Before we talk about ‘Professionalism’, let us understand the distinction between two related words - Profession and Job. A profession is an occupation requiring special education. It calls for synergy between academic knowledge and practical skills. A job, on the other hand, is work requiring skills that we do regularly to earn money. But, profession is much more than working. A true professional is one who extends his / her chosen pursuit to benefit fellow by humanistic values and devotion to human development and welfare. A job fetches us money, but a profession gives us satisfaction, happiness, a sense of service and fulfillment in addition to monetary rewards. In a job, money is the point of focus and work is the means to achieve it. In a profession, work is the point of focus and money is a wonderful by-product.

A professional is one who has a focussed approach, has self-pride in what he / she is doing, possesses self-esteem, self-confidence, competence and motivation to achieve, shows respect for people irrespective of their rank, status and gender, assumes responsibility while serving and interacting with them, honors commitment to word and deed, has control over personal emotions and is willing to shoulder responsibility in accepting both success and failure in the effort to achieve a set goal.

Teaching is a multi-facetted art. It involves an integral employment of one’s total personality - the physical the intellectual and the emotional dimensions of our personality. This is the uniqueness of teaching profession. The way you walk into your classroom, your attire, your demeanor, your intelligence and knowledge, your empathy with the student-all leave an integral and an indelible impression on the students that stay with them for the rest of their lives. Shakespeare said : “Apparel oft proclaims the Man”. A teacher has to be refined in the choice of his / her dress. We have to remember that professionalism lays stress on understanding the importance of communication, appearance and mannerisms. Teachers are professionals should realize that the way they look, act, speak and write impacts the way students perceive them.

It is here that Teaching as a profession combines theoretical knowledge and pedagogical skills. The highest principle of Professionalism is to produce quality work. Professionals are those who are not satisfied with simply completing the task, they desire to deliver the highest quality possible.

A teacher has to go beyond the text or the prescribed curriculum to give a holistic perspective on the topic or subject taught. A professional teacher should provide additional inputs from other disciplines to make students recognize the oneness of knowledge. A good teacher is always a good learner and like a true professional seeks to improve upon his knowledge and innovative skills.

Learn to look upon yourself as a professional teacher and be responsive, knowledgable, caring and sharing the joys and disappointments, the success and failure of your students and above all be a somebody who stands out in a crowd of teachers. What do you want - to be somebody or anybody? It you live like everybody, you do not have to do anything except to follow the crowd. But if you want to be somebody in life, then you have to stand up and be counted. If you want to be distinctive, you must try to do something that is uniquely different. If you want to be a teacher with a difference, you have to reinvent teaching every time you are in the class!

In the process of climbing to the Top in whatever you choose to do, there are going to be moments of failure and defeat. Greatness of character does not lie in thinking positive when everything is going like a song, but in thinking positive when things are going deadly wrong!

Life is a mixture of sunshine and rain, good things and bad things,
pleasure and pain,
we can’t have all the sunshine, but it’s certainly true,
that there is never a cloud the sun doesn’t shine through......
so always remember that, whatever betides you,
the power of God is always beside you!
With humble prayers, Wish you success in your future!