Professionalism

What is professionalism? Is teaching a profession, are teachers professionals? The definition of profession is a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science; a learned profession is any of the three vocations of theology, law, and medicine commonly held to require highly advanced learning. A professional is someone who is following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain or someone engaged in one of the learned professions. By definition then, it must be seen that teaching is indeed a profession, and recent regulations such as the requirement of a masters, national certification standards, and increased licensing procedures would lead me to believe that teaching is trying to become looked at as one of the learned profession, and therefore held to a higher standard of respect within the community. So then we are left with the question of what role, if any, unions and regulations such as HB 79, 190, and 428, have in elevating the status of teaching.

In 2008 the Education Sector and the FDR Group surveyed over 1,000 K-12 public school teachers about their views on teaching professionalism, unions, and many reforms within the profession. According to the survey most teachers see unions as vital to their profession, 54 percent feel they are absolutely essential and only 11 percent see them as something they could do without. Three out of four teachers strongly value the traditional protections of the unions. Seventy eight percent state that “without a union, teachers would be vulnerable to school politics or administrators who abuse their power. “ Only twenty one percent of teachers agree that the profession would be held in high prestige if collective bargaining and lifetime tenure were eliminated. (Education Sector Reports, Waiting to be won over)

I do not think that the presence of unions hurts teaching as a profession, and it is clear that teachers feel the need for the union. I do think that negative publicity and the publics’ views regarding tenure, teacher misconduct, and the quality of teaching in the public schools all hinder the professions ability to gain the prestige that educators want to see. I agree with the article Union Bashing Won't Reform Our Schools when it is stated that school districts and their local teachers unions have formed a symbiotic partnership in mediocrity. Teachers not fulfilling the role they were hired for need to be removed and it is sad that because it is viewed by administration as easier to keep these poor teachers in the schools then fight to have them removed lowers the standard of all teachers. Administrators, not unions, are ultimately responsible for the hiring and firing of teachers and they have been neglectful to their profession, and their students, by choosing to take the easy road. If poor teachers are removed, regardless of the struggle, then the profession as a whole will gain credibility with the general public.

With regards to HB 79, 190, and 428 the article How should Ohio deal with teachers accused of crimes states that most teachers are properly disciplined when a violation of profession codes of conduct are committed. It also stated that in actuality there are a relatively low number of convicted or accused teachers overall. The media sensationalism of a few cases (such as those pointed out in Lindsey’s presentation) also hinders the teaching profession. I agree with Rep. Matt Lundy who voiced concern that HB 428 could jeopardize the careers of upstanding teachers if charges prove false. Lundy is concerned that the current laws do not provide for proper due process and could lead to the punishment of good teachers who become targets for angry students. I personally agree with back ground checks and the removal of teachers found guilty of the crimes listed in the legislation, however I also worry that without proper checks and balances, a large number of good teachers could be punished due to the actions of a very few bad ones. However, I do not think that HB 79, 190, and 428 jeopardize the professionalism of teaching instead it is the increased media attention of the actions of a few horrible teachers has irrevocably harmed our professions reputation with the public.

Teachers want to be recognized for the hard work they do, they want their chosen profession to be elevated to the status of doctors and lawyers. I do not feel that unions or recent legislation hinder that. I do feel that it is almost impossible to alter the publics’ view of teaching and teachers, often due to negative media attention to test results, the few sensational stories of abuse within the profession, and the misconduct of administrators. Regardless of the steps the profession takes to increase accountability, until we can move forward and take steps to erase years of negative publicity our profession will continue to be viewed in a slightly negative way with the general pubic and therefore unable to be held in the level of prestige it deserves.

Professionalism

I believe that there have been many instances that have contributed to the increasing requirements to be a true professional teacher. However the single greatest influence has been the evolution of the union. The union has stood for many years to make life better for all people. Whether it is hours an individual was allowed to work safety issues or pay increases the union has always been the first in line to defend an individual’s right. For years people would graduate college, get a teaching job and work there for the next 30 years without ever trying to gain new knowledge or new instructional techniques. Through time the unions contributed to teachers being required to receive their masters in a certain amount of time to constantly stay fresh with the new techniques. Also required was that when teachers apply for their licensure renewal that they have taken 6 credit hours to show that they are continuing their education. With these improvements that teachers are taken they are receiving compensation for the willingness to be more of a professional. Another improvement that can be contributed to teacher unions as well is the L.P.D.C. hours where an individual each year has to take 7 hours worth of outside course improvement workshops. These 7 hours are then compensated with a teacher receiving a day off of work. If teacher unions had stayed in the same mode we may not have seen these vast improvements in our profession. These improvements have made teachers an even more highly regarded profession. In jenny’s presentation she also made a statement about unions being our voice for our collective bargaining. If we did not have these unions to back us up we would never be able to negotiate a contract to receive the compensation deserved for the work that we do. So I believe that due to the vision of where the unions would like to be it has contributed to the increasing professionalism of teaching.

Professionalism

I think like anything else, unions have their ups and downs. As Jenny stated..”Unions are advocates for public schools, teachers, children”. They are put in place to protect teachers. They want to see children in public education receive the best education by trying to provide good incentives for teachers. They offer you protection against arbitrary firing, they offer you protection against unreasonable demands, and etc. In Jenny’s powerpoint she talks about the issue with “tenure”. This makes it difficult to remove poor teachers. I think this is one of the biggest problems with a union. We have teachers in the system that just shouldn’t be there anymore for one reason or another. They are not benefiting the children any longer. Another problem with unions Jenny states is the seniority issues. A lot of first year teachers taking on positions that are least desirable. New teachers feel obligated. This is the last thing first year teachers need to be doing. The worst year for a teacher is the first year. Everything is brand new to you. You are trying to figure out what lessons to teach, how to get across to your students, classroom management tips, etc. I currently work with a first year teacher who said this may have been the worst year of her life. She has bought every classroom management book there is, and she feels like nothing is really working. As if that is not bad enough, the school keeps asking her to be on all these different committees. Teachers are not prepared for their first year, so, why do the school systems feel its okay to throw extra jobs at them. As if they don’t carry enough weight on their shoulder. I guess, you honestly just have to weigh your options. I’ve never been apart of a union. I have heard a lot of positive and negative points about them from my mother who is apart of a school union. I don’t feel I am educated enough to make a stance on it.

Union Professionalism/Teacher Misconduct

Are Unions professional? Historically, unions have been linked to blue collar workers, laborers if you will; and white collar positions are non-union, highly professional positions. So, it’s not too surprising that teachers are not considered professional when affiliated with a union. However, I do not feel that unions are completely to blame for the non-professional association with teaching.
It doesn’t bode well when teachers are having relationships with students, becoming pregnant by students or coaches in the schools pushing their athletes so hard that they collapse or die due to heat exhaustion, or deprived of water as part of their conditioning for the sport they are playing. As Lyndsey outlined in her presentation during class these events are sensationalized in the media and the punishment does not always fit the crime. In some, the cases are dropped because the parents want to protect their child from the media circus and the teacher goes on to teach another day (“passing the trash”), in another school system or the state system for reporting these crimes are not structured to keep track of the offenders and there is no way of knowing about the true crime committed.
Teachers have a huge responsibility when they go into the profession. Not only are they responsible for the education of those students they are also responsible for the safety and well-being of those students. I believe teachers in the past have been considered professional and given the respect associated with the position; however, when teachers are publicized in the media as predators they have become that diminishes any respect which the profession may have been given. Teachers are in a position of power. They are looked to on many levels by students and when that teacher crosses the line and takes advantage of a student they do not deserve the respect to be called professional.
As presented by Jenny, Unions were established to provide a voice to those who needed the support of an organized group to address poor working conditions or ill-treatment of workers by management. I doubt that when unions were established there was any thought given to situations, such as, teachers taking advantage of their students for them to address how best to handle it or to put in a contract how misconduct of a teacher will be treated; hence, the development of House Bill 190. This bill is an attempt to protect students and to communicate to unions the education system will not tolerate misconduct by a teacher(s).
As mentioned in the Edweek article, “The Power of Progressive Thinking”, unions and school administrators need to collaborate with another to come to an agreement on how to best serve the students and teachers. They need to come to together to improve the safety and teaching of students.

Unions can only be as professional as the people holding the position in the profession.

Standard and Expectations

House Bill 79 was introduced to address reports of teacher misconduct and even though it became effective several years ago, it is still not clear what "conduct unbecoming to the teaching profession" means. Legislation directed the State Board to define the term for purposes of reporting requirements. However, to date no rules have been filed. Legislation also required districts to keep reports of misconduct in eployee's file. However if ODE doesn't take action on the individual's license, then the report must be taken out of the employee's personnel file and moved to a seperate public file. Majority people are not aware that regardless of where the report of misconduct is kept, the report itself is still a public record and can be accessed. As noted in class, approx eight months after HB 79 was introduced, HB 190 came into effect (11-07), extending criminal record check requirements to all school employees not included in HB79, but licensed by ODE and nonlicensed school employees. Even though HB190 just passed, HB 428 is now the new and "improved" legilation that is in effect to address employee misconduct changes. HB428 requires the State Board to deny or automatically revoke the license of any educator who commits one of more than eighty offenses, and requires districts to remove an employee from the classroom if arrested for "certain" offenses-too open ended.
As Jenny presented in class through the video, if the teacher isn't convicted or the victim doesn't follow-up, the teacher is free to continue teaching. The can go to another school, another district, even another State and not have past "issues" follow them. I believe this is where consistency and standardization needs to come in so that there are standard of practice and professionalism across the board. How do you define professionalism when there are different standars and different criterias among districts and States? Professionalism has to initially come from within ones self. Professionalism is part of one's character. As to paraphrase Jenny from her blog "the people who choose to abuse are somehow lacking character." As for unions hindering or supporting professionalism...they did not hire the teachers, administrators did. The union is there to support those who were hired into the system and who pay their dues so that when they need help, their union rep is there. So, possibly administrators need to do a bit more research/investigation of those who they are hiring and exposing our children to. The schools are suppose to be a safe haven where children are nurtured and educated.

Unions and Professionalism

School unions have been around for quite some time. If you were to research about school unions you would see that they have held the same standards throughout history. Their purpose is to be another voice for the workers or in this case the teachers. The unions are to make financial decisions and to be a collective voice for bargaining. They are there to provide preofessional development for teachers through workshops, conferences, and grants. They are there for protection against arbitrary firing and unreasonable demands in the workplace. From what I have seen I believe that unions do have a strong relationship with teacher misconduct legislation. Unfortunately I believe that in many cases the unions are the escape route needed in order to protect the teachers who have committed crimes and should not be in our classrooms. If you think about it there are a ton of cases that have never been reported and have passed through the system because school unions protect their teachers. How do they protect their teachers? One way is that they unite and agree that "taking an employee to court to get him or her dismissed can be expensive and time consuming" according to the article in Education World (12/9/98) regarding "passing the trash" issues. On the other hand I do believe that with the current legislation of (HB 79, 190,428) teachers will be held more accountable for their actions and the unions will not be able to protect them because of the crimes that they may commit. Finally the teachers who any parent would not want around their child may be dismissed and possibly have their license terminated. I was astounded by reading recent reports in Education World that 16 states do not require criminal background checks for first time applicants for professional certificates. If someone does have a history of past offenses, these states will never know. Also in 16 states educators convicted of a sex crime against students will not automatically lose their licenses, therefore a teacher who has a history of having sex with students may teach again! In response to the reflection question there is proof that the legislation that is currently being reviewed and updated will play a major role with teacher unions and professionalism. On another note I will share two quick stories with you. The first one is that an eighth grade teacher at my jr.high school when I attended was arrested for having inappropriate relationships with three of her students. I believe after being convicted of different counts of sexual crimes she remains in prison today. It was found later that a previous district had dismissed her for what they called "inappropriate conduct" just two years prior to her arrest. Where was the background checks then? Who wants these teachers in our schools? I actually cringe to the thought that I could have had this woman as my teacher. I think it is fairly obvious that more needs to be done with the legislation issues so these so called teachers can teach where they belong and that is behind bars. Our unions do need to make clear to their employees their intentions, their job responsibilities, and the consequences that can occur as a result of breaking the law.

Removing Poor Teachers

A problem that I noticed with teacher unions is that in some cases teachers are not being held accountable for their actions. For example, because of tenure it can be difficult to remove poor teachers if they have seniority. It is extremely difficult to get rid of ineffective teachers because of the cost. Governor Strickland stated that the state of Ohio would remove ineffective teachers from the classroom but I would like to find out more about how he is going to do this. Deborah Delisle, head of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District, said it cost over $200,000 the last time she went through the process with an ineffective teacher. The students are the ones who are getting hurt when they have and ineffective teacher. There needs to be a way to remove poor teachers without spending so much money.

As Lyndsey stated in her presentation about House Bill 190 abuse will happen in schools and the administrators will fail to let others know about it and there will be too many legal loopholes so the offender will get away with the crime and will stay in the classroom. She also stated that many teachers who have been offenders will go and teach at another school district putting more students at risk. House Bill 190 is a good form of legislation because it requires all teachers to get a background check. A new bill under debate in the statehouse would allow the Department of Education to automatically revoke the teaching license of a teacher convicted of anything included on a list of 80 crimes (John Vettese). I know that when I apply for jobs the application always asks if you have committed a misdemeanor and you have to explain what the misdemeanor. However, offenders of sexual abuse may be lying on the application and administrators may not investigate the offense. It is very necessary that all teachers get background checks so that we can make sure our students are safe at school,