I think teachers are superb, devoted and kind: but the simple truth is that the world of work has changed

TEACHERS change lives. How many times have we heard people say that if it hadn’t been for such-andsuch a teacher they wouldn’t be the person they are today? That a particular teacher saw the potential in them when nobody else did. That that teacher encouraged them, gave them one-to-one attention, treated them with respect, identified what really made them tick, and set them on a path that enriched their lives.

I had such a teacher in Miss McLernon. She taught me English from when I started secondary school at the age of 11, right up to my O levels when I was 16. She may have been tasked with teaching the English curriculum, but she taught me so much more than that.

Recommending books that were probably a bit of a stretch for me at times, she introduced me to writers far beyond those assigned for the classroom. Her definition of ‘English’ also went beyond the norm.

Memory

And so she encouraged debate on all manner of topics, taught us how to produce our own magazines, introduced drama into the equation and got us to put together programmes that married words and music (like a forerunner to RTÉ’s long-running Sunday Miscellany). She was brilliant at her job and the memory of her has stayed with me all my life.

She’s not an isolated case, of course. There are many wonderful teachers. My own sister undoubtedly changed lives. As a headteacher in England for decades, in some of the toughest schools in the Leeds/Bradford area, she transformed the futures of so many children. Then, appointed as an educational troubleshooter, she was parachuted into schools that had been placed in ‘special measures’ and were therefore in danger of closure because standards were so low. She worked at the coalface, tirelessly and selflessly, leaving home at just after 6am every day and not returning until well into the evening. And she saved them all from oblivion. Every single school that she took on. Little wonder, then, that she was awarded an OBE for her services to the British education system.

So, yes, I have the greatest of respect for teachers. But with the current debate within their ranks over the salary differential, and in the wake of their decision to threaten strike action, I feel they need to look at what’s happening outside of their profession.

A great many teachers view their job as a ‘calling’. It’s a vocation, they say, not just a job. And that is undoubtedly true for many of them. And aren’t they lucky that that is the case and they are getting paid to do something that they love? That’s not the situation for a great many people who go out to work every morning in this country. For them it’s a chore, a way to clothe and feed their children, a means to an end, but nothing more.

Yes, teachers study hard to qualify and with the old H Dip now a two-year Masters degree course costing €6,000 a year, it’s a substantial commitment for anyone who wants to stand in a classroom.

But, apart from doing a job they love, there are other advantages to choosing teaching as a career. Advantages that many other workers can only dream of.

For starters there are no unsocial working hours. And no, I’m not saying that teachers only work from 9am to 3pm during actual school hours. I have known enough teachers in my time to know that many of them put in far, far more hours than that in terms of preparation, correcting, and the like. And many others offer their services for extra curricular activities.

Holidays

But none of them are asked to turn up for a late shift, for example, or be on 24-hour call. That’s not the way the job works. And, in the world we live in, where people are asked to work all kinds of hours, that is undoubtedly a plus.

And while not wanting to bang on about the annual holiday quota, well, it’s difficult to dismiss it. When my sister was still teaching in England, she finished for the summer during the last week of July and started again in the first week of September. Here, those who teach at secondary level find themselves with June, July and August to themselves. I have known teachers who took an additional job for the summer every year.

The current pay differential which has dominated the teachers’ conferences this Easter is obviously a serious bone of contention. That those who entered the profession after January 1, 2011, are paid less than those who qualified before that does seem, on the surface, to be unfair. There was a recession, however, and the money simply wasn’t there to pay the same rates. That’s something that wasn’t exclusive to the teaching profession; it affected all kinds of workers throughout the country.

The problem with the teachers was that only new staff suffered. Wouldn’t it have been more equitable if all teachers, across the board, had taken a small cut? That’s what happened in RTÉ, for example. But let’s also be realistic here – in a great many industries these days new entrants aren’t paid anything like what the rate was in the past. That’s the economic truth of the world we live in.

Struggling

While many young teachers are currently struggling because they do not have full-time teaching jobs and the number of ‘hours’ they have in the week don’t add up to any kind of adequate earnings, there are also thousands of teachers in full-time positions who have a level of security that few other jobs deliver. It is, essentially, a job for life.

It’s even a job that is still recognised as yours if you opt to leave it for a few years. And while a career-break is often a positive experience, surely it should only be permitted for those who are using that time to upskill so that they can bring more to the classroom on their return.

That young teachers with very little teaching time under their belt can up sticks and head for Dubai or some other tax-friendly destination where they can make a killing financially should not be part of the deal. Of course they should go to Dubai or wherever they wish if that is what they consider the right move – but there shouldn’t be a job waiting for them to slot back into when they return. By and large, that’s not how the 21st century employment market operates.

Long may it continue for teachers to regard what they do as a vocation rather than just a job. Our children and our children’s children can only benefit from that.

But at the end of the day teaching actually is a job and, when you look at the bigger employment picture, those who choose that career undoubtedly enjoy a privileged position. That, and the joy of teaching, are things they should never lose sight of.