TMAO, who blogs at Teaching in the 408, has a post discussing the semi-professional position into which many teachers feel they are pushed. TMAO proposes that abolition of some constraints (e.g., tenure) and adoption of some form of merit pay will help professionalize teaching. To be treated like a profession, though, teaching will almost certainly have to adopt some fundamental professional behaviors. As TMAO notes, some form of accountability is required. Also, professional decision-making is needed.
I’m reminded of Doug Carnine’s paper, “Why Education Experts Resist Effective Practices (And What It Would Take to Make Education More Like Medicine),” in which similar sorts of issues are discussed. However the thrust there is more toward the decision-making side than the pay-advancement side.
Link to TMAO’s ledge post and to a PDF of Doug’s paper.
I did not read the PDF, but I did visit the ledge post. What continually escapes me is why do we need merit pay to validate the work teachers do? Yes, we work hard, but so do doctors, firefighters, police officers, social workers, and so on. Creating a system which pits teachers one against the other in order to determine who is doing the better job is not the answer.
Thank you for posting and for linking.
Miss Profe,
Why must a merit-pay system “pit teachers against each other?” Why necessarily? Are there no other options? Are we not capable of doing this and making it work?
Dear Teaching…
It’d be fun to discuss some options for merit pay.
Another alternative: Pay teachers better, but tie management’s (i.e., principals’) pay to outcomes. What do you think of that idea?