If Teachers Feel Undervalued It's Because They Are
Teachers are used to being on the sharp end of public criticism, but even by these standards the results of a recent survey are disturbing.
According to the survey, eight out of 10 teachers do not feel their profession is valued by society. Among school leaders, the proportion who feel teaching is undervalued rises to 90%.
But survey, carried out by the U.K.’s Times Educational Supplement with polling organization YouGov, does no more than reflect a widespread perception of the teaching profession.
One school leader interviewed about the survey by the TES put a considerable share of the blame on the media. There appeared to be a default setting among some, he said, to blame schools whenever anything went wrong, even though children spend far more time out of school than in it.
Whether it’s failing to equip students for the workplace or failing to prevent children from trying to join Islamic State in the Middle East, the finger always points at schools and teachers for not doing their job.
We not only expect schools to educate our children, we also demand that they make up for parenting deficiencies, society’s problems and diplomatic blunders.
It’s no surprise, then, that teachers feel undervalued, because they are.
This appears to be a worldwide phenomenon. The OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey, Talis, found that only in Finland, Singapore and Abu Dhabi did the majority of teachers feel that their profession was valued in society.
It’s surely no coincidence that Finland and Singapore are consistently top performers in international education comparisontests.
It is also no coincidence that Finland has around 10 applicants for every teacher training place.
If teaching is respected, then more people want to become teachers and standards will rise. But if teaching is constantly denigrated then many will be put off applying – and dedicated teachers will eventually decide they can’t take it any more.
After all, who wants to be a perpetual Aunt Sally at the mercy of anyone with a grievance?
And so it becomes a vicious circle. The more teachers bear the brunt of public criticism, the harder it is to bring about improvements and the more teachers are criticised. This is handy if all you want is to take a pop at an easy target now and again, but if you’re interested in children getting a good education it’s more problematic.
Perhaps we should start by recognizing the difficulty of the task teachers face. We could also ensure that our expectations of what schools can achieve are both realistic and clear. And we could stop blaming teachers for everything that is wrong with society.
If students are turned off education because they feel on the margins of society and the prospect before them looks bleak, then we cannot expect teachers to be able to solve this on their own.
Instead teachers are just one part of the solution, which must also encompass parents, policy-makers and employers, among others. And we need to make sure teachers know that while we don’t expect them to do it on their own, we value their contribution.
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