NEW! When I grow up, I want to be a Teacher: Valorising the Teaching Profession
Written by Eunice Sanya |
I never really thought I would end up a teacher – the ridiculous pay, the impossible work load, the pathetic conditions - we’ve all heard about that! And I wasn’t the only one taking education courses in campus just to get the degree. Back then, I thought an education degree was just an easy way to get into an MBA program and a channel to the big bucks. It would open doors…That’s not how it turned out.
I got through four years of the education program hardly able to differentiate Vygotsky from Dewey. I had no idea what Socrates and Kant thought of education and personally, I thought the connection between philosophy and education was not only vague, it was non-existent. I majored in French, got the required grades thanks to coffee-filled-crash-reading-nights and graduated, qualifying as a French high school teacher. Other than bonjour, comment tu t’appelles and au revoir, I really wasn’t comfortable with the French language. Luckily, I never tried to get a teaching post. I wasn’t interested, of course. I looked for jobs that required bilingual skills, well paying jobs, of course, in Non-Governmental Organisations, of course, but after several interviews conducted in French, and the occasional doubts raised about the authenticity of my French degree, I was forced to give up. Well, as luck would have it, I did end up a teacher. Three years after getting my degree, I got a teaching post in a school in France and hence started my adventure as an English teacher in a French suburban school.
“Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.” -Max Ehrmann
Getting into the teaching profession in France
Why is it that I had sworn never to be a teacher in Kenya but in France, I am more than thrilled to have gotten the post? The salary you say and yet, teachers in Europe are no where near the best paid professionals and with the high living costs, the money is really nothing to write home about. I suppose it’s all tied to the image and the representation that society holds of the teacher and the teaching profession. Teaching in Europe remains a noble profession; one is proud to be a teacher. I notice that in conversations, I wait and hope to be asked what I do so that with a satisfied smile, I can say Actually, I’m a part time teacher and usually follows the inevitable question wow, so you passed the concours? As is turns out, getting into the teaching profession in France is no easy feat. The concours is actually a nation wide general examination that selects a limited number of student teachers who qualify to join a teacher training institution (Institut Universitaire de Formation des Maîtres – IUFM). The competition to get into the training programme is extremely tough and a large number of students have to repeatedly pass the exams before they finally make it into the training program. It took me a long time to get used to hearing students saying I’m just doing a Master’s to pass time as I wait to pass the concours. Students selected have to already be in possession of a degree, though this will soon be upgraded into a Master’s degree qualification. And that’s just the beginning! After being selected to join the training course, a student teacher has to undergo two years of professional training to finally become a teacher (determined by his or her success in examinations and the quality of his research paper outlining his professional teaching experience).
Teaching in Kenya, a noble profession?
The fact that I like being a teacher (and I can assure you it’s not about the money), after almost swearing never to become one, makes me reflect on my initial image of the teaching profession in Kenya. The Ministry of Education Science and Technology in Kenya acknowledges that many student teachers take up education not because they want to be teachers but because they feel they have no other option. As a former education student in Kenya, I can relate to these students but when I reflect on the question today, I’m forced to ask myself is salary the only motivating factor that influences students’ choices for the teaching profession in Kenya? I think not. As an education student, I never really considered becoming a teacher because in my opinion, no one ever really wants to become a teacher. In conversations, I hoped no one would ask what I was studying and if they did, I was sure to say education, but I’m not planning to become a teacher. I was almost embarrassed to have chosen (or in my opinion, forced to choose by circumstances) education and today, as a social researcher, when a student teacher in Kenya tells me I’m doing education because I failed KCSE, I relive the same sentiments that I had years ago as a student teacher. Very few students in Kenya today want to be teachers because contrary to a few years back when the simple fact of being a teacher gave a certain form of legitimate authority in society, this image has changed and the image that society holds today of the teacher makes the profession seem less worthy than other professions such as medicine, law and architecture.
Valorising the teaching profession
Educational research shows that the image or representation that a teacher holds on teaching and the teaching profession influences his desire to be, or not to be a teacher as well as one’s evolution within his teaching career. This image is not only influenced by the experiences the teacher or student teacher had when he was himself a student but also by the image that he thinks society holds of his profession; the value attached to his chosen profession. Teaching is a profession, teachers professionals. Teachers are definitely not failures, far from it and it seems necessary to change the image that society holds of the teacher today. Teachers need to be appreciated, they surely deserve it. Despite what we might think of them, the teacher remains one of today’s most influential leader and role model.
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