In the educational field of endeavor, the need to grow among teachers and other school personnel is important to be able to meet the ever increasing demands and challenges of the times. These needs include further pursuance of appropriate educational pursuits that keep the teachers abreast with the latest trends and innovations. These will ensure a broadened educational outlook and deepened their professional interest and commitment in contributing to a more enlightened citizenry. Teachers must grow professionally in their chosen field of concentration to upgrade their knowledge, skills, habits and values with the discharge of their duties and responsibilities.

            The Education Act of 1982 speaks on the responsibility of the teachers to undergo professional upgrading when it provides that the teachers are obliged to assume the responsibility to maintain and sustain his professional growth and achieve and maintain professionalism in his behavior at all times.

            Article IV of Code of Ethics of Professional Teachers, Resolution No. 435, Series of 1997 point out that every teacher shall participate in the continuing professional education (CPE) program of the Professional Regulation Commission, and shall pursue such other studies as will improve his efficiency, enhance the prestige of the profession, and strengthen his competence, virtues, and productivity in order to be nationally and internationally competitive.

The challenge for teacher according to Coke and Dunhill (1992) in the information age will be to continue learning and growing personally and professionally so that they can stay competitive in their field as teaching becomes more integrated into their work environment. This implies that teaching, like many other professions require life-long learning and a continual focus on personal growth and improvement.

            A bachelor degree with an immersion into graduate education courses make for an effective positive effect on the professional development of teachers. Although a bachelors’ degree prepares the teachers to teach, once they landed a job, they should start moving ahead to further their studies in order to update themselves with the latest trends and innovation in education, improve performance and respond to the fast rate of science and technology. Teachers should always be earnest researchers and investigators.

            A teacher cannot just rely on the skills and knowledge acquired while in college. He will be far behind or will experience boredom through constant repetition oh his work as a teacher. Hence, there is a need for professional growth.

            After some years of teaching without getting into a higher level of education, teachers are left behind-time of the educational thrusts and innovations. They become stagnant and incapable of responding to the challenges and problems and problems of the educational system.

The challenge for teachers is how to become knowledgeable and competent about the uses of technology given the constraints on their time. While many school system are providing teachers with training in terms of trainings and seminars, same with pursuing teachers to attend graduate courses. There are additional resources for teachers that may provide a more efficient way to meet these challenges.

            In any profession, there is always an additional information or knowledge being discovered. This is true in the field of education. What the teachers learned ten years ago must have undergone changes or must have been improved through constant studies, experimentations and researches.

            The world changes and new discoveries are made, therefore school managers must think of better ways and means of doing things using new tools and instruments. These new tools and instruments include teachers, who like to sharpen with the knowledge and skills acquired through continued studies. They are the best weapons that could be used in meeting the increasing challenges and problems of the educational system. These new breeds of teachers called Masters and Doctors are armed with visions, new solutions and new understanding to cope with the challenges of tomorrow, for they possess new ideas, aspirations and commitments enough to revitalize and inject new life in the field of education which is changing so fast. Teachers therefore need to continue striving and studying in order to face this changing world.

            Education is changing and it is not enough that teachers should only watch this happen but rather makes thing happen. This can be done through research to become contributory factors for the changes.

            Teachers are here to inform but they cannot give what they don’t have. They have to keep studying in order to become the cause of change. Teachers can change their strategies, and style. The instability generated from the rapid change in our way of life leads to the development of the country’s economic debacle. The issue is fast growing and rapid changes are earned by our institutions. Life has become more complex and this is to our advantages.

            This instability demands a need for professional advancement among our teachers. Teachers should be well-informed of the current educational trends and development. They must profess growth in the teaching profession, since education is a continuous process. They should continue pursuing outlook and participate actively in their chosen endeavor.

            Graduate programs or continuing graduate studies have been designed to give opportunities to teachers and other school personnel to grow in the service. Through formal education, teachers are afforded the opportunity to upgrade themselves with the latest trends and issues in education. It is in this program that they could deepen their professional awareness, enhance efficiency and promote productivity.

            Issues and concerns in teaching underscore the fact that quality of teachers cannot be improved unless the quality of teacher education is also improved. This is being the case, the education and the training of teachers are accordingly of decisive importance in all measures of educational reform.

            The faculty is not merely encouraged but also required to enrich what they have acquired in their profession. The professional growth of every teacher has a direct bearing in the way he imparts knowledge, abilities and skills to the students. Since education is a continuous process, one should not be contented with what he learned. Instead he should continue to polish it in order to bring contribution to the teaching profession.

            Faculty comprises the heart of the academic enterprise. In many respects a college, university or school is its faculty. The excellence of a school is inseparable from the excellence of its faculty. Hence, the character of a school depends heavily on the vigor and commitment of its faculty.

            This article is meant for the general professional development of teachers, to expand their horizons beyond the confines of their teaching space, to give them a new perspective on their work, to challenge and provoke them, to allow them to share their thoughts and experiences and to improve their general ability to function as professionals.

Reference:

Education Acts of 1982

Marcos Coke and Dunhill. Educational research Journal., The Mc Millan Publishing Co.,1992.

By: Edwin Riel Bermillo |Education Program Specialist-II | SDO-Bataan