Teacher Professionalism in Zambia: Reality or Pipe-Dream?

This article highlights the strategies that the newly established Teaching Council has put in place in its quest to professionalise teaching in Zambia. Since Zambia attained her political independence in October, 1964, there has been a great desire to ensure that teachers acquire professional status which would translate into an occupational status symbol. Against this background, the Government of the Republic of Zambia in conjunction with other stakeholders in the education sector has made strides in the direction of professionalising the teaching occupation. In this regard, the enactment of the Teaching Profession Act no.5 of 2013 and the development of a Code of Ethics and Conduct to regulate teachers’ practice and professional conduct in government and private schools are some of the major milestones in trying to regulate the teaching profession. Despite having made tremendous strides in this direction, many structural and operational challenges have since made it difficult to actualise this status. It is for this reason that the paper discusses some structural and operational challenges associated with teacher professionalism in Zambia which make teacher professionalism a pipe-dream. The paper concludes by highlighting some prospects in Teacher professionalism in the post 2015 era.