First Class Teachers

Whether we experience the joy of learning or trauma at school depends to a large extent on teachers. First class education demands first class teachers. But who will become a teacher?

In my last year at high school, when each of us thought about what to study afterwards, one teacher shared his own experience. To become a teacher, according to him, was not a bad idea – because of the long holidays. But we should not be so stupid as he had been, he said, choosing two subjects which both required to mark piles of written examinations.

Nowadays, the frequent holidays don’t do the trick any more to attract promising students into the profession. Fewer students want to become teachers, many of them deterred by the increased administrative burden. Another reason for the declining interest, beside meagre salaries, is the relatively low status.

A couple of decades ago, teachers belonged to the intellectual avant-garde in most societies. This is no longer the case. It would be interesting to trace the reasons that caused this decline in status. Reasons that may have played a role could be the general level of education, which – somewhat paradoxically – deminished the relative position of teachers and increased access to the Internet. Information becomes easily accessible – and is often mistaken for knowledge.

In some societies, not only in Asia, teachers still enjoy a high status – as in Finland. To become a teacher in Finland, you have to go through a strict selection process. Only one out of ten applications is honoured.  A very important criterium for selection is the strong motivation of applicants. Once employed, teachers have great freedom in their didactic approach. The number of teaching hours is less than in most other countries.

As a result, it is not the motivation to enjoy long holidays that attracts young teachers, but the motivation to support children effectively in their long and often difficult journey into adulthood. It is one of the reasons why Finland occupies the top rank in international comparisons of the quality of education.