THE TEACHING Presented by: Fhadzria
PROFESSION D.R. Jalani, LPT
CHAPTER 1 – THE CONCEPT
OF TEACHING AS A
PROFESSION
“Teaching is a profession laden with risk and responsibility that
requires a great deal for those who enter to it.” – John I. Goodlad
The concept of teaching as a profession is essential for future
teachers to understand. A good grasp of the nature, purpose,
and mission of the profession serves as a guide to what they
expect from their future career.
To prepare themselves for the gargantuan tasks and challenges of
a professional teacher, they need to master the requirements of
the teaching profession. Teachers serve humanity through their
professions. Teachers, as professionals, serve humanity by
contributing in nation building and by enhancing the body of
knowledge that are essential for the betterment of this world.
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM
THIS CHAPTER
1. The meaning and dimension of teaching
2. The metaphors of teaching
3. The meaning of the profession
4. The characteristics of a profession
5. Justifications of teaching as a profession
6. The reasons for regulating teaching as a profession
7. The rewards and challenges of the teaching profession in the
Philippines
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Explain the dimensions of teaching;
2. Discuss the reasons why teaching is an art, science, craft,
mission, and vocation;
3. Explain the reasons why teaching is considered a profession;
4. Enumerate the characteristics of a profession and how teaching
as a profession fits well in these characteristics; and
5. Create a career statement highlighting the reason/s for choosing
teaching as a profession.
MEANING OF TEACHING
In layman’s terms,
Teaching is simply as helping someone to learn something.
But for some, teaching is more than this.
For this reason, different scholars provide numerous definitions of
teaching. The varying definitions imply that teaching is perceived
differently, even by educators themselves. As this is the case, the
following definitions can be considered as a take-off point for
discussion.
1. Teaching is an intimate contact between a more mature personality and a less
mature one which is designed to further the education of the latter. – H.C.
Morrison (1934)
2. Teaching is defined as an interactive process, primarily involving classroom
talk, which takes place between teacher and pupil and occurs during certain
definable activities. – Edmund Amidon (1967)
3. Teaching is a system of actions involving an agent, an end in view, and a
situation, including two sets of factors – those over which the agent has no
control (class size, size of classroom, physical characteristics of pupil, etc.) and
those that he can modify such as a way of asking questions or ideas gleaned. –
B.O. Smith (1969)
4. Teaching is a task of a teacher, which is performed for the development of a
child. - T.F. Greens (1971)
5. Teaching is the process that facilitates learning. The teacher has an important
role to play because he acts as a catalyst, actively stimulating learning. – Farrant
(1980)
6. Teaching is a cluster of activities that are noted about teachers such as
explaining, deducting, questioning, motivating, taking attendance, keeping record
of works, learner’s progress and background information. – G. Wells (1982)
TEACHING IS BOTH A
PROCESS AND AN END
PROCESS END
A procedure is required in undertaking There is a purpose or reason for
it. conducting it.
Implies taking a logical steps in It conveys that it is not a pointless
instructing, causing, guiding, and undertaking. It is a purpose driven
creating positive change in the learners. profession because it has noble goals to
PURPOSES OF TEACHING accomplish.
Imparting knowledge and wisdom
Helping and inspiring learners progress in their
academics
Developing lifelong skills that prepare the
Why?
learners for life
These are all essential in making them flourish as a person, as a
professional, and as a citizen of the country, and the global
community.
DIMENSIONS OF THE
TEACHING PROFESSION
The scope of the teaching profession is enormous and this makes
teaching as a multi-dimensional profession. The following
constitutes the different dimensions of the teaching profession:
1. The Why of Teaching (Entering the Profession) – Understanding
the “why of teaching” is important among pre-service teachers as it
gives them a point of reflection on the very purpose of entering the
teaching profession.
Reflecting on their ultimate intent in choosing teaching career
explains, in the long run, their classroom behavior and teaching
performance. This happens because their thoughts and behavior
are largely dependent on their reason/s for teaching.
DIMENSIONS OF THE
TEACHING PROFESSION
2. The Who of Teaching (Learners) – Learners are the reasons for
the existence of teachers, schools and school administrators.
Without learners, none of these would exist. Pre-service teachers
must have a good grasp of the nature of the learners such as their
differences, motivations, learning styles, intelligences, socio-
cultural backgrounds, and academic performance.
Since teaching profession has the mission to be learner-centered,
pre-service teachers must have a full understanding of the learners
who are considered the center of teaching, the main actor of
learning, and the heart of all educational tasks.
DIMENSIONS OF THE
TEACHING PROFESSION
3. The When of Teaching (Evolution of Teacher Education in the
Philippines) – Teaching is an evolving profession. It has its early
beginning and it is continually changing across time. The 21st
century presents a different social landscape for learners and this
necessitates changing the mindset of pre-service teachers in
determining what to teach, how to teach, and where to teach.
They should have a sound understanding of the transition of
Philippine education, especially the historical growth of education
as this is essential in analyzing the educational reforms and the
trends of teaching profession in this country.
DIMENSIONS OF THE
TEACHING PROFESSION
4. The How of Teaching (Pedagogy) – Teachers are required to find
means and ways to enhance learners’ learning. They become
subject tacticians if they have a rich repertoire of teaching
strategies. Applying the different teaching strategies is the
professional identity of teachers. Because they are equipped with
varied techniques and principles of teaching, they present and
discuss things differently.
Engineers, doctors or accountants can become teachers, however
their approach is far different from a teacher. They tend to be
teacher-centered and content-focused because they are not
equipped with varied methodologies in teaching.
Interestingly, the use of creative, enjoyable, and learner-centered
strategies and approaches to teaching constitute the teachers’
professional identity.
DIMENSIONS OF THE
TEACHING PROFESSION
5. The What of Teaching (Curriculum) – The curriculum constitutes
the educational content, goals, and intended outcomes as well as
competencies to be taught and developed among the learners.
Pre-service teachers need a comprehensive understanding of the
curriculum as this is the basis of all teachers’ actions. The
curriculum is the roadmap of all the activities in school and the
ultimate measure of the results of the results of instruction.
The curriculum ultimately defines what the learners should learn,
how they will learn it, and why they have to learn it.
DIMENSIONS OF THE
TEACHING PROFESSION
6. The Where of Teaching (Field Placement) – The place for
teaching and learning is evolving. Teaching is no longer takes place
under one roof or done through a face-to-face encounter between
teachers and learners.
Learners are no longer confined in the four walls of the classroom.
They are rather fielded in hospitals, industries, communities, and
the like to observe how theories are put into practice.
Teaching and learning take place anywhere at any time with the
advent of technology. With this, pre-service teachers need to know
this dimension of teaching so that they will be updated of the
various alternative venues of teaching. This is to guarantee better
learning outcomes as there is due consideration of the learning
needs, interests, circumstances, and abilities of the learners.
ACTIVITY 1
In light of the different dimensions of teaching, interpret the
following statements:
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence
stops.”
- Henry Adams
“Of all the hard jobs around, one of the hardest is being a good
teacher.”
- Maggie Gallagher
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The
superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”
- William Arthur Ward