Age Of Professionalism Essay

In the pre-professional age, skills for teaching were acquired through practical apprenticeship, learned by watching others, and once an individual learned how to teach, the teacher was seen as mastering the profession (Hargreaves, 2000). Professionally, when a teacher was no longer working as an apprentice, feedback was eliminated and interactions with colleagues halted, leaving a teacher on their own (Hargreaves, 2000). Further learning, according to Hargreaves (2000), was acquired through trial-and-error within the confines of isolated classrooms. In the 1960s, the age of the autonomous professional, Hargreaves (2000) claims that individualism was a common characteristic of teaching, as teachers continued to teach in isolation, separated from their …show more content…
A common purpose began forming and the building of professional communities, according to Hargreaves (2000), provided space for risk-taking, collaboration, and inquiry. Research by Fullan and Hargreaves (1996), asserted the following implications for teacher education, professional learning, and mentoring that aligns to this age of professionalism:
Teachers learn to teach in new ways.
Professional learning is seen as a continuous process, grappling with complex and evolving issues.
Continuous learning is both an individual responsibility and an institutional obligation.
Professional learning is not to be found in a choice between school-based and course-based modes of provision by in an active integration of and synergy between the two.
Collegial professionalism means working with, learning from, and teaching colleagues.
Teaching must be framed and informed by professional standards of practice that define what good teachers should know and be able to do and what qualities and dispositions they should possess to care for and connect with their