When I tell people that I teach in an elementary school, people react either with shock or pity. It looks like I have chosen this path because I dont want to take up a serious career or that I couldn't get a better job. Most people don't believe when I say that I really enjoy it and want to be a teacher by choice. And what's worse is that it looks like I have wasted my qualifications by choosing to teach. All this, because teaching as a career does not seem as lucrative as the other professions, although the amount of work one puts in is by no means less.
As the economy improves and job prospects increase and people turn their attention towards professions that pay more, seem high profile, and command more respect. Infact, there is such a shortage of good quality teachers in our country that we almost have no role models in the teaching profession to look up to.
It is a sad stae of affairs and it proves that for all our lip service about improving and giving the best quality of education to our childre, we have failed to make teaching the draw that it should be, the honour that it must be.
Several steps are desperately needed to make teaching a rewarding profession and it has to start with a better pay. I have heard people repeatedly say that teaching is a noble profession and the biggest reward in teaching is the satisfaction you get. All the is well and good, but no one can expect to fill their stomachs with satisfaction. Moreover, as the standard of living improves,there is no getting around the fact that teacher's pay has to substantially improve. Teachers can hardly support their family on their incomes and college students who are contemplating on a teaching career know that.It is seen by many people as a "last resort" option. If we cannot lure passionate teachers into the profession, how can we expect to have good quality teachers?
Secondly, teachers need to be given better opportunities for career growth and career ladders like moving into specialist roles and work in a larger sphere than just the classroom. Most often, teachers just stick to the lessons they have to impart and may venture into administrative duties within the school, but does not usually get to take part in curriculum enhancement or bringing in new and creative methodologies into the pedagogy. An average teacher is not expected to deviate too much beyond the usual. This makes the profession seem like a mundane job.
Additionally, to make teaching a more prestigious choice, one has to make the requirements for becoming a teacher more stringent so that the credentials for teaching have luster. Rigourous training and selective screening ensure that good teachers are part of the system. And once, the good teachers start coming in, it could improve the whole system. There is an urgent need to recognize and incentivize teaching as a profession and make the classroom a destination as sensible, exciting and fulfilling as any other.
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