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Professionalism In Higher Education

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Professionalism In Higher Education
Understanding Curriculum and Professional Issues
This assignment will explore current views on professionalism in the Lifelong Learning Sector in the UK, and will make particular reference to the impact of professional status on teachers in the Further Education (FE) sector. The paper will examine current policy before going on to discuss; professionalism, continued professional development (CPD), the importance of reflective practice as a professional attribute and impact on teaching. The assignment will also discuss own personal development making reference to subject specialism. Finally professionalism in the sector will be evaluated.

Historically Further Education (FE) Colleges were once far removed from the terms ‘professional’
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The chief executive of the IFL recently announced a major development for the IFL, commenting on Professor Alison Wolf’s recommendation that FE teachers with QTLS should be recognised as qualified to teach in schools. Secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, has accepted recommendations from the Wolf Report clarifying that there is a need to “allow qualified further education lecturers to teach in school classrooms on the same basis as qualified school teachers”. (Goodman, 2011) The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) supports the drive to professionalise FE lecturers and states that “The inescapable conclusion is that it is now time for the Qualified Lecturer Status (QLS) to be replaced by the qualified teacher status (QTS), as the benchmark of teacher professionalism in FE colleges. It is time for lecturers to become teachers.” (ATL, 2011) Although this appears to be progression we could argue that this could be deemed more as compliance with an accepted view of what teacher professionalism is, whereas FE should be viewed as professional and the role of QLS should carry with it professional …show more content…
In order to define professionalism we must also consider that interpretation will differ dependent on perspective. Professionalism generally involves both characteristics of self and those of organisations. Professional organisations will have a set of values which will be reflected in working practices in line with ethical standards. However, irrelevant of organisation teacher professionalism is a significant factor as it affects the role of the teacher and their pedagogy, which in turn affects student ability to learn effectively. Teacher professionalism should contain the essential characteristics of, competence, performance, and conduct, all of which should reflect the goals, abilities, and standards of the organisation for whom we work, and should impact on teaching through the development of these

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