Where have all the teachers gone?
There was a protest song that was popular in my youth, (written by Pete Seger and performed by the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary), that posed the question, ”Where have all the flowers gone?” It seems that they had been “picked by young girls, … every one“, and there was a follow-up question: “When will they ever learn?”
October 5th is the UNESCO designated World Teachers’ Day, (although here , the professional “holiday” is held on the first Sunday in October …) and it seemed an appropriate occasion to ask a similar question: Where have all the teachers gone?
To be honest, I have been thinking about this for some time … partly, I admit, out of a professional interest, having worked as a Teacher back in the UK, but more so I have become involved with the “Baseball Kids” – a family which I have basically adopted – or who have adopted me. Through them I have come to see a side of life in Kyrgyzstan that most foreigners don’t get to see, unless they have their family with them or they work in the educational system.
A month ago the new school year started and everyone trotted off to classes after their three months long summer holidays – three months! … Apparently there were the usual greetings exchanged with classmates that they may not have seen during the holidays – catching up with all the news and gossip. There were new faces to welcome, pupils transferred into the school to get to know … and new teachers to get to know and used to. This year, it seems there were quite a few new faces … not so many amongst the pupils, but quite a few amongst the teaching staff.
Some of the “new” teachers were not actually new … in that they had been teaching in the school for some time, but had now been assigned to this particular class. On the other hand, apparently, there were quite a few new faces who were replacing teachers who had moved on to other posts … or simply retired.
Apparently, a lot of teachers are retiring … the teaching force is ageing and it seems that there is precious little new blood entering the profession. Statistics suggest that something like 60% of schools have a shortage of teachers and a considerable number of those in the profession are actually past the age of retirement.
I was looking, the other day, at a UNICEF report on teacher shortages. It’s already three years old, and was based on a small sample of schools down South. It was interesting because it challenged the traditional, (official), definition of teacher shortages, which concentrates on the number of unfilled vacancies and suggested that there were a number of other factors which needed to be taken into account. In fact they came up with eleven different such “indicators”.
For example, they asked how many more teachers were needed in order to avoid lessons being cancelled and how many people were employed as teachers but lacked the necessary, appropriate qualifications. Maybe the teachers have no teacher training at all, but it is also possible that they don’t have the relevant qualifications in the subjects they are teaching. Amongst the specific examples that were quoted were those of a Chemistry teacher asked to teach geography and a Music teacher asked to teach Physical Education.
To be honest, however, we have to accept that this happens everywhere.
For example, although I was trained as a teacher and specialized in Religious Education and Mathematics, I did receive some additional training in Art, English and Physical Education. When I got into the classroom however, I occasionally found myself taking lessons in History, Geography and even French … Fortunately, however, this was always on a short term basis of only a few weeks, to cover a specific emergency and was not in-built as an integral part of the system/timetable.
The one exception to this general point being, when I came to teach computing, I had no formal qualifications in the subject (… indeed, it was such a new subject that very few people did have qualifications bearing any relevance to Information Technology …), and even though I recognized that I needed some training and signed up for courses, to date I still have none.
The report also tried to draw attention to the number of retired teachers who were still working and the number who were working “overtime” – either in their own school or in a neighbouring school. Then they drew attention to the number of classes that had to be merged because additional teachers could not be found to provide sufficient cover.
Among the other issues that the report raised was the amount of absenteeism amongst teachers. We often think about pupils “bunking off” school, but what about the teachers who aren’t at their desks. That’s not to suggest that the absent teachers are malingering in any way – but it must raise questions about the quality of the education being received by the classes. Back in the UK, if a teacher was absent, then they would often set work appropriate to to the class and where they were in the syllabus and another teacher would supervise the class. Just occasionally, (for example in a case of serious shortage of staff due to illness or perhaps a result of industrial action in pursuit of an industrial dispute), a class might be sent home. Here, unfortunately, cancelling lessons and sending classes home, seems to be all too common an occurrence.
One of the reasons the report identified for the lack of qualified teachers was the level of teachers’ salaries. At that time, (three years ago), they identified that only those teachers who worked one and a half times the normal designated teaching load received a “living wage”, (i.e. were “able to live on a teacher’s salary”). Since then the government has, (in the face of threatened industrial action, it has to be admitted), has instituted a salary reform which is supposed to have brought substantial increases in salary … but, as is often the case, “it depends on who you talk to” … some teachers seems to have benefited from the reform, but there are those who say that they other changes have taken away or diminished the positive effects that they were promised.
A final point the report made was the need to reform the training of teachers.
As it happened, when the new school year started Maxim, Andrei and Sveta were all excited as they were going to start lessons in some new subjects: Information Technology was on the timetable as was English. These new subjects meant new teachers. I also tried to warn the children that IT and English weren’t necessarily good news … at least, not for them … because their teachers may well expect them to come to the lessons with more knowledge and skills than the rest of the class as a result of their connection to me.
What’s more, although these new subjects might well have appeared on the timetable, but there were still a few teething problems. It seems, for example, that finding teachers was to be a hurdle that had to be overcome. Over the “grapevine” we heard about young people applying for the jobs and then when they heard the conditions, (especially the salary levels), they found other more interesting prospects and withdrew their applications.
Of course, that is all grist to the rumour mill. I can well understand that they had “several feelers out”, applications in for a variety of possible jobs, and were able to pick and choose between the different offers that they received. I know, for example, that when I left college I submitted several applications at the same time and basically received two job offers and so had to turn one of them down.
Another reason this topic has been uppermost in my mind recently, is that I have watched once again a number of moving, “feel good”, films about teachers and teaching: Robert Donat’s wonderful performance in the 1939 film of James Hilton’s Goodbye Mr. Chips, the BBC adaptation of R.F. Deldferfield’s novel, To Serve Them All My Days and not forgetting the adaptation of Chinghiz Aitmatov’s Perviy Uchitel, (First Teacher).
They all focus on the effect of good teachers on their charges … and by implication the possible detrimental impact a less positive and empathetic character might yield.
The second verse of that protest song asked “Where have all the young girls gone? … take husbands … every one … when will they ever learn?”, and subsequent verses went on to ask “Where have all the young men gone? … Gone for soldiers … every one … when will they ever learn?, “Where have all the soldiers gone? … gone to graveyards … every one … when will the ever learn?” and “Where have all the graveyards gone? … covered with flowers … every one … when will the ever learn?”
Where have all the teachers gone? … taken early retirement? … taken better paid jobs in business? … whatever, there seems to be fewer and fewer people interested in making the investment in the future represented by those working at the chalkface … when will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Bishkek