Teaching An Art

 Teaching is a process that facilitates learning. Teaching is the specialized application of knowledge, skills and attributes designed to provide unique service to meet the educational needs of the individual and of society. The choice of learning activities whereby the goals of education are realized in the school is the responsibility of the teaching profession.

It has well said that "teaching" mean "causing to learn". Nothing has been given until it has been taken; nothing has been thought until it has been learnt. Teaching is more than the efficient delivery of thoroughly prepared lectures, and a clear realization of this simple fact will have many beginners in the art of teaching from much disappointment.

Characteristics Of Teaching :

• Knowledge of how children learn is the first essential for success in teaching and that is why teaching at present is considered as a profession.
• Let us not forget that teaching is a noble profession which counts amongst its members the greatest and noblest figures of human history. All the great religious leaders and reformers of the ages were teachers of mankind in the truest sense of the word.
• Teachers of our age, too, can work as the architects of a better future for the race if they follow their examples and try to achieve happiness, not by concentrating on petty and selfish interests but by serving some cause greater than themselves, the cause of building up a better type of human being and a better social order than that in which it has been their lot to live. Are our teachers prepared to accept this challenge and equip themselves for the great task?
• Modem society is full of professional men and women like the Doctors, Engineers, Weavers, Oilmen, Cobbler, Barber, Sweeper, Washer man, etc. A doctor's profession is concerned with the physical side of man's personality, and the engineer looks after physical side of social like in building roads, bridges, dams, houses in devising new methods and machines.
• He enriches national life and adds to the comfort and convenience of the common man. A weaver makes cloths, a tailor stitches cloths, a cobbler makes shoes and in the same way the washer man, sweeper, the carpenter, the oilmen, the barber, etc. serve mankind by their own profession.
• Though their profession is useful for the society, it is limited to physical side of human life. But the highest good consists in all-around development of individual physical, social, intellectual, moral, spiritual and aesthetic aspects.
• It is the teaching profession, which helps an individual for his growth fully, in his body, mind, spirit, intellectual emotion and with moral values and artistic sensitivity. Therefore, teaching has been accepted as the noblest profession.

Teaching as a Profession

The continued professionalization of teaching is a long-standing goal of the Alberta Teachers’ Association. The Association continues to work to advance teaching as a profession. Professionalism is a complex and elusive concept; it is dynamic and fluid. Six generally accepted criteria are used to define a profession. The teaching profession in Alberta fulfills those criteria in the following ways:

1. Its members have an organized body of knowledge that separates the group from all others. Teachers are equipped with such a body of knowledge, having an extensive background in the world and its culture and a set of teaching methods experientially derived through continuous research in all parts of the world.

2. It serves a great social purpose. Teachers carry responsibilities weighted with social purpose. Through a rigid and self-imposed adherence to the Code of Professional Conduct, which sets out their duties and responsibilities, teachers pass on their accumulated culture and assist each student under their care in achieving self-realization.

3. There is cooperation achieved through a professional organization. Cooperation plays an important role in the development of the teaching profession because it represents a banding together to achieve commonly desired purposes. The teaching profession has won its well-deserved place in the social order through continuous cooperation in research, professional preparation and strict adherence to the Code of Professional Conduct, which obligates every teacher to treat each student within a sacred trust. Teachers have control or influence over their own governance, socialization into teaching and research connected with their profession.

4. There is a formal period of preparation and a requirement for continuous growth and development. Teachers are required to complete a defined teacher preparation program followed by a period of induction or internship prior to being granted permanent certification. This period includes support for the formative growth of teachers and judgments about their competence. Teachers are devoted to continuous development of their ability to deliver their service.

5. There is a degree of autonomy accorded the professional. Teachers have opportunities to make decisions about important aspects of their work. Teachers apply reasoned judgment and professional decision making daily in diagnosing educational needs, prescribing and implementing instructional programs, and evaluating the progress of students. Teacher judgment unleashes learning and creates the basis for experience.