I have read through those 5 scenarios which based on different situations and I found that Tracy’s case was quite reflected on the new teacher’s expectation and the outcome.
Before entering the school to teach as a proper teacher, I believed that all of us (including Tracy) have already thought about what kind of teacher do I want to be and how could I pass my knowledge to my students. We all would like to try to use the technique and the knowledge we have learned from the university and hopefully could apply those to our way of teaching. We would be very optimistic and have lots of plans for students and expected that our students could learn from us and have some contributions for the nation. Nevertheless, in the reality of the life we have to face on the pressure from the school, the society, the parents even the students.
There are some hypotheses we might face on in our future which are as shown as below:
1. 1) Pressure from the school: Some of the schools might fight for the fame within the community area. In order to fight for the reputation, the principle might allocate more pressure on the teachers and set a target for teachers to reach. For example, students’ result has to get at least 85% distinction in a specific subject. Sometimes, there is also an award for the teacher who has reached the target. As a result, this might cause the tension between colleagues. Instead of enjoying teaching, they have to compete with each other and always find a way to reach the target.
2. 2) Pressure from society: Some private schools in rural or remote area might suffer from inadequate fund resources. Hence, teachers have to lead the students to ask for donation from the neighbourhood. Some people might think that this is not professional and the responsibility for the teacher is teaching while student is studying but not raising fund for the school. People might feel less confidence by sending their child to the school as they think that the school might has less facilities and teaching resources. As a result, teachers have to do better in order to maintain the reputation of the particular school.
3. 3) Pressure from parents: In this century, parents are very concerned about their child’s learning procedure. Sometimes, they would be interfere teacher’s teaching method and hopefully teacher could follow their instructions on how to teach their child. Other than that, if the students do something inappropriate and receive some punishment such as tidying up the classroom or copy the text for 5 times, their parents would come to the teacher and forbid the teacher for punishing their child. In this situation, students would become more and more disorganized as they could do whatever they like to but without receiving any punishment.
4 Pressure from students: Students in a classroom could be divided into two categories: Students concentrate on their studies; students’ not engaging on what teacher teaches in class. They will do whatever they like to do such as chit-chatting with the students next to them or reading other subject’s material, and so on. In the latter case, teacher has to find more solutions to guide them and making sure they will back on track.
For my own philosophy in this case, I will always reminding myself the purpose for me to work as a teacher and I could not feel frustrated because of the reality I am facing on. Everything has its double edge sword: the pressure could make a people feeling fear and frustrated; on the other hand it could also motivate one to be optimistic and find a way to cope with the pressure. For the pressure of school and the society, it can help us to enhance our teaching skill and also improve our knowledge in order to reach the target which has been set up by the principle. It will be helpful if we could understand the difficulty that students might be facing on and the reasons for them to lure attention away from their studies. Start from this point, we could be able to find solutions and help them get through it. I believe that if a teacher is full of responsibilities, willingness to devote their time on students and really engaging on teaching, their students would be able to feel the passion and getting themselves on the right track. I believe that it does not really important to compete with others, but the only enemy is I myself. I have to keep telling myself that I would do better on the next day and always stay optimistic.
Dear Winnie, I think you have provided a very good rundown of the interests of the various educational stakeholders. Like you I am grappling with how to reconcile them with my own interests as a stakeholder and how to square them all so that I can be an effective teacher. I think that this is why a personal philosophy of teaching is so important.
ReplyDeleteYep, its one giant balancing act! While I understand the need to consider each stakeholder, it is unfortunate that education can become so bureaucratic. My personal philosophy of teaching is to create a thirst for knowledge in our students. For me, I teach the student before the subject, focusing on the longterm, post school reality of the student and trying to ensure that they are equipped to proceed in life how ever they choose. Unfortunately this would be virtually impossible in a school such as Tracy's!
ReplyDeleteI really don't know how I would proceed were I in Tracy's position. Promoting dialogue, risk taking and critical thought is very difficult if you are working in a school that is so narrow minded. In a situation such as this, perhaps we would to educate the teachers and parents (on the importance of developing the power of independent thought) as much as we need to teach the students!
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your personal reflections in this post. It was great to be reminded of the motivator that being in a situation like Tracy’s could be, a motivator to reflect, re-evaluate, research and become a better teacher. I too am unsure of what I would do in Tracy’s situation. Feeling unsupported by and at odds with your colleagues would be one of the hardest positions to be in as a teacher. I think one of the key influences in this scenario is the history of the school (or lack thereof). The fact that it’s a new school may be one of the main reasons why there is such a focus on measurable results. The founders of this new school clearly share a philosophy of education that is having a huge impact on the school, a philosophy that Tracey does not share.
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ReplyDeleteHi Winnie, I really like what you wrote here about the possible future of schools, and our role as a teacher in these schools. You are right, there are so many factors that could decide whether or not we really want to be teachers in schools, especially the pressures from the parents – which is a great fear of mine. To be honest, I don’t think I would handle Tracy’s situation very well, for if I don’t feel passionate about the subject matter, plus if I was constantly getting advice from parents and pressure from the so-called curriculum, I would probably feel like a puppet, which is not inspiring at all.
ReplyDeleteI admire the way that even though you know the hurdles you will face as a teacher, that you have found a way to let these hurdles motivate you and feel optimistic, yet are still aware that the journey is never over. I think your awareness of the hurdles you will face on this journey will only work out for you in a positive way, for I don’t ever see you ‘slumping’ on the job. Its very inspiring!
Cheers,
Zach