Teaching - The Honest Profession - Why I love being an Educator

Why did I become a Teacher?

Teaching is one of the most trusted professions in the world and being an educator is something I have always been interested in.

I have had many different occupations over my lifetime and these are just some of my worldly experiences:

• KFC cook – always up to my armpits in fat
• Cherry Picker – getting a gut ache from eating too many cherries
• Broccoli Cutter – bending over all day with a knife in your hand is a dangerous thing
• Turkish Baker – very early mornings meant early finishes and lots of free bread
• Cleaner – mopping and washing dishes
• Forklift Driver – crashing into stacks of pallets or leaving black burnout marks everywhere was fun and amusing in an otherwise monotonous job
• Scientific Officer – hiding in the scrub, counting little parrots all day long was cold, but, interesting work
• Mushroom Grower – hiding in the dark and smelling of chicken poo all day was the necessities of this job

These are some of the many jobs I have done across the years. They gave me real-world experiences that I could translate into the job I do today, and that is one of an educator.

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I completed a Bachelor of Science as a younger man, and stumbled my way through that degree. It was an interesting time and one I barely remember through haze of indulgence during my early university years.

After finishing my science degree, I knew my passion was for educating others, but I was too young and wanted to travel. So after moving around and working through a lot of different jobs I finally took the plunge and completed a Bachelor of Education majoring in Mathematics and Science.

I had now found my calling. This was an occupation that I was very passionate about. You know that feeling you get on a Sunday night when you know that the weekend is about to end and you have to go to work tomorrow? Well, teaching removed that feeling for me. I became enthused and excited about what each day would bring. It was the first time that I had ever felt this way about any of the jobs I had ever been employed in.

Teaching

Everyone has had some type of experience with schooling. Everyone has a story to tell about a teacher and can reminisce about something from their school days.

The experiences people have growing up, good or bad, and their experience of school always seems to come through whenever I mention to someone that I am a teacher.
‘Oh I remember those days’, ‘It must be a shit job with all those screaming little buggers’ and ‘you are so lucky getting all those holidays every year’.

I didn’t get into this occupation for the holidays and I definitely didn’t get into it for the money. My passion is educating the future of tomorrow. Now that might sound cliché, but it is the reason why I teach. If you ever lose sight of that reason, then it's time to leave the game and find another job.

Everyday presents a different scenario and brings different challenges, but at the end of the day, nothing beats seeing a child overcome some barrier or obstacle they encountered during the day. Whether that be learning a new word, working out a math problem they were stuck on or just lending an ear to someone who is having a tough time at home.

Students of today seem to suffer from greater mental health issues and persistence and resilience is not what it used to be. More and more parents are of the ‘helicopter type’ and tend to want to hover around their kids and not let them stand on their own two feet. Once kids were held accountable for their actions and their results, now it feels that more and more parents are questioning schools and teachers as to why their children are in trouble or not performing to their own lofty expectations.

Nowadays I am in an administration role within a school and it has given me another insight into education. From my current position I am able to influence the direction of the school and outcomes for all students. This position in a school also comes with its own challenges. Unfortunately, as an administrator, you are often the disciplinarian as well. You need to have difficult conversations with teachers, students and parents. Unfortunately, suspensions of students from school are on the rise and the family issues that I need to deal with on a day to day basis are increasingly complex.

The nature of education today is much different to when I went to school. Students now face a myriad of issues that weren't a problem in years gone by. The internet has made communication and access to material instant and at our fingertips. Although this has made major improvements for education, it has also complicated many social aspects of schooling that were much less complex previously. Online bullying, access to pornographic material and an online social status were complications that I did not have to face growing up.

Future of Education

Where do I see education heading? Technology is beginning to have a massive impact on the daily education of students. Education systems always seem to be 10 years behind the commercial world when it comes to uptake of technologies. Teachers are sometimes very reluctant to change a try new things, even though the profession of education relies on change and adaptation for learning.

Teaching is an interesting job and one that I genuinely love. I revel in the opportunity to talk to kids every day and see them smile and learn new things. I couldn't count how many 'high-fives' I would dish out every day to kids, just because I can and the look on their faces when they get that recognition cannot be beaten. Although being a teacher in the world today is much more complex than it was and doesn't receive the recognition it deserves, I found my calling and couldn't see myself doing anything else.

Have you found your 'calling'? Thanks for reading.

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Thanks to @bearone and @ryivhnn for the footers