As the number of job fields is rapidly increasing in the world, there will be a change in people’s preferences about their occupation. This can be seen during the Industrial Revolution, where most people started to work in industries. Currently, with the IT boom and the rise of AI, everyone wants to work in software-related fields or as an engineer. This trend and the social status of other jobs over a secondary school teacher are the reasons why there is a decline in the interest in becoming a teacher in society.
To begin with, the income of teachers is low in most countries, which is one of the major factors why people opt out of being a teacher. In other words, being a teacher won’t provide enough salary compared to other jobs, requiring one to adjust their lifestyle. Another reason is the lack of career growth in this field, as no new technologies are incorporated into the syllabus of secondary schools in most countries. This can make the job quite boring unless someone has a real passion for teaching. The difficulty factor is also there; a teacher needs to be skilled enough to handle the entire class and be patient enough to teach a whole class of students with varying intellectual levels.
Most of the above-mentioned cons can be reduced. The younger generation should be shown the benefits of being a teacher rather than promoting only mainstream careers like engineering and medicine. Newer technologies should be implemented to aid teachers. More clearly, teaching styles should change to match the modern era, where technology is continuously developing. For example, the use of smart class boards should be made mandatory in all schools, which will help instructors teach their students faster and more effectively. Governments should increase the base remuneration of the profession and provide additional perks. With such changes, a change in the mindset of society regarding the teaching profession can be achieved.
This is a growing concern, as we need good teachers to guide a country’s future generation in the right direction. So we need to respect teachers with the same respect we show to other professions.