What is a professional? From the web: a professional is someone who is “engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation rather than as a pastime.” Zimmerman (2020) in “The Amateur Hour” makes the case that higher education instruction has been more ad hoc, amateurish, and lacks the vestiges of professionalism. Scott (2021) makes a similar argument for taking a fresh look at how we define higher education. That being said, it does not mean that we should abandon all hope and that we should not try to be professionals!

We hope that all practitioners of teaching will be professionals and act accordingly, we expect that many have struggled and will struggle with this. Most instructors in higher education get paid to teach, and while there might be other expectations related to research and service, a good portion (often 40%) of an individual’s job and compensation is related to teaching. Do the math. 40% of your salary might be linked to teaching. And, if you are teaching three courses per academic year, this implies that approximately 215 hours should be spent on each course. Are you giving each course this much time? Are you giving good value in return? Can you honestly say that what you did in the last year was worth this compensation?

Think about engaging a paid 'professional'. A professional is usually expected to have more expertise than the general public (i.e., better than the naïve or novice levels on the cognitive skill level) and act in a professional manner. A professional is also expected to keep abreast of the field and competently use what is considered in the field to be acceptable, expected practice. However, there are cases where you are engaging a professsional that does not know more, or is better skilled than you are; the interaction might be a mere convenience for you, saving you time, effort.

There is another issue with the term 'professional'. Being called a professional by others or through self-acclaim does not mean that the person is an expert above the junior or intermediate level. Perhaps not even above the naïve or novice level. There are different skill and expertise levels in all professions! Sorry. And, some individuals called professionals are in fact no more knowledgeable than the general public (if that).

So? What does being a professional mean?

This is what we think it means and how it relates to teaching in higher education...

• Professionals usually have a program of study that qualifies them to be considered skilled and competent in their field.
• Few instructors seem to get more than a few workshops on teaching, and over a career might get ¼, ½ or perhaps the equivalent of one undergraduate course! We doubt that anyone would consider this sufficient education and training, to be called a professional.

• Professionals usually are required and expected to remain current in their field and possibly re-qualify.
• As a field of practice we do not have any formal or informal strategies for how instructors should regularly have practicums or be re-examined in their knowledge of best practices or theory – learning, teaching, assessing.
• Professionals often self-organize into associations, societies, or similar and have recognized expectations for conduct, competency, and so forth.
• Some instructors do, but the majority do not.
• Professionals often participate in ways that improve the field of specialty.
• This happens to some degree, but the majority of instructors do not appear to read and understand how the field is changing. Neither do the majority do much to systematically improve the field. They teach the way they were taught. They assume that if it worked for them, it will work for their students. But this is not always true. Students now are different from when you (the instructor) were a student. And, you were probably not the average student in your class; how many became a faculty member in higher education?
• Professionals are expected to be aware of and use what would be considered normal, accepted, and the most appropriate methods in a situation, else they would be possibly considered negligent and subject to liability.
• There are no such professional expectations for instructors and there are no real professional consequences if practice does not match ‘best practice’ as long as it is good enough; behind the cloak of academic freedom. On the personal level, instructors who care about their students might consider every class as an opportunity for students to gain knowledge. Students are investing their time and money so if they don’t get any real learning out of the course then they had no choice but to make a poor investment.

It is possible that the department, faculty, or institution you are employed by is enlightened and has funded and supported the creation of a professional culture and practice around instruction. It is also possible that it has not. If the institution has not, that is a shame, but it does not let an individual instructor off the hook. The individual should be responsible to act as a professional to the extent possible, even without the support of the department, faculty, or institution; this is what accountability and responsibility means.

Suggestions...

We make the following suggestions for the individual instructor. Not everything should be done at once and a plan should be made; how to move past amateurism to professionalism. Many of the notes in the website collection detail and provide insights on how to do the following:

• Take any and all appropriate, relevant workshops and training offered by the institution. Do not assume that you know it or that you do not need a refresher. Retake the workshops, if possible, every 5-7 years or more frequently on subjects that evolve rapidly (e.g., educational technologies). Also, consult a teaching and learning expert/mentor as the needs arise.
• Set aside and spend 1-2 hours a week on your ‘trade’. Remember that there are three significant components to focus on: the teaching you do, the learning the students do, and the assessment methods you use to understand if the desired outcomes have been achieved.
• Every year, allocate three days (a day each on teaching, learning, assessing) to search and review what is currently in the literature, what is being debated, advocated. Write up notes, create a collection; share, discuss with others.

• For each of the three topics, search out and understand both the underlying theories and the ‘best practice’. Remember that best practices will evolve and change over time, might vary by topic, discipline, and desired learning outcome; and what was best practice a decade ago might or might not still be the best practice. Keep up with literature on how to teach, cognitive science theory, assessment approaches, pedagogical techniques etc. Do your research on the content itself, make sure it is still relevant; e.g., simple math or recipes that can be found on the internet might not be as relevant to learn in great detail in comparison to a more complex thought process.
• Use a continuous improvement strategy with change management as you try to evolve yourself and your courses. Allocate 15% of your teaching time per course for a conscious and systematic review; before, during, after the course. Reflect on what happened, how your students reacted to the methods and lessons, what went well, what could have gone better. You may consider having a colleague audit your course, surveying student opinion. Try to learn for future courses, this is part of the growth process within the teaching process.
• Develop a network of like-minded instructors, along with some that will disagree and challenge, to share notes, ideas, experiences, and if possible, help you with your course; before, during, and after. You will also learn a great deal and improve your own course through helping another.
• Do a gap analysis, possibly with the help of others; where are you and your courses relative to the best practices, good enough practices, and how you are developing your skill and knowledge as an instructor (see Gap-Analysis for more information). Merely doing it, developing familiarity, does not actually improve your overall skill and knowledge. It might make you efficient, but that is different from being effective. You need deliberate practice.
• Be open to constructive criticism, learn how to decode and understand what might be first interpreted as just negative, hurtful feedback from students, learn to invest in your trade and learn how to proceed from the naïve instructor to an expert one.

Further reading

• Schön, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Basic Books.
• Scott, R. A. (2021). Do we need a new “Truman Commission” to define higher education? Tomorrow’s Professor Postings, Stanford University. https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1846
• Zimmerman, J. (2020). The amateur hour: History of college teaching in America. Johns Hopkins University Press. https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/amateur-hour
• Peters, D. (1974), Course Design and Accountability, Improving College and University Teaching, 22, 2, pp. 88-90, 93.