Teaching - an elite profession

oneeye1

teachers need to get a grip.yes im sure its a tough job as are many many more but it is a decent job.
go on strike again that made you popular.

as for sickies my 7 year old s new teacher this year hurt is groin playing football on a weekend he had 3 weeks off 3 effing weeks.

Loughton_Monkey

Conrad wrote: »

I would pay teachers a lot more and fund it by cutting the military back to S Korean / Japanese / German levels and slashing welfare for all but the very needy.

Not sure about South Korea. This is rather a 'distorted' picture.

Firstly, they have about 2 year compulsory military service, so their active, reserve, and 'available' forces number far, far, more than ours. But I guess they get them very much 'on the cheap'.

Secondly, the costs (to S Korea) of keeping 30,000 US Troops in S Korea is crippling and extortionate to them.

Against that background, their education is remarkable. On the negative side, it is primarily 'fact based'. Children are 'lectured to' rather than taught in projects/discussion etc. It's a sort of 'military mindset'. This leads to a lot more rote learning rather than 'logic' or 'creativity' which explains their excellence in copying (rather than inventing) state of the art technology.

On the positive side, however, parents universally 'support' education of their kids to the hilt. This is partly because their children are their 'pensions'. I used to overlook a Korean family with one 12-ish year old lad. He was very typical. He would be in a back room every night from about 7:30 to midnight doing his homework. Private evening tutors are big business there.

Don't just take my word for it....

Kang-ee Hong, a child psychologist, says that over the past 40 years, South Korean parents have abandoned traditional values in favour of one single goal.

"From the beginning of childhood, the importance of money and achievement are emphasised by their parents, so they feel that unless you are successful in school grades and a good job, good prestigious college, you're not successful, and the parents behave as if 'you're not my child'," Dr Hong said.

Even young children typically work from early morning until late at night, and often at weekends too, to get into the best university they can and eventually secure a well-paying job. The pressure is intense, and the routine relentless - for years on end.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15331921

That article, strangely enough, is about suicide.

Over 4 years I lived there, I got to know that the (already high) suicide rate always went ballistic when exam results were announced. Mainly by parents who discover young Jeun-He didn't get to the top 10 universities after all....

the_flying_pig

BobQ wrote: »

When I graduated university I seriously thought about becoming a teacher. I think its true that during my lifetime the status of teaching as a profession has gone down so anything that improves it would be a good idea.

What shocks me (I must be getting old) is that when I went to university it was an entry requirement that you had to have O-level English Language and Mathematics. When I left university it was a requirement of all the employers I applied to join that you had O level English and Mathematics whatever your degree was in. It was certainly a requirement of all civil service jobs and of several private sector firms I applied to join.

What amazes me is that now this is a novel idea! What happened?

yeah, it was striking to me when i started at secondary school in the late 80s that amongst the older teachers, say men & women in their forties & fifties, Oxbridge degrees in their chosen subject weren't all that uncommon, whereas very ropy-looking credentials were much more common amongs the younger ones.

i don't particularly think that teachers need to be 'super elite'.

just people who:

1) are pretty strong in their subject [e.g. as evidenced by a 2:1 degree in the same or a very similar subject, or maybe a 2:2 if from a good uni];
2) like children;
3) are likeable to children; and
4) have a reasonable aptitude & liking for explaining new stuff to people.

i don't necessarily think that this means attracting the same type of person who'd otherwise be going off to work in the city or whatever.

Thalinda14

I would like to work as a teacher but my working permit doesn't allow me even if I have the necesary qualification.So I am working as a private tutor, its't flexible and I like it but it doesn't offer me stability. Roxana S