Pedagogy

Professionalism relies on the judgement of others on oneself. Regardless of how professional a worker may perceive themselves to be, it is ultimately in the eyes of those who work alongside them, or who are recipients of their work that decide upon the professionalism of the worker, in this case it is an educator such as myself. Although I am answering the question in a way that I have argued is impractical, I have no other choice as conducting field research during the COVID-19 pandemic is unwise in regards to the health of any school community.

Therefore, I have decided upon the following characteristics and attributes, with reference to some OCT documents, that an aspiring or practicing teacher must possess in order to be considered a professional. They must have Interprofessional Collaboration and Ethical Leadership skills, as described in the document of the same name: Exploring Interprofessional Collaboration and Ethical Leadership. With its thousands of kilometers of memory storage, the internet knows more than the average person, or the average teacher could ever know. Therefore, instead of shunning students for “looking something up”, the act should instead be encouraged because the students are simply using the tools at their disposal to acquire the knowledge the seek. Collaboration and Leadership are simply not enough, as with the instant access of information available to students, teachers must take up the role of a guide, and assist in the navigation of the informational quest, detailed an unique for each student.

The use of social media, and other virtual/digital methods of communication cannot be avoided, and it is foolish to think that barring technological and communicative progress to uphold traditional methods of data acquisition and social interaction will be useful to our students in the world that awaits them. This approach towards education is reactionary, and gets in the way of progress by attempting to maintain the familiar and outdated through its replacement of the contemporary. The document Maintaining Professionalism – Use of Electronic Communication and Social Media, encourages the use of social media popular among students through integration rather than substitution. For example, in an virtual classroom setting (such is the reality of today), a traditional powerpoint presentation is not enough to maintain the interest of students and communicate information. Instead, an interactive powerpoint can be used to keep students engaged, and feel as though they are part of the lesson and their own learning.