What makes a good professional in Education?

What tools are required to be a good professional in education? Many students and teachers will answer that having the knowledge of the subject being taught is the key component. I would have said that too when being a student at collegue. However, after many years of instruction about teaching, I dare to claim that this idea is restricted. Teachers have qualities that go far beyond that simple condition. They are thought to be decision–makers who analyze the atmosphere of the classroom, conflicts or incidents and students’ needs and difficulties.
A teacher’s professional development does not finish when graduating. Experience provides them with a variety of resources that are of a great help and importance. Unexpected changes in the lesson, questions which are not supposed to be asked by students, lack of material, technical problems and misunderstandings are only some of the incidents that a teacher can face. Because of that, teachers need a special training in dealing with incidents.
Fernandez, Elórtegui Escartín & Medina Perez (2003) proposes a technique to analyze and provide solutions for these unusual or unpleasant circumstances in teaching. According to him, a critical incident is a structural strategy in which teachers are presented with written teaching situations and are asked to make a decision according to the information proposed. The decision taken from these lab situations will serve of background when experiencing a similar one in the real life. In our practise, it is a fact that the experiences and decisions taken by other partners are of a much help. It is common to share our problems with colleagues. This action helps us in oncoming real circumstances, since we have been previously given the opportunity to think about possible solutions.
According to Fernandez , Elórtegui Escartín & Medina Perez (2003), the Critical Incident Technique is structured in the following way:
a) The context in which they happen.
b) Description of the problem.
c) Possible causes that explain what happened.
d) The best solutions for the problem presented.
When analyzing incidents, it is really important to know the conditions as well as the possible causes under which it happens, since the solution will be determined according to them. We, as teachers, know that a problem can differ from group to group, from age to age and from student to student.
To sum up, being a good professional in Education does not only involve having a great knowledge about the subject. As it was explained before, it also includes the ability to analyze a variety of aspects that occur in the classroom which provide teachers with tools to improve their practice. In spite of the negative side of incidents, their analysis confers teachers with a great knowledge. Because of that, a good professional should also have a wide practise in using the critical incident technique.
References
Fernandez, G. (2003). Los incidents criticos en la formacion y perfeccionamiento del profesorado de secundaria de ciencias de la naturaleza. Revista universitaria de Formacion de Profesorado, 17 -001. Zaragoza, España: Universidad de Zaragoza. Retrieved Ocotber, 2009, from http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/redalyc/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=27417107