Someone once said: ”Those who can, do and those who can’t, teach.” I suppose that might depict the majority of us currently in the profession as no-hopers and failures. However, this is hardly the case as the demands on a teacher today are simply enormous and stressful. As our communities have changed and adjusted under the pressures of the modern world, so too have our children and their families. Teaching, today, is not for the faint-hearted.
Our school draws most of its learners from the local communities and more particularly, from the overcrowded nearby informal settlement. Many learners are from single-parent families or are looked after by their grandparents. Unemployment is high while others are employed as labourers or as domestic workers. Poverty levels are high. Evidence of this is seen in schools with the high number of learners being fed daily.
While we are aware of the high HIV infection rates, we are still unaware of any learners in our school who may be HIV positive or who may have Aids. This is just one of the many challenges that face our teachers — how to make a meaningful connection with a learner who bears the burden of his/her sick mother or sibling, how to inspire this learner to work and be motivated in school when the most pressing issue for him/her is whether a loved one will still be around by the end of the year.
In many communities where poverty levels are high, parents struggle more to maintain contact with their children who are often left unsupervised for hours until they return from work. What inevitably happens is that children spend much of their time walking about. They seldom complete homework or spend sufficient time studying for their tasks or tests. We have had countless instances where we have had to call in parents because of the repeated poor behaviour and performance of children. Parents mostly look to us to tell them how to monitor and set boundaries for their children. Problems are more acute among boys than girls, who mostly have to complete house chores after school. This powerlessness results in the teacher having to play parent to a greater degree than before.
Teachers are often at their wits end trying to maintain control and discipline around constant disruption and disrespectful behaviour. It does not help at all that only a few learners have breakfast – porridge, cereal or bread – or prepare a school lunch-pack before leaving on the bus. For a few cents they rather buy a few packets of cheap chips — saturated with salt and food colorants. It is no wonder that they ”bounce about” uncontrollably in the first part of each session after break. Such hyperactivity from a group in a class of about 40 learners is a monumental challenge to a teacher.
The past realities of apartheid have left their mark on our teachers. Except for one teacher, no one on our staff can communicate even on a basic level in Xhosa, the home language of our learners. Our life- orientation teacher speaks Zulu so what he overhears from learners as they talk among themselves can be introduced into life skills and life orientation lessons. The traditional and cultural issues they wish to discuss strike a chord with him as he is equally knowledgeable about cultural affairs, albeit among the Zulus.
In closing, that teaching is stressful is a given. It is admirable that the South African Catholic Education network has dedicated 2006 to be the Care of the Teacher Year. In the mission of both church and school, it is important to support and nurture teachers who will help in the long run to achieve the objectives of creating schools that work lovingly among our vulnerable children.
Our small school has a group of loving, patient and dedicated teachers who, despite the odds and difficulties, continue to work tirelessly and try to remain faithful to their mission as teachers.
Karl Schmidt is a grade 7 teacher at St James Primary, Cape Town