Образ человека будущего, Том 7
Шрифт:
Calling is responding. A called person is responsible for the profession and for the others who involved in it, teacher is responsible for pupils. Let us get again to our students" opinions. Daria: "If I become a good teacher, it means that I will realize my calling and I will have a responsibility for my profession and for the children." Faina said: "We do not need even to say "calling" when we mean responsibility, ability to do something really good and to overcome difficulties. That is just a human life." Is it enough to be just a responsible professional without a calling for teaching? Not at all! Our interviewees would not agree that calling is no use at schools.
Do we have to demand any evidences of calling from teachers? Formally, we do not need such a requirement. Fortunately, there is a kind of natural selection at schools: not so many teachers can stand the difficulties of the profession without a calling. Those who see that they are not happy with that job usually quit teaching after the first years of practice. It is a common response from teachers we interviewed: teaching without a calling cannot be an attracting
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The Experience of Calling: Educational Aspects and Cross-Cultural Comparisons by Yevhen Muliarchuk
profession. One of our students, Tanya, says expressively: "Work with children is a nightmare without a calling." For those lazy and passive people who would have stayed in teaching job the assessment procedures would be a peril. Actually, they never have good results at their work. Teaching, when it is really successful, is not only a profession. It involves all the person-ality of an educator. Just having skills is not enough. "One can get all the certificates, pass all the exams, but his or her lessons are unbearable", student Andrew says from his school expe-rience. Why? Because there has to be something more than formal responsibilities in teaching, something personal and even transcendental what we try to catch in the word "calling".
Calling cannot be measured and certified. It is even unethical to require proofs of calling from candidate for a job, because calling is free and because the person who enters the profes-sion should have a credit of time and chance to try it. To add more, at the low level of salaries at schools we mostly have teachers by calling, because they survive the difficulties. We would say nothing about the minority of those who do not do their work honestly. However, when we try on calling every beginning teacher we will never have a sufficient amount of teachers at schools.
Actually, it is not so hard to see who is called to teach. The first indicator is pupil"s be-havior. If they feel respect for themselves and respect a teacher, if they have an interest for learning, if they are responsive that is an evidence of teacher"s disposition to the educational subject and teaching as well. Such a teachers are those whom everyone remembers and whom everyone grateful from schooldays. They are examples to follow in every school. Called per-son brings more than required to his or her work, does more than it is paid for, because needs it not for money first of all. In teaching it means do not stick at formal programs and plans, but create, give own sole to it. The passion and joy of teacher"s work is evident. It fulfills and it is catching. It passes to others and brings happiness.
Teachers" experience
We would like to add some findings from 5 interviews with teachers. Actually, they were 4 teachers and 1 school psychologist. The main things we had understood with students did not change after the interviews with teachers. We just tried to catch the wisdom of experienced people and add it to the whole picture.
Iryna, a teacher of elementary school, is 25 years in profession. Her sense of profession: "I am working, because it is mine. I get used to it, I like it and I just cannot be without it." The difficulties of the profession do not overweight a satisfaction that Iryna gets from teaching. Those flashes of inspiration, desire to give something special to pupils, to teach them thinking, to evoke their creativity supports the teacher in her work. The work holds her. Her thoughts are busy after working hours. She thinks about her work, her pupils. Still, it fulfills her, gives her wings.
The phenomenon of calling for Iryna is both internal and external: "That is not just our own device. We feel a push for it from outside." Mainly calling is a matter of self-actualization. For the person it brings happiness up to the end of the life, but loftily speaking it is also a mission. Her calling is for people, not the deeds, but people call. The teacher sees the faces of children in her mind and they inspire her to stay in profession, to respond them with her devotion.
Yevhen, 13 years in teaching of English, is looking at calling as a way of honest life. Chil-dren will not allow one to lie. Knowledge that teacher gives is not just a bunch of facts on a subject, but it is a way to know the world and oneself. Moreover, it is a kind of attitude to life: be conscious, know thyself, be responsible, and bring benefit to the world. That starts from school.
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The Experience of Calling: Educational Aspects and Cross-Cultural Comparisons by Yevhen Muliarchuk
"Teacher"s calling is to bring young people to their callings", that is how we understand
Yevhen. That is the core of the teacher"s mission in the world. If one is called to teach, he or she leads young generation by the way of knowledge and prompts them to be mature, respon-sible and beneficial citizens. That is a way to make young people happy in their lives.
Therefore, to be a teacher is a different thing than just to have a teacher"s job. Teaching is a way of living when internal work never stops.
Svitlana has been a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature for 30 years. Teaching is a task not only to help young people find their own ways, but also to show those ways in purpose, to give the direction in the society, even to make them patriots of their land and cul-ture. Black weekdays are shined for the teacher by the asterisks of children"s success, because everyone has own talent.
"For Ukrainians calling is what they feel by heart and then recognize in mind", says Svit-lana. Teacher is called to bring goodness and knowledge into the world. Teacher"s calling is permanent development in order to develop others. "Teacher is a perpetual pupil."