The teaching profession is quite different than America. First of all, there is no or little pedagogy training in college. My understanding is that teachers get a degree in what they will teach. To be an English teacher, the only requirement is that you speak English. Since pedagogy isn’t taught, many teachers don’t understand best practices. And while there are seminars the teachers can attend once they are teachers, the seminars are taught by other teachers, who also didn’t receive pedagogy training.
Teaching is in this terrible cycle. The teachers aren’t taught how to teach, so they teach how teachers taught them when they were students. The students receive this teaching. The students become teachers and don’t receive pedagogy training. So they teach how their teachers taught them. And the cycle of using outdated teaching methods continues.
As a passionate teacher myself, it was very upsetting when I learned that often teachers here become teachers because it’s the only job available in their village or town. This explains why so many teachers lack the passion (and sometimes ability) to be good teachers. It also explains why many of them don’t spend extra time to prepare for lessons outside the school hours.
Furthermore, the job is highly underpaid. One of my partners mentioned how much she was paid per month, and it was the same amount I pay for my utilities here each month.
This isn’t to say there aren’t good teachers here. There are some who care and work hard to learn. But the majority is how I mentioned.
Teaching is in this terrible cycle. The teachers aren’t taught how to teach, so they teach how teachers taught them when they were students. The students receive this teaching. The students become teachers and don’t receive pedagogy training. So they teach how their teachers taught them. And the cycle of using outdated teaching methods continues.
As a passionate teacher myself, it was very upsetting when I learned that often teachers here become teachers because it’s the only job available in their village or town. This explains why so many teachers lack the passion (and sometimes ability) to be good teachers. It also explains why many of them don’t spend extra time to prepare for lessons outside the school hours.
Furthermore, the job is highly underpaid. One of my partners mentioned how much she was paid per month, and it was the same amount I pay for my utilities here each month.
This isn’t to say there aren’t good teachers here. There are some who care and work hard to learn. But the majority is how I mentioned.
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