of professionalism. These com-
            two open-ended questions: 1) What does it mean            ments also made up the primary response cate-
            to be a professional teacher?; and 2) How do              gory in each of the four interviews. Teachers’
            teachers exhibit professionalism? The questions           comments describing the character aspect of pro-
            were intentionally broad in order to elicit an open       fessionalism demonstrated a consistency in this
            discussion. However, the facilitators used clarify-       theme more than any other. For this category of
            ing questions and prompts to keep the discussion          professionalism, participants described an ideal
            active and participants focused on the issue. The         “professional” teacher as one who is resilient and
            responses were notated on large pads of paper as          keeps his/her composure at all times and under
            well as tape recorded. After each focus group,            all circumstances; is caring, nurturing, friendly,
            data from the written notes and tapes were coded          patient with all, well-organized, flexible, displays
            and categorized in common themes. Although                confidence in the classroom; and remembers that
            two broad questions were used to facilitate discus-       he/she is a role model for students. According to
            sion, the responses to both questions were ana-           the participants, professional teachers are also
            lyzed together. Following Krueger’s (1998) focus          conscientious, creative, dedicated, goal oriented
            group analysis guidelines, participant com-ments          (they sets their own goals and adhere to them).
            were analyzed for internal consistency, frequency,        They also care about what they do, take pride in
            92    The Professional Educator