ARE TEACHER'S UNDERMINED?

We know that great teachers make the difference when it comes to raising standards of the students/the young minds. Supporting and improving the quality of the teaching profession should be a priority of the education sector. Teacher morale is being seriously undermined by the present day education sector, putting education standards at risk.

Recent studies show that the teachers under increasing pressure to get pupils through tests and exams. The present day teachers felt that they had been bullied, 50% by a senior member of staff/management, compared with 25% by pupils and 23% by parents, which creates stress on the teacher to quit the job. The most widespread forms of bullying are "negative comments" and verbal insults. 

The negative impact of such bullying included stress and many of the victims had considered either changing jobs or leaving teaching altogether. It is unacceptable for any staff to be bullied by colleagues, and education institutions need robust policies in place to pick up any problems and deal with them promptly.

We should remember that teachers are professionals who help our kids grow and learn. They are not adversaries; they are helpers. They need our support and gratitude. Yes, there might be the occasional teacher who gives educators a bad name, but they aren't common and most often can be navigated. The truth is, a lot of times it's the bad teachers who give the easiest grades, because they know by giving good grades everyone will leave them alone.

Education and political leaders across the world are currently trying to decide how to evaluate teachers. This type of system shows a profound lack of understanding of leadership. Leadership is about hiring great people and empowering them, and requires a delicate balance of evaluation and encouragement. Teachers should be given enormous amount of freedom and respect. The scenario in the education sector will make it impossible to attract great teachers and will diminish the motivation of the ones we have. It will make teaching so scripted and controlled that we won’t be able to attract smart, passionate people. Everyone says we should treat teachers as professionals, but then they promote top-down policies that are insulting to serious educators.

If we don’t change course in the coming years, these modern systems that treat teachers like low-level workers will become self-fulfilling. As the great educational thinker Theodore R. Sizer put it, “Eventually, hierarchical bureaucracy will be totally self-validating: virtually all teachers will be semi-competent.”

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