KAQI

clicks	1475
Vol (number)	3(1)
title	Distinctiveness as an Alternative Concept for Teacher Professionalism
author(s)	Jung-Hoon Jung (Chinju National University of Education)
Keywords	: distinctiveness, teacher’s professionalism, teacher’s life, life history, elementary teacher, subjectivity, subjective life-focusing
Abstract	Understanding teachers’ lives has been a central theme in educational research. Previous research has contributed to understanding characteristics of teachers’ lives, their socialization, and their professional development. These contributions have made concrete the argument for how crucial an understanding of teachers’ lives is in studying teachers’ professional development. However, the distinctiveness of an individual teacher with regard to that teacher’s professional development has gained little attention. In other words, there has been little scholarly effort to theorize or conceptualize the distinctiveness of an individual teacher, whose life comprises individual lived experiences, beliefs, characteristics, pain, and aspiration. Thus, informed by the life history approach, this study conceptualizes distinctiveness as an alternative concept for teacher professionalism through understanding the life history of one elementary school teacher. Distinctiveness as a teacher’s professionalism is an empirical entity cultivated by subjectivity, beliefs, devotion, aspiration, and the reconstruction of experience. It is, as I define it, the unexpected and inimitable mosaic of personal experience, qualities and expertise. This study reveals that Young Min Lee, the participant, developed his distinctiveness by “exercising firm subjectivity”, “reflecting on and reconstructing his experience”, “sustaining a nonviolent attitude”, and “exercising grit”. Furthermore, Lee’s distinctiveness produced a synergy that connects and complicates the relation between distinctiveness and commonality. He understands that his distinctiveness as a professional brought him “organizational and institutional recognition”, “techniques and wisdom to teach homeroom students”, “healthy authority given by students and parents”, and “delight and satisfaction”. The implications of distinctiveness for teachers’ professionalism are, I argue, that 1) it is not exclusive to commonality, 2) pursuing it is possible even under constraining structures, 3) the culture of objectification is internalized, 4) it can be an essential and fundamental element for teacher satisfaction and happiness, and that 5) distinctiveness informed by subjectivity is a prerequisite for a teacher’s professionalism. Last, I express my concerns about a teacher's pursuit of distinctiveness.
file	질적탐구3(1)_2정정훈.pdf