Before I begin, let’s try to look at the definitions found on Merriam-Webster:
profession noun
- a type of job that requires special education, training, or skill
- the people who work in a particular profession
- a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation
craft noun
- an activity that involves making something in a skillful way by using your hands
- a job or activity that requires special skill
Looking at the above, we can see that the words “skill” and “job” were mentioned for both. So what’s the distinction?
As per my opinion, they both talk about a specialized skill that can be attributed to a person. The difference perhaps would be a profession requires some academic preparation while craft can be naturally developed. Also, the profession would entail acquiring structured information and applying formal learning approaches. Craft, on the other hand, can be mastered by “actually doing it” and relies heavily on experience.
Teaching for me is both a craft and a profession. Educators undergo an extensive process to master all the learnings needed to become an effective teacher. Specialized courses are being taken together with formal education to help them prepare and face the challenges in the real-world setting. After obtaining the required units, a licensure exam should be passed as an indicator of learned methodologies and principles. It doesn’t stop there however. To be able to teach effectively, there should be continuous learning as well. Teachers were able to hone their knowledge as they teach their students. In the classroom, I believe that each one can benefit from the learnings. Sometimes it’s a top-down approach where the teacher does the talking, but there are times wherein it’s the opposite. Most especially during class interactions, students may present challenging and interesting ideas. From my definition of learning – it’s the process where we acquire information from different sources followed by a careful evaluation with regard to existing knowledge base that either justify or question its validity.
To sum it up, teaching can be regarded as a craft or profession and different principles and theories can attest to the notion.
‘The professional holds knowledge not only of how – the capacity for skilled performance – but of what and why. The teacher is not only master of procedure but also of content and rationale, and capable of explaining why something is done’ (13).
‘We would define teaching, rather as a craft-profession. Unlike the traditional professions, a craft-profession does not rest on a highly formal of codified body of knowledge. Instead, competence for craft-professionals is defined in terms of various skills and practices, reflecting a different sort of knowledge base … much of their knowledge is embodied, something that they learn by doing and that is experientially learned, rather than acquired in a systematic, highly formal manner. This is not to say that such knowledge is necessarily less substantial, or of a lower order, than more abstract forms of knowledge. It is just different’ (Pratte & Rury, 1991: 61-62).
I’d also like to share a post that I have seen from a social networking site that moved me so amazingly. It helped me realize the value and importance of teaching as a profession and its impact on the society.
“Teaching is a profession that creates all other professions.” 🙂
Reference:
Gamble, Jeanne (2010) TEACHER PROFESSIONALISM: A LITERATURE REVIEW
http://jet.org.za/publications/research/Gamble%20TEACHER%20PROFESSIONALISM%20-FINAL-%20-2.pdf
Melanie Talplacido 