Monday, May 7, 2018

Teaching is Dangerous?

TEACHING: A DANGEROUS PROFESSION?
RUSSIAN SURVEY SEEMS TO SAY SO!
By Stephen Wilson


Russian teachers like here consider their job dangerous, thankless and grossly underpaid.
 
MOSCOW  -- Is taking up teaching in Russia a high risk option? Is it on par with other professions deemed dangerous such as firemen, ambulance drivers or
policemen? The answer is 'yes' if we accept at face value the findings of
a recent survey of teachers by sociologists at the Higher School of
Economic in Moscow and their colleagues . The on-line survey, which
interviewed 2800 teachers from 72 regions of Russia, found that 70% of
teachers admitted that they were the victims of bullying on a daily basis.
A staggering number of teachers,15 %, claim they have been physically
assaulted some time in their careers, 30% reported receiving anonymous
insults, which sometimes include threats via letters posted to social net
sites.

According to Darya Saprikina, "Amongst the most widespread answers
we received from respondents , were that students teased, provoked,
ignored them, violated discipline, refused to carry out the demands of
teachers and harshly judged their personal lives." Darya also found that
as many as 17% of teachers can't afford clothes and shoes, and some
lack money even for food!

Despite a so-called rise in pay, respect for teachers has not increased
but continues to fall encouraging some observers to speak of 'A Crisis
of Authority'. Why might the respect for teachers have fallen ? In a
society where the main emphasis is on highly materialistic values where
people often judge you by how much income you derive , what clothes
you wear and what kind of car you drive, then you can see how some
children who inherit social prejudices might tease a teacher for wearing
worn-out clothes or shoes. A mother told Darya that it was unpleasant
for her daughter to see a teacher drinking tea alone in a particular
blouse.

A survey carried out in October 2017 by the All Russian Study of
Social Attitudes found that 42% of Russians thought that teachers
had less respect than in Soviet times.

The dilemma is that teachers feel they have nobody to share their
problems. If they inform the head of the school about their predicament
then they will be accused of not doing their job well! If they complain to
the parents , they might encounter further threats from the parents who
go into 'a denial mode ' saying : "My Dima would never behave like
that". Teachers feel extremely vulnerable because they have little
job protection and can be fired for petty reasons.

The Russian trade union Teacher stated that the administration of
schools can use aggressive parents as a weapon to contain and
control teachers who are fighting for improved pay and better conditions.

According to Vsevolod Lukhovitsky, the chairman of Teacher, "Now
any complaint from parents gets attention very quickly . It would be very
good if those complaints were examined by an independent commission
consisting of teachers' representatives and parents. But parents don't
trust teachers and the system of education, and the administration uses
those complaints as a hook to catch teachers. Very often a situation arises
when the head calls a teacher who refused to give a student the mark
five or is simply too actively observing his rights, and tells the teacher that
he has a thick folder of complaints from the parents of teachers, where they
write you are not good and if you don't behave well, I can use this. Now it
has become very popular to fire teachers for 'amoral behavior'. There is
nothing concrete about this term 'amoral act'. It can include anything a
head wants, such as when a teacher uses a careless expression in class,
or when a teacher raises his voice, or a note or photo on a social site."

For example, there have been cases where a teacher was fired because
she displayed a photo of herself, in a bikini, on the beach or for writing a
poem expressing particular political views at odds with some zealous parents
or head.

It is small wonder that more than 70% of graduates of teacher training
institutes and universities in Russia don't even begin their teaching career
never mind finish after a few years. The findings of such a survey won't
exactly inspire them.

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