Professionalism is sometimes viewed as either the service of teaching or a ruse to win teachers over into striving for achieving state purposes. Professional teachers have academic qualifications and also act on ethical moments based on explicit or implicit code of conduct. The practice of teachers is based on a special knowledge aspect rooted in the idea that successful professional practice rests upon special professional knowledge much of it experimentally gained and often held tacitly. It becomes then the task of professional education somehow to unpack this knowledge or find ways of passing it on from experienced professionals to those entering the profession.
Given the conflict between professional autonomy and state demands on one hand and the intricacies of professional knowledge on the other hand, teacher educators are confronted with a dilemma. Should they base their own academic notions on the belief that the profession rest on a solid base of special knowledge, or should they become more assertive in the political dialogues concerning teacher’s preparation and development, questioning the existing order and keeping alive ideas of equity and social justice? How can teacher education prepare teachers for the inherent clash between professional autonomy and centralized circular serving in a global economy?
There is no defensible professional teacher education that is not based on a valid body of knowledge. In addition to subject matter, knowledge and understanding of the broader social ramifications, it is important to include the following: teacher understanding and commitment to professional behavior, interpersonal and communication skills, among all the diverse demands placed on teacher education programs, promoting the ability to teach for understanding is particularly important.
Teachers are to help students delve more deeply into underlying meanings of mathematics, engage their discussion on problems and ideas, reasoning and understanding, rather than merely emphasizing performance. This kind of teaching creates challenges by opening up the classroom discussion as well as the ways in which knowledge is treated and demanding a finer and more ongoing discernment of student’s knowledge.
Teaching for understanding depends on the acknowledgement of several aspects of uncertainty in teaching-the inherently incomplete nature of the knowledge with which teachers work, teacher’s commitment to be responsive to diverse students and student’s unpredictable responses, and possible conflicts between commitment to teach for understanding and the other educational commitments teacher have. When teachers attempt to teach for understanding other educational evidence of learning may be elusive and may not provide teachers with what is generally considered sound and valid knowledge about their students. Teachers plan predict and prescribe teaching in a certain sense but students unpredictable responses create an ever-changing content for teaching that is not completely predictable. Teaching is always contingent on a sound array of.
By: AGOSTO J. GABAYA | Limay National High School | Limay, Bataan
