Teaching Perspectives

The title of this blog may sound like something you have heard and read about many times before! The role of a teacher, their importance to the education system, the importance of teacher training programs has all been discussed extensively. So we ask, what is different in today’s piece? Well, the difference is that today we introduce our new series of blog articles titled ‘Teacher Perspectives’ where over a few weeks we explore the lives of teachers and teacher trainers by actually talking to them, looking at what inspires them, understand their goals, challenges faced by them and what drew them to this profession.

The first place to start this journey into the minds and lives of teachers all over the country is by asking what draws people to this profession. The question to be asked here is: "Why am I aspiring to become a teacher?"

  

  

The above quotes by students of Elementary Education from different parts of the country shows that most of them believe in the ideal of teaching and consider teaching one of the key instruments in bringing about the change that they want to see in society. However one cannot overlook the fact that teaching is also considered a ‘soft’ career choice. By this we mean something that it is considered easy and convenient to undertake. This may not be the actual case. Now that we have understood what drives people to this profession, it is time we look at teachers who have been teaching for a while now and see what they have to say about why they are teachers.

The students who aspire to become teachers have almost an idealistic view of the profession. They believe that their vision to make a difference would help them overcome the challenges and the lack of motivation faced in this profession. However, after talking to experienced teachers we see that after many years they still remember what drove them to become teachers and it is this vision that helps them learn as teachers and bring the change they want to see!

Today’s blog was the first step in understanding why people become teachers and what keeps them in this profession. In the upcoming weeks we will explore what teachers do every day and how they grow.