Understanding Teachers' Perspectives on Professionalism.

What does it mean to be a professional and to exhibit professionalism? Depending on the context, these concepts may evoke many images and have multiple definitions. In this paper, we examine what it means to be a professional and to exhibit professionalism in the field of education. We go beyond theoretical definitions of teacher professionalism to explore what it means on a practical level. Specifically, we use focus group interviews to ask inservice teachers what they believe are the basic qualities of professional teachers and what aspects of professionalism ideal teachers exhibit. According to teachers in this study, professionalism is exhibited in many ways and encompasses both attitudes and