I appreciate your putting this into words. It demonstrates how everyone has skin in the game so to speak. I will recommend this to my friends and colleagues, especially the younger ones.
I’m a teacher and I work with one colleague who I consider quite unprofessional and it’s been quite a frustrating year working with them.
I’ve also been a car salesman, bar manager, events organiser, window cleaner, football coach, HR service telesales person, bookseller and wine seller and I’ve experienced unprofessionalism in every industry so I’m not quite sure (personal experience?) why teachers are getting the bash here.
Unlike those other industries, teachers are legally required to have a certain level of qualification so, by the definition of professional you give, they meet that definition better than most.
However, although requiring the level of qualification needed for other professions you mention, they aren’t paid as much and, on average, work more additional hours than all of them.
Like I say, there are individuals but, on the whole, I’ve found teachers - especially in this day in age - to be more professional (on average) than people in other areas I’ve worked in and paid less for each hour they work than professionals of a similar qualification level.
For what it’s worth, I’m a teacher (as I said) and therefore my angle is heavily biased. Where I do challenge your claims is the lack of any robust statistics or research to back them up. Am I right in thinking this is down to personal experience? If so, tarnishing all teachers with the brush that painted one or two doesn’t seem entirely fair.
Interested to see what others think - are teachers lacking in professionalism in general?
Thanks for commenting! The question was about teachers specifically, so that's why they are the topic of discussion here (and also the column is overall about teachers and parents). I agree, overall teachers are highly professional. That doesn't mean there aren't opportunities for improvement, and to find out what those were, I turned to parents as well as my experience as a teacher.
Thanks for responding Jody. I think this response gives teachers a fairer reflection - overall highly professional and room for improvement. I maintain that the article doesn’t take this angle though, and really doesn’t do teachers a helpful lesson on searching for these improvements. Some of the points are so niche that they must only apply to a select handful.
Were these points aimed at me, I’d find it hard not to feel quite wounded by what you’ve put and I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a teacher willing to read this, reflect that it’s true AND change their tack to meet the standards you ask for.
I appreciate your putting this into words. It demonstrates how everyone has skin in the game so to speak. I will recommend this to my friends and colleagues, especially the younger ones.
Thank you so much!
Interesting perspective! The teacher responsibilities are spot-on, especially communication and boundaries. I also like the doctor analogy.
Thank you! :)
I’m a teacher and I work with one colleague who I consider quite unprofessional and it’s been quite a frustrating year working with them.
I’ve also been a car salesman, bar manager, events organiser, window cleaner, football coach, HR service telesales person, bookseller and wine seller and I’ve experienced unprofessionalism in every industry so I’m not quite sure (personal experience?) why teachers are getting the bash here.
Unlike those other industries, teachers are legally required to have a certain level of qualification so, by the definition of professional you give, they meet that definition better than most.
However, although requiring the level of qualification needed for other professions you mention, they aren’t paid as much and, on average, work more additional hours than all of them.
Like I say, there are individuals but, on the whole, I’ve found teachers - especially in this day in age - to be more professional (on average) than people in other areas I’ve worked in and paid less for each hour they work than professionals of a similar qualification level.
For what it’s worth, I’m a teacher (as I said) and therefore my angle is heavily biased. Where I do challenge your claims is the lack of any robust statistics or research to back them up. Am I right in thinking this is down to personal experience? If so, tarnishing all teachers with the brush that painted one or two doesn’t seem entirely fair.
Interested to see what others think - are teachers lacking in professionalism in general?
Hi, Jack,
Thanks for commenting! The question was about teachers specifically, so that's why they are the topic of discussion here (and also the column is overall about teachers and parents). I agree, overall teachers are highly professional. That doesn't mean there aren't opportunities for improvement, and to find out what those were, I turned to parents as well as my experience as a teacher.
Thanks for responding Jody. I think this response gives teachers a fairer reflection - overall highly professional and room for improvement. I maintain that the article doesn’t take this angle though, and really doesn’t do teachers a helpful lesson on searching for these improvements. Some of the points are so niche that they must only apply to a select handful.
Were these points aimed at me, I’d find it hard not to feel quite wounded by what you’ve put and I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a teacher willing to read this, reflect that it’s true AND change their tack to meet the standards you ask for.