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.