Theoretical Benchmarks And Practical Options Related To Teaching Career Formation And Development

Abstract

Deep-seated social changes cause major changes within the Romanian educational system in general, and to requirements relating to the teaching profession, in particular. From the perspective of many reforms of education, we find significant concerns about the process of professionalisation of the teaching career, building methodologies of initial and continuous training for teachers, definition and description of professional skills/standards, of placement of the training system in the European context of continuous professional development, learning and training throughout life. Today, teachers' assessment focuses on skills, capabilities to make, solve concrete problems, specific to education, but also to students’results, to their performance, plus the opinions of parents and pupils, thus formulating new visions on the professionalism and expertise of teachers. Theoretical contributions on the formation and development of the teaching career in Romania, allow us to make certain analyses and correlations with the students and teachers participating in initial and continuous training programmes. Thus, in this article, we wish to identify the decisive elements of professional development related to the options being considered : identification and analysis of individual options or those based on collaboration and partnership but also of those based on corporate culture in teachers' professional development; on appreciation of the importance of initial and continuous training, both from the perspective of theoretical elements and pedagogical practice; on identification of the most effective or successful ways of continuous training; analysis of the role and functions of evaluation and self-assessment from the perspective of a career in teaching and professional development.

Keywords: Professionalizationteacher trainingprofesional developmentassessment/self-assessment

Introduction

1.1 Paper Rationale

Within the Education Congress (2013) Steliana Toma and Dan Potolea propose A new model of

definition and description of professional standards/skills, highlighting the fact that the

professionalization of the teaching career means placing the system in the context of continuous

professional development, lifelong learning and training and orientation of the system of mobility and

career development and professional development.

Professionalization consists in the process of constituting an ensemble of skills and abilities in a

given domain based on the assimilation of a system of theoretical and practical knowledge, a process

deductively controlled by a template of the concerned profession (Păun, E., in Gliga, coord., 2002).

These considerations constitute the premise of the research we propose, respectively, it highlights

the theoretical and practical options with regard to training and career development.

1.2. Paper Theoretical Foundation and Related Literature

Deep-seated social changes cause major changes within the Romanian educational system in

general, and of the requirements relating to the teaching profession, in particular. From the perspective of

the many reforms of education, we find significant concerns regarding the process of professionalization

of the teaching career, because educational activity was long dominated by empiricism, improvisation and

procedures crafted (Păun, E., in Gliga, coord., 2002, p. 20).

Professionalization, a dominant way of socialization refers to the explicit, descriptive component

of actions specific to a field of human activity and involves the rigor, seriousness, competence,

overcoming the status of amateur or craftsman. It can be concluded that it is a process of building a set of

skills that allow the deployment of a profession.

The professionalization of teaching involves the acquisition of skills necessary for carrying out a

specific instructive-educational activity, training in relation to the following topics: activities for teaching,

training and education of students; activities at the institutional level; activities and relationships with the

community (counseling, cultural action, in partnership with other institutions during the students’ free

time, etc.); other activities and documentation, participation in social life (Maciuc, 2005, p. 313).

For these reasons, we view the definition of career professionalization as a process of formation of

an ensemble of capacities and skills in a given field, based on the assimilation of one set of knowledge

(theoretical and practical), a process controlled by a deductive model of that profession (Păun, E., in

Gliga, coord., 2002 p. 21).

The angles of professionalization can be summarized in: description or elaboration of professional

identity, so as to outline a set of knowledge and skills in a structured professional model (professional

standards), which can be assimilated to a systematic, scientific basis; making an effort to legitimize the

teaching profession in the field of social activities and professions with the help of this model of the

teaching profession (Şerbănescu, 2011, p. 180).

The same author emphasizes that it is essential that, in the context of programmes for teacher

training, activities have to take place in relation to the skills of the profession, established and regulated,

to legitimize the teaching profession.

In this context, we view concern for the teaching career training as a priority of the education

system and training in our country. Some examples in this regard are the PhD research themes of the first

two decades of the twenty-first century, of which we list: The professionalization of the teaching career.

Psycho-pedagogical skills, PhD Sanda Onutz (2011), scientific coordinator: Prof. dr. Vasile Chiş;

Continuous training – the premise of professionalization of the teaching career, PhD Elena Nicoleta

Mircea (2011), scientific coordinator Emil Păun; Evaluation of training programs for teachers, PhD

Iuliana Marinela Niţulescu, scientific coordinator Prof. Univ. Dr. Marin Manolescu; The educator and

social-professional requirements, scientific coordinator Prof. dr. Emil Paun; Counseling for career in

higher technical education PhD Elena Sorina Barboiu (2012), scientific coordinator: Prof. dr. Gheorghe

Tomsa.

Exemplifying these contributions demonstrates both concern for the professionalization of the

teaching career in Romania, and especially optimizing professional standards for the development of a

template of the teaching profession that must contain both the standardized, measurable and observable

skills, and non-standard skills, with high a coefficient of subjectivity. In the paper Training teachers.

Systems, policies, strategies, a template of professionalizing the teaching career, Romiţă Iucu presents the

main roles of the professional teacher from the perspective of several planes of teacher activities: specific

person; social actor; technician; enciclopedian; artisan practitioner; reflective practitioner. The author

emphasizes that the set of skills that are to be formed through training programs for prospective teachers,

the quality of these programs can be evaluated following two criteria: quality of theoretical training, on

the one hand, and the organization and the duration of working hours, on the assumption of guidance on

the other hand. It should be kept in mind the fact that professional training means building intellectual,

physical, moral, and conjectural structures and not adding to existing structures (Iucu, 2004, p. 37).

Initial teacher training programs should be tailored so as to deal with all the components of a

professional in education, aiming to develop each side equally (Şerbănescu, 2011, p. 184).

From the point of view of the curriculum, the current model of, training skills of teachers at the

undergraduate level, is compatible with the European systems. But there are some dysfunctions generated

by the organization, share of the disciplines, program status in the university, students' attitude. The most

important sources of initial training deficiencies are: not using effective ways of selection, depending on

the skills and motivation of those who want to go through the program; the students’ option for the

program is one of damage and not one motivated specifically by interest in teaching career; psycho-

pedagogical disciplines have a residential position in the general plan of academic studies; training is

dispersed over a quite long period of time and does not favor the integration of theory and practice;

pedagogical practice is insufficient, not varied, fragmentary, made among the classes, so the acquisition

and strengthening of skills are badly affected; certifying the development of psycho-pedagogical skills is

irrelevant (Onutz, 2011).

In terms of the Methodology of training teaching staff from preuniversity education we mention

models for continuous training of teachers. They are based on the recognition and quantifying of the

following types of experiences and training programs of formal, non-formal and informal types, through the following types of study loans: Professional academic programs (completion of undergraduate

training programs after completion of minimum legal conditions stipulated for certification in the

training/teaching career; completion of a program of masters belonging to the fundamental domain or a

domain related to the specialty; completion of a program of doctoral studies (professional, scientific

doctorate); completion of a postgraduate academic program valued with academic study credits (courses

must be accredited at University level by the Senate by the rector’s decision of by the National

Qualification Agency); completing a postdoctoral study program in the country or abroad; lifelong

learning programs (LLL); international mobility programs (participation in mobility programs carried out

with the consent of the National Agency for Community Programs in Education and Training: Comenius,

Grundtvig, Leonardo etc; participation in interinstitutional partnership projects-bilateral or multilateral

collaboration accords between school institutions in the program of which training sessions are included;

periodic improvement programs (graduation of courses/training programs accredited or approved by the

competent authorities determined by the legislation in force- MECTS accredited). Theoretical

contributions, in terms of training and career development for teaching in Romania, allow us to create

some analyses and correlations, with students and teachers who attend initial training and continuous

training programs within “1 Decembrie 1918” University in Alba Iulia.

1.3. Objective :

We intend to identify, at the level of our geographical area of teacher training, the decisive

elements of professional development related to the options being considered, namely:

- the identification and analysis of individual options or those based on collaboration and

partnership and organizational culture in the professional development of teachers;

- appreciation of the importance of initial and continuous training, both from the perspective of

theoretical elements and pedagogical practice;

- identification of the most effective or successful ways of continuous training;

- analysis of the role and functions of evaluation and self-assessment from the perspective of a

career in teaching and professional development;

Methodology

2.1. Sample

In this study 70 people were tested, having the age between 18-44 years. The experience variable

has identified which people have experience in teaching. In our sample 25 persons have teaching

experience, 16 people have a one year experience and nine people have an experience of more than one

year. The seniority variable refers to the length of service (years) gained by people active in the teaching

career. This variable had values between one year and 32 years. The degree variable identified four

categories (0-None 1-final degree 2-2nd degree 2, 3-1st degree).

2.2. Instruments

The study was based on data collected through a questionnaire. The questionnaire applied has

collected several types of information:

- demographic and professional achievements (age, experience, seniority, degree)

- opinions about continuous formation in the teaching career (options for career development,

existing organizational culture, utility of continuous formation)

- opinions about assessment and self-assessment in relation to the teaching career (courses taken,

theoretical/practical balance, knowledge/competencies balance, etc.)

The answer supposed more types of different tasks (choosing a value on a continuum, ranking the

answering options or completing an open answer)

2.3. Statistical Analyses

For the processing of the data collected was used the SPSS 15 software.

Missing data have not been replaced. The statistic methods used were: descriptive statistics (mean,

standard deviation, frequency) and correlations.

Results

3.1. Descriptive Statistics

Related to the existing options for teaching career development (question 3), in our sample 62%

checked positions 7, 8, 9 or 10 (M = 6.54, SD = 2,655).

For next question, the preferred option for teaching career development, 50% has chosen the

individual plan as first option and 36% has chosen collaboration as the first option.

The question about which approach is facilitated by present organizational culture indicated that

almost half of the sample (N=34, 47.9%) feels that a collaborative approach is existing and that, a smaller

proportion of the sample (N=28, 39.4%) feels the opposite, that an individual development is favored.

Continuous formation was considered necessary by the majority (N=56, 78.9%), but a smaller

proportion of the sample (N=9, 12.7%) had a mixed view and, an even smaller subgroup (N=4, 5.6%)

was opposing the idea of continuous formation utility. These results were confirmed by the answers to the

next question (number seven), where the majority considered that continuous formation was more

important than initial formation (M = 7.31, SD = 2,566).

Question 8 and 10 were also about continuous formation, the first one asking for courses taken and

the second one about courses proposed. The results are presented in Table 3 .

See Full Size >

In line with these results, answers to question 12 revealed that in this sample competencies were

seen a little more important than knowledge M = 6.19, SD = 2,678; the value of 5 being the middle of the

scale.

The relationship between self-evaluation and evaluation was assessed through two questions. The

first one (question 11) was asking about the importance of these two evaluations in teaching career and

the second one (question 14) was asking how important are seen from a personal perspective. For both of

them, the answer could choose any point on a continuum from 1 to 10, where 1 was the self-evaluation

pole and 10 was the evaluation pole. The results had close values, M = 6.00, SD = 2,456 (question 11)

and M = 5.35, SD = 2,528 (question 14).

A last item was questioning what aspects could have the strongest influence on the results of

professional evaluations. There have been enumerated four options: "context", "definition of the

objectives", "subjective aspects", "the methods of evaluation". The "definition of the objectives" was

chosen as most important by 32 people (45.1%), "context" had been on the same first position for 13

people (18.3%) followed by "methods of evaluation" with 12 people (16.9%) and "subjective aspects"

which was chosen as the first option by 5 people (7%).

3.2. Correlations

In this sample more variables had statistical significant correlations:

- age correlated with variable "context" from question 13, (r = -.393, p = .010).

- experience correlated with variable "subjective aspects" from question 13 (r = .362, p =.025).

- both seniority and degree correlate with number of courses taken (r = .360, p = .002 and r = .290,

p =.015) and with the number of courses proposed (r = .322, p = .007 and r = .290, p = .015)

- the option perceived as available for teaching career development correlated with two variables:

perceived relevance of initial vs continuous formation (r = .501, p = .000) and perceived relevance of

self-evaluation vs evaluation (r = .311, p = .011)

- the variable of practical pedagogy vs theoretical pedagogy correlated with the variable that

measured the personal significance for self-evaluation vs evaluation (question 14), r = .357, p = .006.

Discussions

A first point of interest of this study was to identify and analyse how present or future teachers

want to develop their career and what options they perceive to have. Results obtained indicated that the

preferred option for teaching career development was the individual plan as first option for half of this

sample and another third of it has chosen collaboration as their first option.

Related to the existing options for teaching career development, in this study, results indicate that

most often the collaboration/partnership option was perceived as being available. This result is confirmed

by the fact that also the organizational culture is perceived by the majority as favoring the collaborative

approach.

A second point of interest was to find out which is the perception related to initial and continuous

formation. Continuous formation was considered necessary by the large majority and also was seen to be

more relevant than initial formation. Even more, people who were involved in courses related to

continuous formation had more often and more proposals for future such courses. Also, seniority and

degree variables, but not age, had strong correlations with number of courses taken and with the number

of courses proposed. Starting from these results could be speculated that involving people in more

courses, making them wish to have a higher degree and keeping them longer involved in the teaching

career would make them be more interested in continuous formation. As an interesting fact, correlation

coefficients indicated that those that believe more often that they have the possibility to develop their

teaching career through collaborations and partnerships are also those that believe that continuous

formation is more important than initial formation.

The last objective of this study was to identify efficient and successful ways to implement

continuous formation and to analyse how evaluation is perceived. Related to the first aspect, the results in

this sample revealed that courses of continuous formation should focus on practical aspects and should

lead to building of competencies. Related to the second aspect, self-evaluation was perceived, marginally, as a preferred option in this sample. Considering the small difference between how self-evaluation and

evaluation have been perceived perhaps a more realistic interpretation could be that both of them play an

important role in the teaching career development.

But, results obtained could lead to some clues that partially explain why self-evaluation is

preferred to evaluation. In the last one, "definition of the objectives" was chosen as most influential. Still,

"context" and "methods of evaluation", together, were seen as being most relevant for almost one third in

this sample and only "subjective aspects" was chosen as the first option by less than 10% of the sample.

Even more, these options are not completely static. Looking over the correlation coefficients it can

be seen that age correlated with variable "context"; older people thought that results of professional

assessments are more influenced by the context in which these assessments are happening. And,

experience variable correlated with variable "subjective aspects"; more experienced teachers consider that

"subjective aspects" have less influence on the results of professional assessments.

Also, correlation coefficients indicated that those that believe more often that they have the

posibility to develop their teaching career through collaborations and partnerships or consider that

pedagogical theory is more important than practical pedagogy are also those that perceive evaluation as

more important than self-evaluation.

Conclusions

Despite its limitations the present study have been able to address its objectives, being able to

identify how teaching career development is perceived both from a personal and institutional perspective.

Also, it have been able to assess how evaluation and self-evaluation are perceived and to identify aspects

that could help future courses dedicated to continuous formation.

References

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2. Maciuc, I. (1998). Formarea formatorilor. Modele alternative şi programe modulare, E.D.P.R.A., Bucuresti Maciuc, I. (2005). Nevoia de profesori reflexivi, in: Schimbari de paradigma in stiintele educatiei. (coord.
3. F.Voiculescu) Risoprint, Cluj-Napoca, 2005, p.313
4. Onutz, S.(2011). Teză de doctorat: Profesionalizarea carierei didactice.competente psihopedagogice (Conducator stiintific: Prof.univ.dr. Vasile Chis) Retrieved from http://doctorat.ubbcluj.ro/sustinerea_publica/rezumate/2011/stiinte-ale educatiei/onutz_sanda_ro.pdf Şerbănescu, L. (2011). Formarea profesională a cadrelor didactice. Repere pentru managementul carierei, Editura Printech, Bucureşti.
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