[Sean Smith on EFL] Professionalism - It takes two to tango

Following is part one of a two part series. Part I is a look at how schools in Korea should provide more incentives for good teachers and the benefits of conferences. Part II will continue with a look at active forms of professional development including reading books, journals, blogs, observations and self-reflection. -- Ed.







Professional development is a term that some teachers in Korea scoff at, as is evidenced by a number of threads on online internet forums. A somewhat recent thread on ELT World Forums (eltworld.net) talked about this topic and hit both sides of the fence.



The thread on ELT world starts off by asking "Are you professional?" One poster quickly stated that "TEFL is like any profession in that some people are more professional than others, and jargon is rarely understood outside of its assigned industry."

Another poster stated: "There are bad apples in every field, professional or not. The presence of bad apples in our field is no justification to claim that there is no such thing as a professional TEFL/TESL teacher." I agree with both of these statements.



On a popular internet forum for English teachers -- eslcafe.com -- a new thread came up titled "Is ESL in Korea a REAL JOB?" Although the title sounds negative, the thread is more positive than it sounds.

"When I hear people question if this is a real job, I think what they are usually saying is that they just aren`t comfortable doing it," noted one poster. Another said: "It`s a complete joke only if you make it so."

The other side of the coin is the lack of professionalism directed at teachers by some hagwon, public schools and universities. Hagwon are notorious for not paying salaries on time; public schools and universities often have limits on how many years foreign instructors are allowed to work (usually three), lack of raises, experience does not count nor does performance for salary. Essentially, a new teacher with zero experience will make the same as one with years of experience.

It appears that employers consider all native speakers as relatively equal, and do not take into enough consideration professional development.

Clearly, not all native speakers are equal teachers, and if employers would be willing to provide salaries and benefits to quality teachers, then educational institutions and students would benefit.

Unfortunately, most native speaking teachers are not given the credit due to them by their institutions, and are instead perceived only as expenses. Professionalism is a two way street -- but one that must initially be paved by the employer with salaries based on experience, qualifications, and performance.

It is simple economics and hagwon get what they pay for.

Employers also need to have the courage to not renew the contracts of teachers who display substandard professionalism. I have worked in several schools where teachers had a bad reputation amongst students and other instructors on staff -- only to have their contracts regularly renewed -- and with similar pay increases as superior teachers.

These contracts were apparently renewed because of worries about replacing that teacher. In my opinion, being short staffed is a much better situation to be in than having schools crammed with poor teachers.

Due to the above issues -- namely lack of incentives and recognition -- some instructors do not feel it worth the effort to be professional. This creates a catch 22 and the cycle cannot be broken by teachers.

There have been many qualified, professional teachers in Korea for years, yet this situation continues. Employers must break the cycle and focus on hiring qualified professional instructors. Does this mean that I think teachers should give up on being professional and undertaking professional development? No.

I would recommend that all teachers pursue some form of professional development, with the end goal of becoming a better educator. The goal here is not to break the cycle mentioned above, but rather to improve for one`s own sake.

The benefits of professional development include better classroom management skills, better activities, and more efficient teaching, to name just a few.

Conferences are probably one of the best ways to learn more about teaching and how research is informing current teaching practices. In Korea, there are a number of conferences held throughout the year, with the largest and most well known being the annual KOTESOL International Conference held each October.

The admission fee is cheap compared to international conferences in other countries and there are presentations for everyone. Some of the leading researchers headline each year, presenting alongside local instructors.

A list of domestic conferences around Korea can be found at the KOTESOL website (kotesol.org/?q=Conferences). In addition, both Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press put on one day mini-conferences every fall, with announcements on their websites. Attendance at these conferences is free and attendees always receive free materials as well as a 20 percent discount on books. Though these presentations clearly have a commercial slant, much of what is being presented can be applied to any textbook or classroom situation. If you live close to one of these venues it is definitely worth attending.

The final benefit to attending conferences is the ability to network with other teachers. Networking can provide instructors with leads on good jobs as well as opportunities for professional discussions after the conference. Major conferences, including the KOTESOL International conference, usually have a job room where applicants can apply and receive a preliminary interview while attending the conference.



To contact Sean or comment on this column, visit his website eflgeek.com - Ed.