Teaching as a Profession of Care and Responsibility
Teaching as a Profession of Care
Aristotle distinguishes between theory and practice. Theory is the knowledge of the universal and necessary, what cannot be otherwise. Practice is knowledge of the particular and therefore contingent. He distinguishes between:
- The production of technical or artistic artifacts, which he calls poiesis (making, theoretical knowledge, actions taken by the man created for an external result).
- The moral and responsible action of the subject, to which he reserves the name praxis (act, namely ethical action itself involved in the subject).
Professional Habits
Being required in its formation, as the profession involves a time-intensive occupation and continued in the theoretical knowledge actions. We can tell what a manager is or what a business is, but not who is a good manager or a good businessman. The study of those acquired habits is properly the criteria of professional ethics that define professions (Gichure):
- A systematic base of knowledge or expertise.
- A clearly defined purpose.
- A component of scientific knowledge.
- Standardization of positive sciences.
Profile of the Teaching Profession (Sarramona)
- Definition of a specific field of action.
- Preparation of technical and scientific support for solving problems within its scope.
- A commitment to continuing and enhancing its own skills and abilities.
- Certain social rights as an individual and as a professional group.
- Autonomy in acting (highly conditioned).
- Commitment to ethical professional practice.
Characteristics of Professional Practice
- Competition: Refers to the ability or capacity to resolve and address the problems of the profession.
- Commitment: An entirely personal act, which implies the need for good training to become a good professional.
- Initiative: A requirement for anyone who works. The only way forward is with the contribution of each, whom the novelty of those who conduct.
- Dedication: Be available to help strengthen the action of another or of others at all times.
- Responsibility: A moral quality in itself, an obligation hosted by the subject, seeking to improve the action.
Crisis in the Education System (1980-1990)
- Coverage and access: The expansion of educational opportunities in recent decades had marked a notable advance in the reduction of illiteracy and the increase in average access to education in Chile.
- Deterioration in the quality of learning: Testing (SIMCE) revealed that the result was satisfactory only for some students who took it.
- Regarding curriculum: No real freedom of curriculum existed.
- Teaching practice: Teachers were more focused on teaching than on learning.
- Inequities in the education system: Unequal opportunities in the different socioeconomic strata.
- Descending financial resources allocated to education.
- Centralized, bureaucratic, and often authoritarian features.
- A short-term view in decision-making.
- Isolation in relation to other sectors of the state and society.
- Greater emphasis on curricular materials and designs in the professional role of teachers.
These crises needed a new model (constructivism). Besides globalization, the current policies and the economy made the education system focus on equity changes.
The Chilean Educational Reform
Basic principles:
- Efficiency: Must privilege the quality of education and be consistent with societal expectations, the challenges of sustainable growth, and the modernization of the country.
- Efficiency: Must be functional for the purposes of education.
- Effectiveness: The actions of the new style should have the impact and repercussions.
Goals: Improved equity and quality of the reform.
- Extension of the principle of equal opportunity for educational equality based on learning achieved and not just coverage.
- Schools must operate within a policy of positive discrimination.
- More resources for those most in need.
- Step from quantity to quality.
- Pedagogical decentralization (it empowers schools to administer, manage, and adopt).