Teaching is a profession, not a calling

It is borne, though, of this strange and mostly unique notion that teaching is more than a job, and that it is actually a lifestyle, a mission, a good work – this idea has become entrenched in the culture of today’s educators. We are told, constantly, from the first moment of our education degrees that we are not in it for the money. We are teachers because we want to change students’ lives. We are teachers because we want to make a difference. Although true for some people, such stereotypes, overall, are dangerous and demeaning.

Firstly, it relegates teachers and teaching to a non-professional status. By blurring the lines between work and passion, teachers are regarded not as professionals working within an academic setting, with specific targets and responsibilities. Instead, they are told vaguely that their job is to inspire, to reach out, and to mould inquisitive minds. Yet, when it comes to test results and achievement data, teachers are expected to be analysts as well as experts in their subjects, and suddenly being an inspiration doesn’t cut it.

Without a doubt, teachers should have excellent subject knowledge, and they should be intimately acquainted with results in order to help their students achieve.  But as long as the job is touted as a vocation rather than a serious academic role, those who enter the profession will not be adequately prepared to fulfil and exceed such expectations.

Secondly, by labelling teaching a ‘calling’, schools and education bodies are justified in perpetuating poor working conditions and entitlements for teachers. The message is clear – if you are dedicated enough, you’ll do this job regardless of the conditions! All professionals work extra hours, or eat at their desks, or deal with difficult customers.  The problem is that teachers, as a whole, are expected to work for love, rather than money, or promotion, or even respect.

The expectation is that a true educator will be sustained through the all-nighters and the playground fights simply by the elixir of student progress. 

Meanwhile, as teachers all over the country are busy falling on their swords in front of classrooms full of apathetic students, education standards are not being met. The Conversation’s piece ‘Six ways Australia’s education system is failing our kids’ paints a grim picture of standards across the country, and points to teacher quality as one of the fattest elephants in the classroom. How, though, can we market the profession to the highest quality graduates when teaching is, in fact, not even seen as a profession? I would argue that enticing good graduates is made more difficult due to the prevalence of the myth that teaching should be a conversion experience rather than a Regular Job. Teachers fulfil an incredibly important role – but it is to the detriment of the job and education as a whole to place them on a pedestal.