The professional status of teachers and academic advisers: It matters

Abstract

Several years ago, when speaking with a university department head, I heard a comment about a truck driver's statement on the national news. Discussing an impending national strike, the driver said, "Truck drivers are professionals and should be paid accordingly." We commented among other things, "So what is a professional? What occupations are professions?" The department head remarked, "I wonder if all full-time paid employees are professionals; I certainly don't think of truck driving as a profession." A nearby staff assistant immediately responded, "My brother is a truck driver and he is a professional!"Amving at the status of profession, especially within the academic community, is often perceived to be more difficult for the activities of both teaching and academic advising. Describing academic advising by itself as a profession is reminiscent of Smiths (1980) haunting characterization of teaching as a semi-profession. There are parallels between the activities of teaching and academic advising primarily when we attempt to describe tasks of teaching and advising as a profession rather than a semi-profession. TeachingThe professional status of teachers has been a major theme in educational research throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. To some extent, the ongoing struggle to professionalize teaching finds legitimacy in the fields affiliation with the science of psychology Psychologists' construction of scientific theoretical knomledge bases about learning, development, motivation, personality, and intelligence subsequently impounds on the professionalization of NEW DIIIECnONS FOP T€ACHING AND ILARNING, no. 62. Summer 1995 0 J 0 u e y -h~~ Publishem 97

If Advising is Teaching, What Do Advisors Teach?

“…Perhaps more important, neither Kramer (2003) nor Wade and Yoder (1995) offer an account of teaching that illuminates the nature of advising. Their statements lack a focus on the relationship between teaching and learning.…”

Professional Development in an Uncertain Profession: Finding a Place for Academic and Career Advisors

“…Wade and Yoder (1995) asked if anyone cares about the professional status of advising in their chapter The Professional Status of Teachers and Academic Advisers: It Matters, and it marks a return to the discussion described at the beginning of this article. Are advisors professionals?…”

qualitative inquiry into the roles and practices of academic advising in facilitating students' understanding of general education

“…However, academic advisors are urged to see themselves as teachers (Campbell & Nutt, 2006;Crookston, 1972;Hemwall & Trachte, 1999;Lowenstein, 2000Lowenstein, , 2005Melander, 2005;NACADA, 2006;O'Banion, 1972;Ryan, 1992;Wade & Yoder, 1995) and academics (Darling, 2015;Hagen, 2008;Hagen & Jordan, 2008), whose responsibilities should go beyond providing students with information and assisting students with course registration, to ensure appropriate course taking for timely graduation. Instead of viewing academic advisors as merely agents of degree completion, the academic advising community and higher education leaders are urged to consider academic advisors as agents of learning, whose practices should aim at enhancing and supporting student learning (Winham, 2015).…”