Theoretical perspectives on professionalism, professionality and professional development

1
Theoretical perspectives on professionalism,
professionality and professional development

• invited seminar at the University of Cape Town
• 26th September 2008
• Dr Linda Evans
• School of Education, University of Leeds, UK

2
Professionality and professionalism

• Eric Hoyle
• professionalism - status-related
• the institutional component of professionalisation
  
• professionality - knowledge, skills procedures
  used in ones work
• the service component of professionalisation
• extended-restricted professionality continuum

3
Professionality orientation teachers
Eric Hoyle, 1975

• Restricted professionality
• Skills derived from experience
• Perspective limited to the immediate in time and
  place
• Introspective with regard to methods
• Value placed on autonomy
• Infrequent reading of professional literature
• Teaching seen as an intuitive activity

• Extended professionality
• Skills derived from a mediation between
  experience theory
• Perspective embracing the broader social context
  of education
• Methods compared with those of colleagues and
  reports of practice
• Value placed on professional collaboration
• Regular reading of professional literature
• Teaching seen as a rational activity

4
Extended and Restricted Researcher
Professionality
5
The restricted-extended teacher
professionality continuum
6
Professionality and professionalism

• Professionality is an ideologically-,
  attitudinally-, intellectually-, and
  epistemologically-based stance on the part of an
  individual, in relation to the practice of the
  profession to which s/he belongs, and which
  influences her/his professional practice.
• Evans, L. (2002) Reflective Practice in
  Educational Research (London, Continuum)
• Hoyle (2008) the service component of
  professionalism

7
Professionality and professionalism

• Professionalism is
• the plural of professionality
• professionality writ large
• the amalgamation of individuals
  professionalities.
• Professionalism is professionality-influenced
  practice that is consistent with commonly-held
  consensual delineations of a specific profession
  and that both contributes to and reflects
  perceptions of the professions purpose and
  status and the specific nature, range and levels
  of service provided by, and expertise prevalent
  within, the profession, as well as the general
  ethical code underpinning this practice.
• (Evans, L. (2008) Professionalism,
  professionality and the development of education
  professionals, British Journal of Educational
  Studies, 56 (1), 20-38)

8
Professionalism and professionality

• Professionality is an ideologically-,
  attitudinally-, intellectually-, and
  epistemologically-based stance on the part of an
  individual, in relation to the practice of the
  profession to which s/he belongs, and which
  influences her/his professional practice.
• Professionalism is the perceived enactment of
  professionality-influenced practice that is
  consistent with commonly-held consensual
  delineations of a specific profession and that
  both contributes to and reflects perceptions of
  the professions purpose and status and the
  specific nature, range and levels of service
  provided by and expertise prevalent within the
  profession.

9
Key components of professionalism
Subjective professionalism
Functional component
Intellectual component
Attitudinal component
10
intellectual component
What do practitioners know and understand?
What does the professional knowledge base
comprise? Are there specialist areas? Are there
minimum (general) practitioner knowledge
requirements?
comprehensive dimension
What is the basis of practitioners knowledge?

• Common sense and experience?
• Research and/or scholarship?
• In which disciplines/subjects?
• What depth?
• What width?
• Contextual differences?

epistemological dimension
To what extent do practitioners apply reason to
decision making?
Is practice underpinned by rationality,
intuition, or a mediation of the two?
rationalistic dimension
11
attitudinal component
How do practitioners perceive things (issues,
situations, people, activity, etc.)? How do they
perceive their profession and its purpose?
What perceptions do practitioners hold? What
perceptions do they not hold? How
widespread/consensual are specific perceptions? Ar
e there any key/core perceptions?
perceptual dimension
How do practitioners evaluate things (issues,
situations, people, activity, etc.)? How do they
evaluate their profession and its purpose?
What values do practitioners hold? How
widespread/consensual are these values? Are there
any key/core values?
evaluative dimension
How motivated are practitioners? What motivates
them?
How motivated are practitioners? What motivates
them?
motivational dimension
12
functional component
What processes do practitioners apply to their
practice?
Advising? Educating? Regulating? Policy
analysis? Knowledge generation? Learning? Inter-in
stitutional collegiality?
processual dimension
What procedures do practitioners apply to their
practice? What hierarchical procedures operate
within the workforce? What stratification exists
within the workforce?
Mode(s) of communication? Mode(s) of implementing
policy? Mode(s) of regulating? Mode(s) of
innovating? How is responsibility distributed
- for knowledge/role coverage? What layers of
practice exist?
procedural dimension
What is the nature of practitioners output? How
much do practitioners produce? What (if any)
productive yardsticks guide them?
What do practitioners do their remit and
responsibilities? Is their workload determined by
the clock set hours? Is workload determined by
the task in response to need?
productive dimension
13
The professional development process in
individuals
Linda Evans (2007)
14
The professional development process in
individuals (model 1)
Linda Evans (2007)
15
The professional development process (model 2)
Linda Evans (2007) - work in progress
16
Definitions of professional development

• Professional development is the process whereby
  peoples professionalism and/or professionality
  may be considered to be enhanced.
• Within this overarching definition, my current
  definition of individuals professional
  development is the enhancement of their
  professionality, resulting from their
  acquisition, through a consciously or
  unconsciously applied mental internalisation
  process, of professional work-related knowledge
  and/or understanding and/or attitudes and/or
  skills and/or competences that, on the grounds of
  what is consciously or unconsciously considered
  to be its/their superiority, displace(s) and
  replace(s) previously-held professional
  work-related knowledge and/or understanding
  and/or attitudes and/or skills and/or
  competences. (Evans, 2008, work-in-progress)

17
The professional development process in
individuals

• Components
• recognition that theres an alternative
• a better way
• encountering a specific alternative
• evaluating the specific alternative
• recognising the specific alternative as a better
  way
• implies recognition of the perceived relative
  inadequacies of previous practice/views/knowledge
  etc.
• adoption of the perceived better way
• evaluation of the newly adopted
  practice/views/attitudes etc. as better than what
  it/they replaced
• Evans (2008) work-in-progress

18
Professional developmentan ontological model
(2002)
Professional Development
Attitudinal Development
Functional Development
Procedural Change
Productive Change
Intellectual Change
Motivational Change
19
Professional developmentan ontological model
(2008)(Evans, work in progress)
professional development
functional development
intellectual development
attitudinal development
20
Issues for consideration

• Does the model apply to all elements of
  professional development?
• May each element involve a different process?
• Is there a process that, at the lowest
  reductionist level, is applicable to all three
  elements?
• stimulus to modify professional practice, or
  related attitudes, knowledge and/or understanding?