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APPENDIX G
An NSTA Position Statement on
Science Teacher Professionalism
PREAMBLE
The teacher is the key to making science teaching a profession and to provid-
ing quality science education. For American society to accept science teachers as
professionals, science teaching needs to conform to society's professional prac-
tice model.
Society's professional practice model is knowledge based and content ori-
ented. It is a pact between society and members of an occupation whose work
"requires discretion and judgment in meeting the unique needs of clients . . . (A
profession organizes itself) to guarantee the competence of its members in ex-
change for the privilege of controlling its own work structure and standards of
practice. "The profession assumes collective responsibility for defining, commu-
nicating, and enforcing professional standards of practice and ethics. It develops
and maintains a process which ensures both the research and craft knowledge
accumulated in the field are communicated and used effectively by all its mem-
bers. That knowledge is also used to prepare, induct, certify, select, and evaluate
new members. Further, the profession ensures continuous generation of new
knowledge. Differences in knowledge levels, expertise, responsibility, and pro-
ductivity result in differentiated roles, status, and compensation.
Science teaching requires an individual to exercise discretion and judgment
in meeting the needs of students. Thus it is fitting for science teachers) to assume
the rights and responsibilities of professionals in our society. To do so, the
iScience teachers herein are defined as in the NSTA Visions paper which includes underrepresented
groups: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, the disabled,
and women.
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218
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE TEACHERS
educational enterprise in the United States must eliminate the existing hierarchy.
The roles of all participants in the enterprise must change. Such initiatives are
emerging throughout the country and are supported by research publications and
position papers from professional societies. This position statement describes
changes in structure and expectations which must occur to enable a science
teacher to assume the role of a professional within society's professional practice
model.
POSITION STATEMENT
NSTA supports the restructuring of schooling in the United States so that
science teaching can become consistent with the professional practice model.
Teachers must collectively (1) establish and continually revise standards for
the profession and (2) enable individuals to make choices exercising their own
discretion and judgment in their professional work within the parameters of the
collective standards.
DECISIONS
Since making decisions collectively is critical to establishing science teach-
ing as a profession, interaction among teachers and the time to interact are essen-
tial. Sharing, mutual commitment, and caring about community must be facili-
tated. This means establishing new priorities for how teachers allocate their work
time so they can collaborate with each other and other stakeholders to make
policies and regulations relating to science teaching. Teachers' success is evalu-
ated in terms of these new priorities.
Decisions cover the entire range of school activities that impinge on science
teaching. Some examples are monitoring science education programs and prac-
tice; identifying changes needed in schools so the needs of the local school
population and the specific community in which students live are met; relating
disciplines, selecting curricula, materials, instructional approaches, and assess-
ment procedures; allocating resources; hiring new teachers and influencing their
preparation, induction, certification, selection and evaluation; and more.
TIME
The multifaceted nature of professional science teachers' responsibilities
requires their work time be divided between interaction with students and interac-
tion with parents, peers, administrators, scientists and other professionals, and
other community members including people from business and industry. Com-
munity expectations and school structures (e.g., schedules, assignments) must be
flexible enough to allow teachers to exercise discretion and judgment in meeting
their obligations to the students and the adults with whom they interact.
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AN NSTA POSITION STATEMENT
219
SUPPORT
Teachers must have both technical and human support in order to make time
available for the necessary interactions and to facilitate communication. Techni-
cal support includes ready access to a telephone, computer, modem, fax, photo
copy machines, expertise to make maximum use of current hardware and soft-
ware, and personal work space outside the classroom. Human support includes
people such as a laboratory assistant, teacher assistant, and secretary to do tasks
that do not require the unique expertise of the science teacher.2
PROFESSIONAL GROWTH
Exercising discretion and judgment to make effective decisions requires
information from many diverse sources about the specifics of each situation and
current scientific technology, and pedagogic knowledge, information and skills.
Therefore, teachers must continue to grow professionally, and life-long-learning
must be supported. Teachers should determine what they need to learn and when
they need to learn it. Learning opportunities tailored to the point of need should
be available to enhance teachers' decision making and activities. Any behaviors
which contribute to professional growth should be supported and rewarded (e.g.,
being active in professional associations, organizing and attending conferences,
participating in bulletin board conferences and networks, taking courses and
seminars, reading publications, visiting other classrooms, and informal interac-
tions with other professionals). Learning opportunities should also include teach-
ers as reflective practitioners who do research on their own experiences and their
students' experiences, thus continuing to increase the knowledge base of the
~ .
profession.
SYMBOLS OF PROFESSIONALS
Symbols are used in our society to nurture and build professional images.
They identify a person's professional status to others and aid in interaction and
communication. For example, students and adults with whom one interacts can
recognize the accomplishments and subsequent status of a teacher when teachers
frame and display diplomas and certificates of licensing, of participation in study
seminars, of appreciation, and awards. The code of ethics displayed on a wall
announces the existence of professional standards. Business cards facilitate net
2Laboratory assistants collect, set up, and break down laboratory equipment, run inventories and
order materials and equipment, and conduct safety inspections. Teacher assistants perform class-
room clerical tasks, acquire teacher selected materials, and follow up on contacts within the commu-
nity to set up field trips, guest speakers, funding, etc. Secretaries do paperwork that includes atten-
dance reports, book inventories, copying, running computer searches, and making transparencies.
Functions such as monitoring a hall, bus, or cafeterias are also assumed by others.
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE TEACHERS
working. The profession and individual teachers should develop deliberate pub-
lic relations initiatives to build a public image supporting science teacher profes
1
slonallsm.
RESPONSIBILITY
In order to effectively meet the needs of students, science teachers assume
responsibility for enabling each learner to reach his/her own potential. This
means cultivating the varied capacities of students by empowering them to think
with all their senses: responding to their ethnic, cultural, and linguistic differ-
ences; focusing on learning in contrast to focusing on the content of the discipline
and "covering the material"; and relating science to the whole of what students
learn in schools.
Professional science teachers facilitate the construction of science concepts
for learners. They are decision makers who employ knowledge of science, peda-
gogy, and change to fulfill their individual responsibilities. They are continuous
learners who stay current in scientific, pedagogic and change literature and are
reflective practitioners who generate new knowledge and share knowledge. They
assume collective responsibility for the profession, model ethical behavior in
keeping with the profession's standards of practice, and are accountable for their
actions.
SCIENCE TEACHER PROFESSIONALISM
NSTA supports the restructuring of schooling necessary to enhance science
teacher professionalism so that:
· Science teachers collaborate with each other and with stakeholders to
make decisions about policies and regulations for science teaching
· Science teachers allocate their time among students, parents, peers, ad-
ministrators, scientists, and other community members.
· Science teachers have both technical and staff support in order to be
available for interaction with students and other stakeholders.
· Science teachers' professional growth continues throughout their careers.
They select learning opportunities that meet their needs. They are reflective and
share research findings from both their own and their students' experiences.
· Science teachers use society's symbols such as business cards, displaying
diplomas, certificates, and awards to reflect professional images.
· Science teachers assume responsibility for enabling learners to reach their
potential. Science teachers collectively establish and continually revise stan-
dards of practice, model ethical behavior, and account for their actions.
Adopted by the NSTA Board of Directors in January 1992.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
science teaching
