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I want to be a teacher‌ Shirisha Konduri
E
very time a cohort of my high school students are about to graduate, I ask how many of them want to choose school teaching as a career and in the last decade of my teaching experience, I have only had a handful raising their hand.
Photo courtesy: Shirisha Kondury
Their response has often led me to wonder if their years at school has left them with an incorrect picture about school teaching as a profession. Have we consciously worked on helping them realize that this can be profession by choice rather than by chance?
Today, if I look at the statistical data of high school teachers, I see most of them with a master’s degree, quite a few with a research degree like M.Phil or PhD and some also with a professional degree like engineering, law and MBA. This diversity in the educational qualifications of teachers with or without the conventional teaching degree has definitely started showing positive effects on school teaching. Youngsters with good academic credentials and qualifications are entering the field of school teaching with an aim to innovate teaching and learning practices and create a more conducive environment for learning.
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TEACHER PLUS, JULY 2020
