Student teachers should not be trained simply to perform skills in certain prescribed ways but, must have the mental tools to work on professional tasks to be adaptable and critical to know, resourceful, and creative (Howey & Strom, 1987). Student teachers should be coached in reflective practice and given greater independence in decision making, as they can learn to practice these critical skills and take responsibility for their decisions, successes, and failures in order to develop into a professional teacher (Becker 1962; Schön, 1984). Therefore, it is important to be recognised as a professional because: it recognizes the reality of everyday life in the classroom as a teacher (See Appendix 1, 2 and 7)
Teacher as a professional:
It is important to consider the scale of which teachers are considered professionals. The standard approach of Hoyle and John (1995) leads to a number of features that the forms the measure of an occupation to be regarded as a professional, such as the definition of a profession in relation to its social function center, high skill set and independent decision-making and adaptability, etc. In accordance with Hoyle and John (1995), these measures are consistently demonstrated in teaching practices and are embedded as part of the teaching standards, (See Appendix 1, 2 and 4).
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It is important to recognize that our knowledge and understanding of the areas can change dramatically over time. This determines its professional credibility. This explains why some occupations now recognized as a professional, were not granted this recognition in the past. For example, the complexity of the human body was not known or understood until recently. Simple solutions such as bleeding patients for fever, were used, and the limited knowledge at the time, appeared to “work”. Similarly, the simple view of teaching and learning, and the simple techniques, such as punishment, are applied and perceived as “working”. Just over a century doctors were not so different from members of other industries, and only a little better than the healer (Berliner, 1987). Medical education in Harvard, Massachusetts, consisting of two semesters. The “art” of medicine is taught largely “on the job”. Currently, this is the case with teaching being taught “on the job”.
Teachers are unsure to which category they belong to semi-professional, tradespersons or professional (Burke, 1996). As a result, they are often unsure of what they can rightfully ask others such as, management and ministerial bodies or what demands other, such as parents, can make on them. Above all, they do not know what demands they should be making of them. Expectations that a professional person is considered appropriate for themselves are obviously different and more difficult than a tradespersons (Schön, 1984). In addition, when teachers are seen as professionals, they are aware that the quality of service that is expected of them, as they expect it to be from professionals for their needs, such as medical, lawyers (Burke, 1996).
Etzioni (1969) preferred some professions to be classified as “semi-professionals. According to him, the work day of a teacher is well regulated and subject to controls in areas, such as the need for teachers to inform the parents about their child’s progress, school inspections and the publication of results of pupils in the rankings, to inform the independence of teachers. Therefore teacher can be seen as prime examples of semi-professionals.
The Vision of Teacher as a professional allows broader parameters for the total development of teachers and teaching. This should be an effective way to improve self-image and encouraging teachers to master the basic skills of teaching and provide a better service to pupils and parents. Teachers are, after all, make and implement decisions every day and every hour that traces the life and the future of their pupils and the welfare of their country, (See Appendix 1 and 2; Downie, 1990). The more you are aware of this fact and others, including the Department for Education, recognize and accept its implications, the better the education will prosper (See Appendix 5).
What is it to be a reflective teacher?
In education, reflective practice refers to the development of teachers to examine their own teaching methods and determine what works best for students. It implies teachers consider the ethical implications of classroom procedures on the pupils (Barbara, 2000).
The idea of reflection in action is the search for experiences that connect with our feelings, and attending our theories in use. The teacher experiences surprise, perplexity, and confusion in a situation that is uncertain or unique. They reflect the situation before them, and use previous understandings that are already implicit in their behaviour. The result is the construction of new knowledge to inform our actions in the situation that unfolds before us (Schön, 1984).
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Reflection on action is subsequently carried out after the situation. This may mean writing notes, things to talk to a head teacher, etc. The act of reflection on action allows us to spend time exploring why we acted as we did, and so on. Therefore, we developed a new series of questions and ideas about our practice (See Appendix 3 and 7; Myers, 2011; Schön, 1984).
In this way we can get involved with a situation that we do not have a complete understanding but, hopefully, we can avoid big problems, while “testing the waters”. When considering a situation in which we are predisposed by and use our repertoire and our frame of reference. As we work, we can bring fragments of memories and start the construction of building on our existing theories and appropriate responses to the new situation (See appendix 7; Myers, 2011).
Teachers in general, but perhaps science teachers in particular, have to face new challenges all the time in both what they teach (because that is constantly developing and changing) and how they teach it. This idea of reflection-in-action that was mentioned before where Schön (1984) identifies as being a more appropriate characteristic model for professionalism in times of change, requires teachers to take control of their professional learning and particularly to value the tacit knowledge that they hold and which guides their classroom practice. Becoming a professional science teacher is not a case of learning a predefined set of procedures and a static body of knowledge; it is about engaging with a dynamic and exciting subject and facing the challenges of presenting to pupils in an accessible way.
One of the positive aspects of a science teacher’s daily life comes from working with others. Science teachers tend to work in departments. Indeed, there may be more contact and interaction between science teachers than other subject specialisms, such as the need to communicate with technicians on daily basis to fully prepare a lesson, (See Appendix 6).
Conclusion
The art of reflective teaching must be personally satisfying for teachers, but also lead to a steady increase in the quality of education for children. In fact, because it is evidence-based, reflective practice in student teachers, newly qualified teachers, staff and professionals with experience in meeting performance standards and skills. In the note, the concept of reflective teaching focuses on goals, values, and social consequences of education (See appendix 7; Myers, 2011).
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