If one looks at the most effective school systems in the world, one will notice a common thread. Teachers in effective schooling systems are treated as professionals, in the every sense of the word.
Teachers in Sweden, for example, earn more than members of the medical profession. Governments who wish to elevate the profession of teaching put their money where their mouth is. It is true that average citizens see earnings as a means of judging the value of a particular profession.
Higher salaries create a situation where a higher public status is afforded to the profession. I am obviously then, in favour of higher salaries for South African educators.
Professionalism is not, however, only about a salary. Professionals are expected to earn their salary and do the job they were appointed to do. When a nation's teachers go on strike and flaunt the very ethics on which their profession is based, public sympathy and respect diminish.
Professional teachers are, by definition, guided in all they do by the needs of the clients they serve: the learners, their parents and the broader school community. By drawing alongside non-essential staff in a Public Sector Strike, we lose sight of the fact that, like nurses and doctors; we are essential services staff. We can teach if our refuse is not collected, if the buildings are not cleaned for us but by us; but we cannot teach if we are not where we belong - in our classrooms, in front of our classes.
In our little town, the streets are full of bereft looking children, looking for something to do. Hopeful faces appear at my office door at 6.30 a.m. every morning to ask, "Ma'am, can we come back to school today?" Little legions of children arrived from nowhere to assist as we fought a small veld fire behind our hostel a few days ago.
Matric scholars sneak onto the premises in casual clothes, like criminals. Their crime: a desire to receive tuition and guidance before their Preliminary examinations. Teachers' stress levels are at an all time high as they are faced with school safety issues that equal the pressures of teaching during a civil war. Can we guarantee the safety of our learners? Can we accept responsibility for injuries sustained while we practise the `in loco parentis' role afforded to us by the very laws which underpin our profession?
Daily, dedicated teachers arrive at school despite threats from fellow teachers in the community. Daily, we continue preparing lessons and drawing up assessments for children who should be in the classrooms. We are excited about new resources found in bookrooms and libraries and on the Internet and we are dying to share these with our absent learners. Daily we plan for 2011 in the hope that next year can proceed without disruptions and a very unprofessional loss of teaching time.
What of the examinations scheduled for two days time? Does a professional miss a deadline? Do professionals put their needs before the needs of their clients? Does a professional colleague run to their teachers' union to report that a clandestine activity - the writing of scheduled examinations - is going ahead at the very institution at which they are employed?
Professional teachers need to evaluate their tactics during this time. Professionals do not take to the streets or prevent others from doing their jobs. Our government needs to sit down with teachers' unions and negotiate professional quality management systems that will ensure that our nation's truly professional teachers attain the increases they deserve (and have earned) as any other professional the world over could expect.
During times of strike action, the dignity of our profession is colored, not only in the eyes of society at large but in the eyes of the children we undertook to teach when we joined the profession.
Teachers in Sweden, for example, earn more than members of the medical profession. Governments who wish to elevate the profession of teaching put their money where their mouth is. It is true that average citizens see earnings as a means of judging the value of a particular profession.
Higher salaries create a situation where a higher public status is afforded to the profession. I am obviously then, in favour of higher salaries for South African educators.
Professionalism is not, however, only about a salary. Professionals are expected to earn their salary and do the job they were appointed to do. When a nation's teachers go on strike and flaunt the very ethics on which their profession is based, public sympathy and respect diminish.
Professional teachers are, by definition, guided in all they do by the needs of the clients they serve: the learners, their parents and the broader school community. By drawing alongside non-essential staff in a Public Sector Strike, we lose sight of the fact that, like nurses and doctors; we are essential services staff. We can teach if our refuse is not collected, if the buildings are not cleaned for us but by us; but we cannot teach if we are not where we belong - in our classrooms, in front of our classes.
In our little town, the streets are full of bereft looking children, looking for something to do. Hopeful faces appear at my office door at 6.30 a.m. every morning to ask, "Ma'am, can we come back to school today?" Little legions of children arrived from nowhere to assist as we fought a small veld fire behind our hostel a few days ago.
Matric scholars sneak onto the premises in casual clothes, like criminals. Their crime: a desire to receive tuition and guidance before their Preliminary examinations. Teachers' stress levels are at an all time high as they are faced with school safety issues that equal the pressures of teaching during a civil war. Can we guarantee the safety of our learners? Can we accept responsibility for injuries sustained while we practise the `in loco parentis' role afforded to us by the very laws which underpin our profession?
Daily, dedicated teachers arrive at school despite threats from fellow teachers in the community. Daily, we continue preparing lessons and drawing up assessments for children who should be in the classrooms. We are excited about new resources found in bookrooms and libraries and on the Internet and we are dying to share these with our absent learners. Daily we plan for 2011 in the hope that next year can proceed without disruptions and a very unprofessional loss of teaching time.
What of the examinations scheduled for two days time? Does a professional miss a deadline? Do professionals put their needs before the needs of their clients? Does a professional colleague run to their teachers' union to report that a clandestine activity - the writing of scheduled examinations - is going ahead at the very institution at which they are employed?
Professional teachers need to evaluate their tactics during this time. Professionals do not take to the streets or prevent others from doing their jobs. Our government needs to sit down with teachers' unions and negotiate professional quality management systems that will ensure that our nation's truly professional teachers attain the increases they deserve (and have earned) as any other professional the world over could expect.
During times of strike action, the dignity of our profession is colored, not only in the eyes of society at large but in the eyes of the children we undertook to teach when we joined the profession.
No comments:
Post a Comment