“You want eight hours a day at school. Leave us, at least, to choose what we think in our free time.” Answer for the Minister of Education, whose statements “disappoint”

“The ministry is keeping an eye on your minds!”, Writes Andrei Avram, a history teacher, in an opinion text, which Hotnews publishes. He comments on the recent statements made by the Minister of Education, Daniel David. “If you are paid for 8 hours, stay 8 hours in school, not just the hours you have to teach,” said the minister, who then tried to nuance his statement.

Many teachers have confidently looked at the current Minister of Education and Research. However, the latest statements disappoint and do nothing but contribute to diminishing the confidence that was initially granted.

The minister constantly reminds the fact that teachers should spend eight hours a day in schools. This would help increase the quality of the educational act and solve many problems.

“Resumption of old stereotypes”

Claiming that if they want to be paid better, the teachers will have to work longer, it is transmitted, in fact, that at the moment the teachers are paid well, in relation to the work they do.

All this is nothing more than the resumption of old stereotypes regarding this job. We meet them in the speeches directed against the teachers: they would work too little, the holidays would be too long, in the educational system they would only enter, those who are unable to perform in other fields.

All these are transmitted from the highest level, even if they dress the pole of “scientific discourse” and action in the “best interest” of the educational system.

The lack of infrastructure of schools is ignored. The training in schools, the study of teachers in the libraries of the educational units is discussed. I tend to believe that it is another educational system, not the one I know: overcrowded, in which sometimes they are wearing struggles for the chairs in the chancellery, with schools for which the real challenge will be that the students do not learn in three exchanges, in which the consultations with the parents take place on the halls of the units, with the same reason, with the same reason, for the same reason, with the same reason, actuality, not the specialized ones, which could contribute to the formation of teachers.

“What does the teachers' mind mean to be dedicated to the school?”

Where should teachers spend eight hours a day in schools? On their halls?

How much should an eight -hour beginner teacher in the school? For less than 4000 lei per month?

Subsequently, the message transmitted was nuanced. Recognizing that in some schools there are no adequate conditions for his requests, the Minister of Education and Research would like “the mind of the teachers to be dedicated to school and children. EVEN for eight hours for which we are paid daily ”(subl.m.).

So, dear teachers, be careful what and how you think at least in the eight hours you should spend in schools. The ministry is keeping an eye on your minds!

Many we tie the personality of the minister to the image of a scientist. However, what does the teachers' minds mean to be dedicated to school? How can this aspect be monitored? How can this contribute to increasing educational quality? Follow a statement on their own responsibility by which teachers assume the fact that they think in a certain paradigm?

“The decision makers did not understand anything about the latest events.”

What would psychological science say about such an approach? The historical perspective makes me remind me of the approach of a “father” than that of the professional in search of viable scenarios.

Another variant conveyed in the public space is that of increasing the norm of teaching teachers. Do not fulfill your promises that have ended the teacher's strike, but to consider increasing the teaching norm, this proves, again, that the declaration of the need for the state of teachers is a simple politician and that the decision makers have not understood anything from the last events.

What issues remain for teachers, however

Teachers' salaries are still very low. The young teachers would not have to take into account the establishment of a family with such an income.

Along with the eight hours a day spent in schools, the increase of the didactic norm would be a direct attack on the possible reform of the educational system. This cannot be done without well -prepared graduates to choose the teaching career.

Instead of attracting valuable human resource, the cloth is preferred and the loading with teaching hours already saturated by the work volume. This would not be a reform, but a counter -reform, a measure in consonance with the lack of respect for the teachers of the last decades.

The need to improve the teacher's state is recognized, but it seems that no one really wants this aspect. The status of the teacher is still widowed by prestige. This job has been regarded too long with disregard for the company reporting to change too soon. Between condescension of the type of “poor teachers” and the aggressiveness of the type “are paid too much for the work that (not) I do” is not such a big difference.

Such messages give me seriously. I start more and more to doubt that my place is in such a system, that I want to practice a job so often attacked and despised.

I am tired of working on the debt, to always hope that, in the end, the commitments made will be respected and that I will be paid directly in proportion to the effort made.

I understand, you want to teach more, you want eight hours a day at school. Leave us, at least, to choose what we think in our spare time.

This article was initially published on contributors.ro.