A Study of Professionalism of Secondary School Teachers

Abstract

A professional teacher needs to be confident without being arrogant. Nobody can expect to have all the answers, so if a student asks a weird doubt, the professional teacher should be able to admit defeat but offer to find out more for the student and they must carry that promise out. Proper preparation is another crucial requirement of professionalism. When the teacher enters the classroom s/he should have all the required materials and the lesson plan ready. The researcher has pursued a study on such professionalism of teachers, as to how a teacher is aware towards his / her professional ethics, and how such awareness can bring results in the rewards and achievements of students. The study was conducted on 1044 teachers of secondary schools in saurashtra Region Comprising of 11 districts of Gujarat. The study was conducted using a self constructed scale “Secondary School Teachers Professionalism Scale”. The variables under study were Nature of Job, Qualification, Professional Qualification, Family Background, and Education Board. The method of research was descriptive survey research. The tool comprised of ten components viz. Time Keeping, Content Mastery, Contemporary Knowledge, Communication with Students, Communication with Colleagues, Delivery Mechanism, Pro-Activeness and Follow up, Parents Counseling and Students Counselling. The findings of research are Nature of Job as a variable affect the Contemporary Knowledge and Physical Appearance of the Teachers. The Qualification of Teachers affected the Time Keeping, Contemporary Knowledge, Communication with Students, Communication with Colleagues, Pro Activeness and Follow-up, Parents Counselling and Students Counselling. The Professional Qualification affected the Students Counselling of Teachers. The Family Background affected the Parents Counselling of Teachers. The Education Board affected the Time Keeping, Content Mastery, Contemporary Knowledge, Delivery Mechanism, Parents Counselling and Students Counselling. Schools and Educational institutes can use the tool to measure the professionalism of teachers and can device training programmes to enhance professionalism for relevant components. The findings highlights key components where Other Board teachers are score better in professionalism and the same can used to device training programme for Gujarat Board teachers to improve for such key components. Over all, the research will help the teacher in general to measure the professionalism of self and motivate development of professionalism.