Profession - Teacher

Advantages of the teaching profession

• Meaningful work. Cultivating young minds is a rewarding endeavor in itself. And the intellectual connection between the student and the teacher brings feelings of satisfaction and self-worth. It is especially pleasant to see the fruits of your labor when the student clearly understands the material and develops as a person right before your eyes.
• Great influence. The teaching profession is extremely important. It is often the influence of the favorite teacher that causes people to choose their profession. The teacher not only explains the material but also builds character and inspires the child. Therefore, it largely depends on the teaching staff whether a person grows up self-confident and open or damaged and unsociable.
• Respect and recognition of students. The teacher spends 180 days with students during the school year and becomes one of the main authorities in the life of students. Many adults fondly remember their favorite teachers and often keep in touch with them after many years. Seeing respect, love, and trust in the eyes of children are the greatest rewards for hard work.
• Earning opportunities. Knowledge is expensive. Therefore, teachers in private schools and lyceums have high salaries. In their free time, teachers can earn extra money by tutoring.
• Multitasking. The saturation of working days largely depends on the teacher, since working with children means going to theaters and museums, field trips, organizing school events and concerts. Teachers also hold parent-teacher meetings, attend conferences and seminars to improve their skills and share experience. During school competitions, teachers accompany their students on trips to other cities, while for coaches or choreographers, business trips to competitions are an integral part of life. Such a variety of activities helps the teacher to fully unleash their creativity and organizational talents.

Disadvantages of the teaching profession

• Long hours. As a rule, after a hard day, the teacher does not rest. After school, work continues from home. Checking homework, planning curriculum, and other administrative duties take up most of their free time. In some countries, the study week is 6 days long, which leaves only Sunday to have some rest.
• Additional responsibilities. Often, in addition to teaching, teachers are engaged in other informal duties. For example, a teacher needs to be able to find an approach to “difficult” children, acting as psychologists for such students, and sometimes for their parents. In public schools (and not only there), teachers have a lot of paperwork. And during the pandemic, teachers were forced to adapt to the constantly changing distance learning programs.
• Compliance. Despite the rather creative nature of the profession, teachers are often required to follow strict orders. They have to meet shifting standards, rewrite curricula, and compile reports. They often spend more time on paperwork than on teaching. Moreover, schools compete in various metrics, for example, the final test scores. This forces teachers to focus not on the knowledge itself, but on exam results when preparing their students.
• Mandatory certification. It is common for teachers from abroad to take mandatory license exams at the beginning of their careers in a new country.
• Modest salary. In public institutions, salaries can leave much to be desired. For example, the average salary of a teacher in Russia is a mere 300 USD per month. In the US the salaries are much higher, but teachers there say that they still have to work overtime to make ends meet.
• Emotional stress. Being a teacher is difficult. They always have to deal with naughty and disrespectful children. At the same time, a teacher needs to behave tactfully, not to have a nervous breakdown. Argumentative parents are not uncommon and the ability to steer the conversation and avoid conflict becomes paramount. Stress and psychological tension often accompany the teacher throughout the career.

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What qualities does a teacher need?

A teacher is an important person in a child’s life. The teacher’s responsibility is to raise a confident and psychologically healthy adult. To do that successfully, the teacher must sincerely love children and have such traits as honesty, politeness, empathy, etc.

Patience and self-control are critical for a teacher, because often they have to deal with unfocused children and explain the material several times. At such moments, creativity can be a saving grace — a creative approach makes it easier for children to understand complex topics and evokes interest in learning. Everyone can simply read lecture material outloud, but only a good teacher can find a unique approach to each child.

The teacher is a leader and role model. To maintain order in the classroom, they must have developed organizational skills and leadership potential. It is also advisable to lead by example and demonstrate the qualities that you want children to adopt — for example, responsibility and discipline. Finally, it is important to build trusting relationships with your students, but at the same time remain an authority, since having a too gentle personality often results in children taking advantage of you.

Where do teachers work?

Teachers work in public or private kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, and higher education institutions. If you work in the creative field, then you can get a job in choreography schools, art studios, or music schools.

Many teachers work during the school year, usually Monday through Friday. In their free time, teachers check homework, prepare lesson plans. As a rule, teachers take vacations in the summer. School systems also include quarter breaks. In the summer, teachers can take vocational courses.

Some teachers prefer to work from home — online or offline. In the first case, they get a job in online schools, in the second, they work as tutors. Such teachers can teach subjects in general, prepare students for exams, or simply improve their knowledge to catch up to or get ahead of the school program. Online courses (MOOCs) are quickly gaining popularity. If you wish, you can create your own and sell them on online platforms — expertise from a professional is always appreciated.

Also, teachers can find work in corporate training, teaching company employees certain skills or transferring knowledge to them. The teaching possibilities are endless as long as people strive for education.

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