Parent schema of the professionalism of teachers and medical doctors

Abstract

Professional is a concept used by many to describe occupations and practitioners. Although widely used, the exact features of professional, as a prototype, have not yet been identified. This study attempted to explore the shared features of the prototype of professional, by examining parents' attitudes toward two groups of practitioners: teachers and medical doctors.

Parents of elementary school-aged students in a small rural school district in northwest Oregon were surveyed through a two-part questionnaire. One part consisted of 33 Likert-type statements and one open-ended question about teachers and teaching; the other part included virtually identical items about doctors and medicine. These statements were chosen to provide insight into the parents' schema in the following areas: professional knowledge, deference to practitioners, occupational status, practitioner behavior, competence, affect, acceptance as professionals, and the desirability of the practitioners becoming more professional.

Through t-tests, content analysis, and factor analysis, the following results were obtained. Possession of important and complex knowledge is one of the essential components of the schema of professional. The parents' understanding of the intricacies of the medical knowledge base was simple and limited. However, their understanding of teacher knowledge was detailed and credible. Affect was consistently shown to be an important part of the schema of professional. The parents' responses indicated a preference for caring, kind, and compassionate practitioners. Parents indicated a greater willingness to defer to doctors than to teachers. Doctors were seen as having greater outward signs of occupational status. Behavior of practitioners and estimates of occupational competence were not deemed to be integral components of the professional schema.