One of the words that come to mind when I think ‘teacher” is long-suffering. The demands of the job seem relentless and increasing; the rewards, few and far between.
There’s a very strange mismatch in our world between the acknowledged importance of educators to creating a functioning society and the status they are given. Everybody knows that educators are needed to produce employable citizens whose expertise in turn benefits the nation’s economy. More than that, teachers have the profound task of nurturing the kinds of values in youngsters that enable us to live in a stable, peace-loving society. Add to this the additional roles teachers often perform — social worker, counsellor, even midwife on occasion — and the relationship between the value of the work and the benefits awarded is very skewed.
A report released in July by Education International (EI) on the status of teachers begins with the well-worn statement, ‘Teacher shortage is a reality today in many countries”. With so many educators packing it in — in some countries as much as 20% — and youngsters sneering at the idea of joining such an unsexy, unrewarding profession, a vicious cycle begins: the educators who remain have to work longer hours with bigger classes and the job goes from demanding to gruelling.
And then there is the impact of HIV/Aids. ‘One out of five teachers is expected to die of Aids in the period 2000 to 2008 in the Southern African region,” warns the EI report.
But even without the aspect of HIV/Aids, this situation has long been anticipated. Back in 1966, Unesco devised a set of recommendations ‘to remedy the problems of teacher shortages”. The document stresses that the public’s appreciation of educators’ work has to go beyond a parent mumbling now and then, ‘Thanks for your help in raising my kid.”
Ultimately, of course, the issue is money. The 1966 Unesco recommendations argue that teachers’ salaries should ‘reflect the importance to society of the teaching function” and ‘compare favourably with salaries paid in other occupations requiring similar or equivalent qualifications”.
It seems that certain categories of those who ‘serve” society — such as politicians — justify their very healthy income with the logic that unless you offer an attractive salary, you’re going to lose the best people to the private sector. But somewhere between their comfy seats in Parliament and their view of those who also serve society — nurses, the police, teachers — this line of thinking is replaced with the need to balance the national Budget.
There are some who say that teaching is a calling and the true rewards of the work are seeing youngsters in your care grow up and thrive. There is some truth in this. But educators could still appreciate the heart-warming side of their work in a fancier pair of shoes.