Seven Reasons People no longer Want to be Teachers ( continued )
ARTICLES
Seven Reasons People no longer Want to be Teachers ( continued )
In Australia , departments of education provide explicit guidance for classes well ahead of time . This means the teaching approach and content is in place even before a teacher meets their students . This undermines the ability for teachers to be responsive and tailor teaching to learners ’ needs . And so , the professional responsibility of Australian teachers is compromised - making the job seem rather unattractive .
4 . Work intensification
Work intensification refers to the increasing range of duties and responsibilities that have now been attached to the role of teachers . Teachers report the rewards of teaching are obscured by this , along with the crowded curriculum . They are stressed by the range of things they ’ re required to teach , and the snowball effect that emerges from increased requirements .
Intensification is due to many factors , not least of which is the expansion of teacher responsibilities to include social skills development previously addressed at home . Teaching is well known to be hard work , however , hard work without appreciation or respect is a powerful disincentive .
5 . Negative public image
An audit of newspaper stories in Queensland over the past year shows a strong tendency to report negatively on teachers . In the 12 months examined , 11 months featured more negative stories .
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7 . Teachers ’ salaries are poor
The final nail in the coffin : poor salaries . A graduate dentist from a five year course earns A $ 130,000 . The majority of secondary teachers have also completed a five year program , but the starting salary is A $ 65,486 reaching A $ 71,000 after 5-10 years .
No wonder people don ’ t want to be teachers
It ’ s not surprising , then , that numbers of applicants for teacher education programs have slumped . The programs are long and intense , the creativity and relationships aspect of the vocation has been eroded , there is pervasive negativity in the media , and also comparatively poor salary and working conditions .
It ’ s hard to know where to start , but appealing to the vocational drive of those who love leading others to achieve by raising the profile of these additional attributes in teacher education programs might help . This would require a gentle review of the national program design and accreditation guidelines . Or perhaps we need to be better at reporting teacher success in the mass media .
Nan Bahr is Pro Vice-Chancellor ( Students )/ Dean of Education , Southern Cross University Jo-Anne Ferreira is Director , Teaching & Learning , Education , Southern Cross University .
This article was first published in ‘ The Conversation ’ on 16th April , 2018 . SEN and the Science Teachers ’ Association of NSW are grateful to ‘ The Conversation ’ for its generous policy of encouraging the republishing of its numerous fine articles . We also thank the authors , Nan Bahr and Jo-Anne Ferreira , for supplying this article , thereby supporting ‘ The Conversation ’ policy .
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6 . Teacher bashing
Teaching as a vocation is publicly scorned . This is commonly called ‘ teacher bashing ’. As a career , teaching is tolerated as a convenient backup pathway for people , but not endorsed as the main game . There have been reports of teachers , and even principals , being actually physically bashed .
24 SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL NEWS VOL 67 NO 3