Professionalization (Hong Kong Case)

7 Pages 1670 Words

essions are exclusive occupations and there are 3 common defining characteristics: expertise, autonomy and altruism. An exclusive occupation requires one to obtain special and unique knowledge, autonomy for effective practice and responsibility that entails certain set of values and attitudes. Doctors are typical examples of exclusive occupations.

On the basis of the 3 common defining characteristics, Law (2001) defined that teaching is regarded as a semi-profession which stands between non-profession and paradigm professions.

Based on the concept of exclusive occupations, Helsby (1996) categorized its characteristics into 2 groups, professionalization and professionalism.

Though the 2 terms look very alike, Hargreaves (2000) also mentioned clearly about the distinction between professionalization and professionalism. Professionalization is a way to help teachers to “be a professional”, while professionalism refers to whether teachers “behaving professionally”. To Hargreaves (2000), stronger professionalization does not equal to greater professionalism. However, there is a strong correlation between professionalization and professionalism in the discourse on Teaching Profession.

3. Key challenges faced by the teachers in recent years
As mentioned before, as the quality of education is of increasing concern, there are significant changes in the teaching profession in recent years in Hong Kong. Harris (2001) suggested that the changes in social, political and e...