Teaching as a profession

Definition of profession
The Oxford Dictionary defines profession as a paid occupation, especially one that involves
prolonged training and a formal qualification. We can see that all professions require some formal
theoretical knowledge and a specialised set of skills to perform. The profession of a doctor calls for
rigorous training in skill and theory. Similarly teachers also undergo formal education and acquire
educational qualifications appropriate to the level of teaching and undergo a teacher education
program which instil and refine teaching skills.

Abraham Flexner (1915) has given six criteria for a profession

1. involve intellectual operations with large individual responsibility
(This means the activities done by a professional require intellectual decisions and the work
is carried out with a high degree of personal responsibility)
2. derive raw material from science and learning (this means that the practice of a profession is
based on knowledge and not routine thinking)
3. The raw material is worked up to a practical and definite end. (this means that there is
practical application rather than just theorizing)
4. educationally communicable (this means that there are techniques in the profession that
can be taught or trained)
5. tendency for self-organization (this means that the profession is organized internally)
6. Altruistic in motivation (this means that the members of the profession work with a sense of doing good to others.