School Personnel Management Paper

The Teacher of Business: promoting professional standards, values and attitudes All teachers communicate their values whether consciously or unconsciously. Wasicsko (2002) states “recently it has become clear that the quality of the education our children receive depends directly upon the quality of the teachers in our schools. Parents, teachers, educators, and researchers agree that effective teaching happens when the teachers thoroughly know their subjects, have significant teaching skills and possess dispositions that foster growth and learning in students.” Teachers are by the nature of their profession ‘moral agents’ who imply values by the way they address their pupils and each other, the way they dress, the language they use and the effort they put into their work. Values are inherent in teaching as the educational environment, whether through formal or informal curricula, appears to influence learner attitudes and behavior. Thus, it is very important that as a Business Teacher one should always be cognizant that they are to constantly model professional attitudes and behaviors within and outside of the classroom. Boyt (2001) states “professionalism consists of the attitudes and behaviour one possesses toward’s one’s profession. It is an attitudinal and behavioural orientation that individuals possess toward their occupations.” Also, Helsby (1995) makes the same point about teacher professionalism: ‘if the notion of “professionalism” is socially constructed, then teachers are potentially key players in that construction, accepting or resisting external control and asserting or denying their autonomy.’ For the Business Teacher, their professionalism has relevant significance in education, in that it affects their role as teacher and their teaching profession, which in return affects the student’s ability to learn effectively. Due to the growing autonomy being given to teachers, professionalism remains one of the most influential attributes of education today. There are three essential characteristics that can be derived from professionalism, namely, competence, performance, and conduct. These all reflect the teacher’s goals, abilities, and standards, and directly impact the effectiveness of teaching through the development of these qualities. To begin, the characteristic of competence is fundamental in a teacher’s pursuit of excellence. Here, competence focuses on three important ideas, namely, preparation, knowledge of subject area, and defined pedagogy. The first, preparation, prepares the professional for the adversity of the classroom. From language and cultural barriers to socio-economic differences, all teachers face interferences in the classroom that must be broken down by individualized techniques. Thus, by bridging these barriers, the teacher will be better prepared for classroom management and create an effective learning environment. Furthermore, by doing this, the professional teacher leads students by his or her example in that one who is prepared for difficulties will be able to overcome them. Along with preparation, a professional teacher with a strong knowledge of his/her subject area has the opportunity to concern themselves with preparing innovative techniques to teach their material. With the advantage of knowing one’s curriculum material well, the teacher has more confidence in their teachings, having already placed significant thought on the material being taught. Thus, a professional is able to dwell on how to relate subject matter to the students and their cultures in an original method. The final portion of competence is discovering and assuming a defined pedagogy. Lunenburg and Ornstein (2000) state that, “Hiring teachers by subject and skill presumes that curricular priorities have been established, which means that decisions have been made about how much time will be devoted to each segment of the curriculum.” Although this may take years to fine-tune, a professional is willing to self-evaluate his or her pedagogy as s/he develops it, do the necessary fine-tuning, and apply his/her ideas to a practical situation. Furthermore, by acquiring a defined pedagogy, a professional creates more autonomy for him or herself. Although competence is essential to teacher professionalism, it is only useful if the teacher is able to perform as performance is the ability to effectively teach the concepts of a curriculum. Newman (1998) states, “as individuals, professionals have the right to perform their work as they see fit, based on knowledge acquired through specialized training.” A professional teacher educates so that students learn concepts and apply them to their lives. Furthermore, a teacher that has a high standard of performance is reliable and dedicated. This type of teacher becomes an active teacher rather than a passive teacher, showing the students a genuine interest in their progress as a student. The final characteristic of teacher professionalism, conduct, is equally as significant as the first two. The manner in which a teacher carries himself or herself is a reflection on their classroom, school, community, and educational system. Conduct is a representation of how well one takes care of himself or herself, from aesthetics to language and behavior. However, conduct also includes one’s ability to initiate and maintain quality communication with all the parties involved in education: students, fellow teachers, school administration, and parents. A professional teacher desires to locate effective communicative skills to achieve preferred educational goals. A professional is trained to handle all situations, as most episodes in the classroom require quick thinking. Also, professionalism extends beyond one’s ability to understand content; the teacher must discover if the students are being reached in an effective way. With the role of “teacher” becoming more autonomous, an educator must be competent in their studies, perform well under the eye of the administration and parents, while maintaining good conduct to facilitate quality communication. The Association of American Educators code of ethics states that, “the professional educator strives to create a learning environment that nurtures to fulfillment the potential of all students. The professional educator acts with conscientious effort to exemplify the highest ethical standards. The professional educator responsibly accepts that every child has a right to an uninterrupted education free from strikes or any other work stoppage tactics.” Thus, the following principles have been developed.
PRINCIPLE I: Ethical Conduct toward Students “The professional educator accepts personal responsibility for teaching students character qualities that will help them evaluate the consequences of and accept the responsibility for their actions and choices. We strongly affirm parents as the primary moral educators of their children. Nevertheless, we believe all educators are obligated to help foster civic virtues such as integrity, diligence, responsibility, cooperation, loyalty, fidelity, and respect-for the law, for human life, for others, and for self.” PRINCIPLE II: Ethical Conduct toward Practices and Performance “The professional educator assumes responsibility and accountability for his or her performance and continually strives to demonstrate competence.
The professional educator endeavors to maintain the dignity of the profession by respecting and obeying the law, and by demonstrating personal integrity.”
PRINCIPLE III: Ethical Conduct toward Professional Colleagues “The professional educator, in exemplifying ethical relations with colleagues, accords just and equitable treatment to all members of the profession.”
PRINCIPLE IV: Ethical Conduct toward Parents and Community “The professional educator pledges to protect public sovereignty over public education and private control of private education. The professional educator recognizes that quality education is the common goal of the public, boards of education, and educators, and that a cooperative effort is essential among these groups to attain that goal.”
As a profession, education relies on standards to set the stage for lifelong learning and improvement of teaching. Standards are used to assess teachers, assess programs as well as demonstrate accountability. Thus, the above-mentioned standards have been adopted by our local Ministry of Education in Jamaica which is used to govern the ethical conduct, professionalism and standards of our own local teachers. Standards provide a framework for business teacher education programs and their stakeholders provide the means for setting standards used in measuring accountability. As a result of input from these stakeholders, standards are established that lead to changes in business teacher education programs. In meeting standards, business teachers are able to work together with the wider business community, implement various concepts within their subject matter that will relate to the world of work, for effective work practices for continuous improvement of their teaching. Professional standards for business teachers exist to help them value and promote their profession as well as nurture their individual careers. Professional standards provide organizing structures that support the creation and distribution of knowledge, the sharing of best practices, a framework for solving problems and obtaining advice. With the qualification of “profession” comes an expectation that the members of the profession will act in a manner that is considered to be “professional” and display appropriate ethical and professional behaviours. However, the professional behaviours that are generally expected of teachers are not those that would arise from a personal morality but are those that derive from the rules of professional regulations that have been drawn up by the relevant authority and the various school boards. The 21st century presents a host of opportunities and challenges in business education. The profession of teaching for and about business is emerging from the classroom to various places such as cyberspace, workplace, boardrooms, and community centers, among others. Teaching professionals need to meet global accountability standards in an era when basic skills competence and technological literacy are desperately needed. The global knowledge economy affects the way business educators live, work, and think. Effective responses depend on business teachers’ ability to learn, adapt, and change. Success depends on how well business teachers meet the needs of students, business, and society. Educating students to learn, think, and embrace the challenge of continual societal and technological changes must be a top priority. Individuals best able to communicate, collaborate, value diversity, and harness the efficiencies of technology will be in great demand. Dramatic changes in students, learning environments, delivery systems, and technologies will continue. Changes in society result in the need for continuous learning. These changes are accelerated by technological advances which bring about shifts in both the learners’ needs and the way instruction is delivered in schools. Business teachers must employ varied methods of delivery to address these changes. Teachers, learners, curriculum, teaching strategies, are critical elements for the delivery of business education. Business teachers carefully analyze the needs of the learner, choose the appropriate teaching strategies, provide feedback to the learner, and enlist the support of others in the learning process. Professional development is the process that improves the job-related knowledge, skills, and attitudes of business teachers. The goals of professional development are to advance student’s learning and to improve the practice of teaching. High-quality professional development is important for improving learning and teaching amid changes in delivery, subject-matter content, student needs, schools and society. Teachers have the responsibility for educating students and must have the knowledge, expertise, and power to make decisions about the teaching-learning environment. Continued professional development should not be an option but should be seen as a requirement, as it is an essential element in school reform, in increased academic adherence, in continual learning, and in genuine assessment. Educating students for technological change and varied situations of the workplace, as well as their personal business lives, should compel business teachers to commit him or herself to continuing professional renewal. Research shows that the attributes of the classroom teacher significantly affect how well students learn. Thus, in fulfilling their professional roles, demonstrating positive values and attitudes in this 21st century, business education teachers should review, renew and extend their commitment as change agents to the purpose of education; acquire and develop critically the knowledge, skills, planning and practice that are needed through each phase of their teaching lives. Business educators recognize the need for ongoing professional development when they analyze their own teaching, observe others teaching, are observed, share and discuss ideas critically, challenge their own and others’ assumptions, and examine beliefs and practices.

References
American Association for Educators, Code of Ethics. Retrieved on October 10, 2009 from http://www.aaeteachers.org/
Butroyd, B.(1997). Are the values of secondary school teachers really in decline? Educational Review, 49 (3).
Carr, D. (2006). Professional and personal values and virtues in education and teaching. Oxford Review of Education, 32 (2), 171-183
Carr, D. (2000). Professionalism and ethics in teaching, Routledge Professional Ethics Series, (London, Routledge).
Evans, L. (2008). Professionalism, Professionality and the Development of Education Professionals. British Journal of Educational Studies, 56 (1), 20-38.
Evans, L. (2002). What is Teacher Development? Oxford Review of Education, 28 (1), 123-137.
Evetts, J. (2003). The sociological analysis of professionalism: occupational change in the modern world. International Sociology, 18 (2), 395-415.
Lunenburg, F.C. & Ornstein, A.C. (2000). Introduction to Leading and Supervising

Educational Change, Educational administration: Concepts and practices.

(3 rd edition). New York, New York: Wadsworth.
What are professional dispositions? Retrieved on October 10, 2009 from www2.und.edu/dept/undncate/download.php?id=26

References: American Association for Educators, Code of Ethics. Retrieved on October 10, 2009 from http://www.aaeteachers.org/ Butroyd, B.(1997). Are the values of secondary school teachers really in decline? Educational Review, 49 (3). Carr, D. (2006). Professional and personal values and virtues in education and teaching. Evans, L. (2008). Professionalism, Professionality and the Development of Education Professionals Evans, L. (2002). What is Teacher Development? Oxford Review of Education, 28 (1), 123-137. Evetts, J. (2003). The sociological analysis of professionalism: occupational change in the modern world Lunenburg, F.C. & Ornstein, A.C. (2000). Introduction to Leading and Supervising Educational Change, Educational administration: Concepts and practices. What are professional dispositions? Retrieved on October 10, 2009 from www2.und.edu/dept/undncate/download.php?id=26