Why in the Western World, apart from Russia, are the teacher's of our young so poorly paid?
This has never made sense to me, and if logically studied, a logical answer cannot be found.
As a teacher of secondary school, when our adolescent students are emotionally and physically changing at the speed of light, and the problems these children face is, more often than not, terribly dramatic; not to mention their home lives, the teacher must play many roles:
Teacher
Carer
friend
psychologist
Sounding Board
mentor
motivator
A teacher must have their best interests at heart.
In most cases, this children come from broken homes, thus the teacher is their point of safty and stable 'parent', because their home's are in utter chaos.
As a teacher we must wear many hats, work long hours, at school and at home to ensure these young people have the opportunity to be the best they can be and, hopefully, future contributors' in our society.
Similar to most 'jobs', we have good days and bad. But in the end, the teacher is most happy when a student actually learns something, making the connection to what they have learned to real life.
In Australia, students with disabilities, i.e., ADHD, Autism, broken homes leading to unruly behaviour, Asbergers, etc, are not suitably funded to handle such children in, for example, a classroom of 25 students. Yes, we have teacher assistance in the form of "intergration aids", but these individuals are not trained to successfully handle these children. Thus the responsibility comes back to the classroom teacher. We modify the work for them, but often, (depending if they have taken their medication) will disrupt the other 90% of the class and learning does not occur - these are the bad days.
Teaching is a difficult profession and we deal or cope with what resources are available.
To be honest, Im tired of the old cliche, that teachers get too many holidays, therefore their low pay is somehow justified. We work many hours at home and school, therefore the hours do not even come close to the holiday time.
The irony, really, is that during a political campaign, most often the main issue is education, but once voted into office, the successful party, ignore the issue.
It only takes Union Protest to remind these overpaid politicians what the situation with education is truly about...(and it is not ideal by any stretch of the imagination.)
What is a tragedy is that 50% of graduate teacher' resign within the first 3 years because the work is too hard, and the remuneration, ridiculous.
Teaching is a Noble profession. A great teacher can change a young person's life to then turn them into greatness...and I've seen it many times.
I truly believe that the profession of teaching is a 'calling', it is in your blood and bones.
These overpaid politicians need to wake-up and smell the coffee, attracting smart people who are more than capable to teach our young and paid well for their huge contribution to our future society.
This has never made sense to me, and if logically studied, a logical answer cannot be found.
As a teacher of secondary school, when our adolescent students are emotionally and physically changing at the speed of light, and the problems these children face is, more often than not, terribly dramatic; not to mention their home lives, the teacher must play many roles:
Teacher
Carer
friend
psychologist
Sounding Board
mentor
motivator
A teacher must have their best interests at heart.
In most cases, this children come from broken homes, thus the teacher is their point of safty and stable 'parent', because their home's are in utter chaos.
As a teacher we must wear many hats, work long hours, at school and at home to ensure these young people have the opportunity to be the best they can be and, hopefully, future contributors' in our society.
Similar to most 'jobs', we have good days and bad. But in the end, the teacher is most happy when a student actually learns something, making the connection to what they have learned to real life.
In Australia, students with disabilities, i.e., ADHD, Autism, broken homes leading to unruly behaviour, Asbergers, etc, are not suitably funded to handle such children in, for example, a classroom of 25 students. Yes, we have teacher assistance in the form of "intergration aids", but these individuals are not trained to successfully handle these children. Thus the responsibility comes back to the classroom teacher. We modify the work for them, but often, (depending if they have taken their medication) will disrupt the other 90% of the class and learning does not occur - these are the bad days.
Teaching is a difficult profession and we deal or cope with what resources are available.
To be honest, Im tired of the old cliche, that teachers get too many holidays, therefore their low pay is somehow justified. We work many hours at home and school, therefore the hours do not even come close to the holiday time.
The irony, really, is that during a political campaign, most often the main issue is education, but once voted into office, the successful party, ignore the issue.
It only takes Union Protest to remind these overpaid politicians what the situation with education is truly about...(and it is not ideal by any stretch of the imagination.)
What is a tragedy is that 50% of graduate teacher' resign within the first 3 years because the work is too hard, and the remuneration, ridiculous.
Teaching is a Noble profession. A great teacher can change a young person's life to then turn them into greatness...and I've seen it many times.
I truly believe that the profession of teaching is a 'calling', it is in your blood and bones.
These overpaid politicians need to wake-up and smell the coffee, attracting smart people who are more than capable to teach our young and paid well for their huge contribution to our future society.
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