Is Teaching a True Profession?

Why/Why Not?

• 9 characteristics of true professions:

1 - Acknowledged knowledge base

2 - Rigorous training/certification

3 - Workplace of high consulting and collaborating

4 - Required continuous learning regularly built into the work cycle

Teaching, A True Profession?

5 - Systematic evaluation of new members

6 - High public accountability/responsibility

7 - Internal maintenance of high standards of practice

8 - Responsible for client results

9 - Make autonomous decisions guided by a canon of ethics

Characteristics of True Professions

• We gave it all away…

Initial degree - to higher ed.

Licensure - to administrators

Recruitment - to HR folks

Tenure - to administrators

What Happened?

Induction/mentoring - to no one

Professional Development- to everyone

Teacher evaluation- to principals

Pay systems- to school boards

Teacher dismissal -to all of the above

What Happened?

Preparing professional teachers…◦Year-long residency in schools◦Local licensing – tiered model◦Teachers recruit & hire their colleagues◦Three-year induction with tenure earned at site

◦Organized into Communities of Practice◦Evaluated by peers, mentors, others◦Professional development by colleagues, ◦Supported by union of United Mind Workers

Get Ready for the New Model

Too many schools/districts today feature:◦ Centralized, top down administrative structures◦ Imbalance between power and responsibility

– Top down, multiple “reforms” stacked on one another that seldom work

– School leadership (administrators) often create – decreasing/negative teacher motivation

– Administration too responsible for the school culture for the staff and students

– Teachers have little control over day to day decisions that affect their outcomes for themselves and their

students

Change the Job to Change the Game

Teacher empowerment and autonomy is the greatest predictor of school improvement (elementary level.)

For every point increase in empowerment, schools are 7.3 times more likely to be rated average or above.

The Professional Teacher

Accomplished teachers know the most about how /why students learn. In an new model they will:

Lead professional communities of practice;

Share expertise with colleagues;

Mentor and review other teachers;

Lead school improvement efforts

Inform policy makers as to what works/does not work to improve teaching and learning

Teacher Work in a New Game

Good for kids and fair to teachers Adults and students want to be there Student learning trumps student

achievement Students are knowledge workers (Schlechty)

District-wide culture of collaboration School systems are systems of schools High standards but not standardization Measure against Common Core standards Kids not sorted by “date of manufacture”

A New Culture

1 - Continuous improvement through command and control bureaucracy

2 - Innovation-based systemic reform (here today gone tomorrow)

3 - Continuous innovation, improvement, and motivation in individual schools inside and outside the district

Choose Your Model

Prepare teachers for ‘Communities of Practice’

Unpack and ‘unfear’ the punitive culture of ‘command and demand ‘

Redesigned Fourth Stage Unionism to create and support the True Teaching Profession

Think medical/law/architectural firm model

Get far enough out to sea (of the old model) to discover a new world

The Promised Land

Teachers are the deciders in:

◦Self-governed schools;◦Teacher –led schools;◦Teacher cooperatives;◦Teacher partnerships;◦Communities of practice;◦Teachers in private practice.

Teacher Voice in the New Game

FROM ----------TOBlue Collar White Collar Industrial ProfessionalSingle employers Single schools

Masses Individuals

A New Union for New Times

Districts Single Schools Individuals

Master ROA/MOA AMA, ABA Contract Policy Devel.

Policy Voice Legal/ Leadership

LeadershipGrievance Development

DevelopmentPD PD PDPolicy Devel. Benefits LobbyingBenefits Lobbying Indv.

benefitsLobbying

The Professional Union

• “ I have come to realize how important it is for excellent teachers to step out of their comfort zones and use their credibility to

positively lead and impact our schools and profession. If teachers remain silent and

concede vital leadership roles and decisions to people with little or no knowledge of our classrooms, how can we blame them for the

poor decisions they make? How will they know unless we teach them.” NBC Teacher

We Must Lead

What needs to be done…• Degree: Residency at school + higher ed.

Collaboratively• Licensure: District + higher ed. Team• Recruitment: teachers and district• Hiring: Mentors on hiring and interview teams

with a real voice• Tenure: Mentors and colleagues• Professional development: teacher presenters

Taking the Bull by the Horns

What needs to be done…• Pay systems: teachers, district, state• Teacher evaluation: peers, mentors, others• Teacher dismissal: peers, mentors

“ If you change the job, you change the game.”Richard Ingersoll, Researcher, University of Pennsylvania

Taking the Bull by the Horns

Districts Single Schools Individuals

Policy Dev. Policy Dev. Policy Dev. Benefits Benefits Lobbying Lobbying Lobbying

The Professional Union

• Without changing the job…– Top down “reforms” that seldom work

– School leadership (administrators) often create– positive/negative teacher motivation

– Administration too responsible for the school culture for the staff and students

– Teachers have little control over day to day decisions that affect their outcomes for themselves and their students

Change the Job to Change the Game

Current game may…Squander valuable human resources through◦ Misdiagnosis of issues◦ Unfair and ineffective reform◦ Decreasing teacher motivation◦ Poor comprehensive student performance

Changing the Job“Change can only be done with us, not to us.”

Randy Weingarten, AFT President

Change the Job to Change the Game

District-wide culture of collaboration School systems are systems of schools High standards but not standardization Measure against Common Core standards Kids not sorted by “date of manufacture”

The New Culture