Educators' perceptions, experiences and expectations about professionalism versus unionism in education

Abstract

Educators are the key agents in the quality of the education system who are members of a profession or professional people. In education this profession is an occupation with a crucial social function. Important values centre on the interests of the clients (learners) and are made explicit in a code of professional ethics. This implies that there should be an exemplary and professional lifestyle. Professional ethics refers to the code of conduct or ethical code, which serves as a guideline on how to behave. The integration of these ethics into the purpose, mission and goals of the organisation is of vital importance, as ethics forms an integral part on how the organisation defines itself and how things are done within a specific organisation. Educators also have a constitutional obligation to respect, to protect, to promote and to fulfil learners’ right to education (section 29 of the Constitution) in a safe and disciplined school environment (section 24 of the Constitution). However, educators are in terms of the Labour Relations Act (Act 66 of 1995) also workers with the right to join a workers union of their choice and to take part in the different forms of industrial action to promote or defend the socio-economic interests of workers. The problem however, is how to cultivate the culture of a school to encourage all educators to enhance their professionalism and employ the help of their union in doing so. This study draws a distinction between continuous professional development and unionism in education. Here the perceptions, experiences and expectations of educators come into play in regard as to how they perceive their own professionalism versus unionism. Finally, Principals and School Management Teams should ensure that their school based professional development programmes are established at schools in conjunction with what unions do to ensure that all educators participate in appropriate curriculum delivery. Copyright