TES column 6 February 2015<\/p>\n
\u2018Professional\u2019, used as a descriptive term, has undergone a transformation.\u00a0 Today it means \u2018unequivocally good\u2019. Governors are expected to work \u2018professionally\u2019 to encourage school improvement.\u00a0 Top-of-the-range tools and products are \u2018professional quality\u2019 and we aspire to undertaking tasks \u2018like a pro\u2019.<\/p>\n
How different to the word\u2019s use little more than a century ago.\u00a0 Then, a \u2018professionally done\u2019 job was one redolent of mercantile cheeseparing.\u00a0\u00a0 Somerset Maugham, in a novel of the 1930s, describes a woman disinherited by her family because she \u2018married a solicitor\u2019.\u00a0 In sport, unpaid \u2018gentlemen\u2019 embodied loftier ideals than wage-dependent \u2018players\u2019.\u00a0 And, the \u2018professional classes\u2019 were, at best, somewhere in the middle of the social strata.<\/p>\n
Today, all that endures of this old sense is \u2018professional foul\u2019, a term suggesting a cyclical act with base motives.<\/p>\n
It might not be playground argot, but the inversion of \u2018professional\u2019 is every bit as complete as \u2018sick\u2019, \u2018bad\u2019 and \u2018wicked\u2019.<\/p>\n
The causes of this change are complex \u2013 and by no means all bad.\u00a0 In public life, however, there is good reason for resisting the elision of \u2018professionalism\u2019 and \u2018competence\u2019.<\/p>\n
The vast majority of school governors undertake their work unpaid.\u00a0 The same is true of parish councillors, scout leaders, sports coaches and club administrators – twelve million of us who regularly volunteer in Britain at least monthly.\u00a0 This freely-given labour is an enabling, civilising force whose contribution to the tapestry of national life is immense.<\/p>\n
All of us \u2018volunteers\u2019 should aspire to undertake what we do to the highest standards.\u00a0 We should be systematic about the quality of our work and seek out ways to improve what we deliver.\u00a0 But let us resist having our \u2018professionalism\u2019 praised, and not just for accuracies\u2019 sake.<\/p>\n
The transformation of the meaning of \u2018professional\u2019 has come during a period when financial value and intrinsic worth have become synonymous.\u00a0 Good ideas alone are insufficient \u2013 they must be \u2018monetised\u2019.\u00a0 Footballers are better known for the numbers they achieve in the transfer market than those on the backs of their shirts.\u00a0 And \u2018artistic records\u2019 are set in auction rooms, not painters\u2019 studios.<\/p>\n
Unless we rebuild the notion that community service creates value far greater than that measurable by accountants, we risk raising a generation who won\u2019t roll up their sleeves unless the meter is running.<\/p>\n
But how to make this change?\u00a0 I suggest three steps.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s stop apologising \u2018for not being professionals\u2019 \u2013 something that I have heard governors and others doing thousands of times.\u00a0 Exacting standards are not dependent on remuneration.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s celebrate what we do \u2013 the pursuit of a well-done job as its own reward.\u00a0 Enthusiasm for young people\u2019s education and welfare motivates us to spend time in schools.\u00a0 If we can\u2019t feel good about that ourselves we can\u2019t expect others to pat us on the back.<\/p>\n
And, we should insist that schools celebrate voluntary, as much as salaried, leadership: inspirational speakers addressing pupils should number as many who work because they care, as because they are paid.<\/p>\n
One final thought.\u00a0 Why don\u2019t English teachers incorporate the inversion of \u2018professional\u2019 into explorations the endless elasticity of our language?\u00a0 It might encourage young people to consider both the value of community service and the complex journeys undertaken by some of their own favourite exclamations.<\/p>\n