Dr. A.P.J
Abdul Kalam the former President of India was asked to contest for President
Election recently he refused and replied I will be a teacher than a
President! As all of us know the
President is the first citizen of the country and it’s a most prestigious
position. But for Dr. Kalam being a teacher is more than that simply because
‘teaching is a noble profession’. It is a service oriented, it has a potential
to have a great impact on the moulding of next generation. This profession is
looked with honour and respect, many wants to be a teacher not with caprices of
this profession just to serve and feel worth living. Teaching is a one of a
kind profession; this career choice may be frustrating, exciting, and also very
fulfilling those who are fully dedicated to choose teaching as their long life
career.
A teacher
should be a teacher in every moment in his life his attitude life style
behavior everything matters a lot to himself and to the society as well. So he
is more conscious of his life and behavior and also he should live up to the
expectations of the society in spite of his financial hardship and professional
life.
It is hard
to believe but the fact is that teaching is stressful job hence most teachers
deal with big stress level each day. It always goes unnoticed by the society
management and the policy makers. Some teachers may think that he has a
‘mellow’ job so he is least bothered about his health effects of stress. The
teachers stress level proven to cause physical problems, such as blood pressure
and a slew of other problems.
Many studies
evidenced certain source for stress for teachers in teaching profession. I also
interacted with many people who are involved in this profession and I strongly
feel there are certain areas needs to be focused for better in the point of
pupils’ the well being of the teacher and the genuine improvement of the
school.
More than
two –thirds of teachers have experienced or witnessed bullying which resulted
for one in five to quite the job. Apart from bulling on teachers themselves
being shouted at in front of their pupils would set a bad example for children
who were themselves bullied because it would send a signal to their tormentors
that such behavior was tolerated. And the consequences for teacher of being
bullied were devastating for their health and wellbeing. Loss of confidence,
dread of going to work, sleepless nights, family disputes are some of the
effects of this.
One teacher confessed
‘the school needs to improve but I am not sure it can’ common sense and trust
in human communication is being forced out of profession. A lot of teachers
seem to like being told exactly what to do and how to do it. The status quo is
just fine for a lot of middle and senior management too. It allows them to
wield power justify inflated salaries and be recognized by their peer as being
‘outstanding’ teachers. Recognition the children in their classes would never
give them. Never mind they never really liked teaching children that much
anyway!
Teaching is
a political football; it changes all the time- the combination of continual
change with frequent market need, societal demand, coupled with long unsociable
hours and poor pay makes up a stressful recipe. All though the school day may
be shorter than most office working days, teachers put in many more hours in
the evening and at weekends preparing lessons, marking work and organizing
extracurricular activities. As one teacher admits I teach twenty five lessons a
week despite my best intensions some of these lessons are boring. To plan an
outstanding lesson can take hours. I can do that for every lesson I teach.
Sometimes I stand in the class delivering a lesson I know isn’t as good as it
could be. I know how to make it better. I just don’t have time to do it. I
don’t think children notice they are used to this.
Another
important area which appears to make teachers more pressured than other
professions. Problems in relationship with managers-head teacher, deputy
teacher, sectional heads. If there is a good relationship, professional as well
as humanitarian then teachers feel free to express themselves to ventilate
their feelings. Most of the time its lacking, building relationship and
maintaining the same relationship has a very positive effect in any profession
but in teaching it has double effect. The problem here is if any problem arise
the teacher need to tackle alone so the feeling of isolation troubles the
teacher which may lead to the resignation of the teacher from that school. Even
while handing the problem behavior of the child the teacher should do it alone
and also teacher have to look after their pupil’s welfare and also the school
boundaries which are imposed on them so teacher gets little outside support.
This sense of isolation can grow and contribute to teacher burnout.
The school
leadership is also another important area of concern. One of the most
consistent findings from studies of effective school leadership is that
authority to lead need not be located in the person of the leader but can be
dispersed within the school between and among people. There is a growing
understanding that leadership is embedded in various organizational contexts
within school communities, not centrally vested in a person or an office. The
real challenge facing most schools is no longer how to improve but, more
importantly, how to sustain improvement. Sustainability will depend upon the
school’s internal capacity to maintain and support developmental work and sustaining improvement requires the
leadership capability of the many rather than the few. Many so called leaders
in the school lacks leadership quality hence they may hurt the feelings of the
teachers in the name of quality improvement.
--Prof. Madhusoodan Sunnambala
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