It’s time to pass the torch
Fewer young people see teaching as a viable career yet a shortage of 69 million teachers is reported by Unesco.
Passing the torch is a phrase thrown around quite often. Most of the time, especially when used by the youth, it is misconstrued as a diatribe against the older generation and sometimes branded disrespectful. But is it? Young Turks have been told they are tomorrow's leaders for way too long. When will tomorrow come? Isn’t it tomorrow yet?
Let’s talk about the teaching profession, shall we? Most learning institutions today are dominated by young educators. They form a huge percentage of the teaching workforce. One is left to wonder why their union’s leadership is so grey haired.
You might argue that they have been around teaching for too long and they understand the ins and outs. But how can you counter the argument that this noble profession’s dynamics have changed? The world is different today, the learner is different, duties have expanded, the job is super-demanding.
To handle the current student and make the profession regain its glory, fresh eyes and ears are needed. It’s time for a fresh perspective, ideas, energy and innovative approaches to the ever-evolving education sector and the issues facing educators. A young representation means bridging the generational gap in the union leadership and its results will definitely lead to a balanced approach to understanding the needs of the entire profession.
The “we’ve been here” generation leading the “we are here” workforce has been accused of being out of touch with the issues of the modern teacher. It is not because they do not care, no! It is because they are not attuned with those issues. These two generations, seeing from different lenses, make the young blood feel misrepresented.
Advocacy for policy changes can be effective if the advocate feels the heat. Most leaders in the teachers’ unions left the profession long ago. They fight for issues from a hearsay point of view. It’s time the horse itself spoke. It’s time young blood was injected into union leadership.
Mr Shireku is a unionist and educational specialist. [email protected]
