Professionalization, like localization, refers mainly to a process, a process, which, by implication, is incomplete. Eric Hoyle emphasized this aspect of its meaning over thirty years ago, deeming it worthy of reinforcement on several subsequent occasions (e.g., Hoyle, 1974, 1975, 1980, 1982, 1995, 2001; Hoyle and John, 1995). More specifically, he defined professionalization as “the process whereby an occupation increasingly meets the criteria attributed to a profession” (Hoyle, 1982: 161). The incompleteness of the process suggests that its history is of importance. And, even on the occasions when professionalization is considered complete, more as product than process, it is commonly viewed retrospectively, thus highlighting again the significance of historical perspectives.
Over the past decade, the decline, if not the demise, of the history of education has received several notices of regret (McCulloch, 1997; Aldrich, 1997; Robinson, 2001). Robinson, herself, makes a convincing case in favour of “finding” for historians of education “our professional niche”, enlisting such unlikely bedfellows in this regard as Simon (1981), Fullan (1993), and Woodhead (1998). Although Aldrich, McCulloch, Robinson, and others are perfectly correct in emphasizing the mere lip-service that is paid to historical perspectives in many policy documents issued by national governments, they might have also acknowledged the attempts made by several scholars in various countries to rectify this situation. In the field of teacher professionalization, for example, Hoyle, with and without co-authors, has not been alone in making such efforts. His work was slightly preceded, then succeeded and complemented by such publications as Eddy, 1969; Gosden, 1972; Ozga and Lawn, 1981; Herbst, 1989; Kam and Wong, 1991; Engvall, 1997; Hargreaves, 2000; Hall and Schulz, 2003; Sachs, 2000, 2003; Hypolito, 2004; and Furlong, 2005. A major goal of the present chapter is to extend and supplement this research by applying it to the situation in Hong Kong.
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Sweeting, A. (2008). Teacher Professionalization in Hong Kong: Historical Perspectives. In: Johnson, D., Maclean, R. (eds) Teaching: Professionalization, Development and Leadership. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8186-6_4
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