Nation needs dedicated teachers

Nation needs dedicated teachers

By Bantarto Bandoro

JAKARTA (JP): An article titled Why do people choose teaching?
by Otong Setiawan Djuhari (The Jakarta Post Nov. 25, 1999) was a
reflection on why people need to go out to classrooms and share
their knowledge and thoughts with students.

It is more than just a factor of enjoying being with young
people. In fact, there are also adult students, and the enjoyment
of watching them grow into figures of authority who attain
respect.

It is about the relationship between people, hopes and dreams,
and about the future that they (the students and the teachers)
can envision through classroom interactions.

But when they are asked why they enter the teaching
profession, the answers are always mixed. Perhaps, for one the
answers are not that important. Once individuals have decided to
become a teacher, the requirements to prepare, enter, and remain
in the profession are determined not by the school administrator
or principal -- who are not required to know anything about what
they do -- but by themselves.

The decision to become a teacher is a decision to face a
myriad of challenges. While many teachers find the profession
challenging and rewarding enough to make up for low salaries and
frustration, many leave the classroom for better pay, and perhaps
better working conditions.

Some teachers will say that classroom teaching conditions are
a lot like conditions faced by blue collar workers. Teachers
rarely have their own offices and lack the services that other
professionals have access to, such as a secretary, telephones,
typewriters or fax machines. The teacher's work day is highly
structured, with little time for intellectual interaction with
colleagues. What they discover after their classes is not only
exhaustion, but also another tight teaching schedule ahead.

Whatever one's motives are for entering the teaching
profession, one will feel that one is part of the system which
will shape education. What teachers know and are able to do is of
critical importance to the nation, as is the task of preparing
and supporting the life-long career development of teachers'
knowledge and skills.

In one's mind, teaching is the essential profession, the one
that makes all other professions possible. Teachers help lay the
foundation for good citizenship and full participation in the
community.

It is therefore important that there should be a high standard
of teacher training institutes so that we will have better
educated and more knowledgeable teachers.

Students have every right to be taught by qualified, skillful
and competent teachers. Therefore, the government and the
teacher's association should also work collaboratively on various
fronts to improve the quality of the nation's teaching force. It
is everyone's hope that they eventually will pace teaching on a
similar footing with other professions, such as law, medicine or
architecture.

Entering the classroom is not only confined to the teaching
business, to providing better education for the students or for
seeking the enjoyment of young people. It is about a realization
of one's vision on how teachers should help shape not only the
future of the students by learning their strengths and weaknesses
and opportunities, but also the future of the nation.

For teachers, be they in developed or developing countries,
and whether they are teaching poor or wealthy communities,
education is the key to a prosperous society and a means to
maximize the contribution of all citizens.

To achieve this, we must set high standards for all students
and seek to develop their potential through high expectations,
organized efforts, a caring attitude, commitment and the
availability of talented teachers.

It is hoped that through collaborative and tireless efforts by
teachers, schools and parents will yield students with solid
basic skills, critical thinking abilities, total dedication and a
commitment to improve the quality of the society and increase
awareness on the importance of learning.

That is to say that as part of the teaching force, teachers
can take a leadership role in navigating the rapidly changing
societal and economic conditions, and transform such changes into
ones that will stimulate individuals to new learning heights.

One may debate whether teaching is an occupation or a
profession. Teaching as an occupation is a situation when
teachers have only limited freedom behind the closed doors of
their classrooms. Important decisions are made not by teachers,
but by administrators and policy makers of the school.

They are the ones who determine the content of the curriculum
and how it should be taught; they select textbooks and materials
and decide what test materials would be administered.

Teachers function as some sort of dispenser of facts. This
traditional method, however, has been abandoned as the need for
independent teaching and mastery in teaching methods, techniques
and knowledge have become more demanding for teachers.

However, even if one adhered to such traditional methods, it
would not hinder teachers from becoming more innovative and
creative because teachers now have more access to sources of
knowledge.

One however should not be trapped in an endless debate on
whether teaching is an occupation or a profession. Once one
enters the world of teaching, one is committed to several
things. First, to make learning activities lively for the
students and to win over the hearts of the students.

Teachers cannot just tell them how important the school is for
their future, but must go beyond such matters. Teachers should
try to convince the students and sell their ideas and knowledge
in the classroom with enthusiasm; they should endeavor to make
the subject they are teaching relevant for the students' future.

Second, teachers must make schools a safe haven for learning,
which helps students to achieve high standards and acquire
problem-solving skills. In addition they should instill in their
students the core values of responsibility, hard work and respect
-- all of which are necessary to lead productive and fulfilling
lives.

Third, teachers much build a body of professional knowledge
and disseminate it through the professional community and
encourage collegiality, continuous improvement and collaborations
among educators.

Fourth, to make students learning partners and to ask for
feedback, because once teachers are in the classroom, they are
already forming a team. Fifth, to ensure that there is a
talented, dedicated and well-prepared teacher in every classroom.

And sixth, while the attention of policy makers to the
teaching profession is welcome and needed, if teaching is to be a
true profession, teachers must also play a central role to turn
it into reality by maintaining basic requirements of
professionals, namely respect, responsibility and autonomy.

It is true that it takes years to learn how to teach well and
teaching is not like driving a car or adding a column of figures
(Djuhari, the Post, Nov. 25, 1999).

Mastery of teaching techniques and knowledge should not make
teachers satisfied. Continuous efforts must be taken to improve
the teaching quality, knowledge and style. We must be aware that
schools will not produce better educated students without highly
skilled and knowledgeable teachers who are treated as
professionals.

Efforts to ensure professionalism and quality throughout the
teaching profession is too dynamic and is happening in too many
places to allow a comprehensive evaluation. Efforts will
definitely change from time to time, but what will definitely not
change is the need for excellent and dedicated teachers.

The writer is a staff member at the Center of Strategic and
International Studies, Jakarta, and is a lecturer in the
Postgraduate Studies Program at the University of Indonesia.