Deconstructing and reconstructing professionalism: the ‘professional’ demands of the PCET teacher education programme in the UK

Ade-Ojo, Gordon O. (2012) Deconstructing and reconstructing professionalism: the ‘professional’ demands of the PCET teacher education programme in the UK. In: 56th World Assembly of the International Council on Education (ICET), 10-12 Jul 2012, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Professionalism has assumed the level of obligation in both the training and practice of teachers in the Lifelong Sector (LLS) in the UK. Responding to the demands of professionalism has been seen both by teachers and trainees as a source of tension and distress. In effect, many practitioners and trainees in the field have become less enthusiastic and less attracted to work in the field because of the culture of performativity that some elements of professional demand attract and in some cases, fail to see themselves as professionals. This paper responds to this situation in two ways. First, it offers a new construct of understanding the multiple demands of ‘professionalism’ which categorises elements of professionalism into two categories of knowledge and procedural professionalism. Second, it reports the findings of a small pilot research on the disposition of trainee teachers following the use of the construct as a means of understanding the demands of professionalism on their practice and training.
The pilot study employed a qualitative approach to research, collecting data through interviews and a questionnaire. The data were then subjected the data to qualitative analysis. Though only a pilot study, the research had a number of findings. First, it found a paradoxical relationship between trainees and professionalism as trainees felt less like professionals because of the demands and imposition of conditions of procedural professionalism. Second, the pilot study established that among the group investigated, the major source of tension and distress is the demand of procedural professionalism. Finally, the study found that trainees are better able to accommodate the demands through appropriate classification that is offered by the new construct.
Following these findings, the paper suggests that teacher trainers in the field of LLS must ensure that their trainees are adequately prepared for coping with the inevitable pressure that procedural professionalism and its attendant culture of performativity will evoke in their professional practice. It suggests that using the construct presented in this paper is one of the ways in which such better understanding can be facilitated.

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