PROBLEMS OF ELEMENTARY TEACHERS AND ROLE OF TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Many of parents ignore the way that a teachers approach to their work. Teaching is deeply related in the teachers’ accumulated learning of experience .But people do not recognize the important moral and social purposes what teachers want to fulfill through their teaching. In this way teachers who are devalued, discarded and disregarded become bad teacher. Teachers are people too. You can not understand the teacher or teaching without understanding the person the teacher is [Goodson 1992].

The role of the teacher is very respecrable in society but it does not get its real due. There are many issues which teachers are currently facing. In school context , there is an imbalance in the teacher student ratio. School teachers have to perform many duties than teaching. they have to collect data for the census elections which takes teachers away from the classroom. apart from it, corruption in the system leads to bribing of officers for promotions for the transfers. Administrative problems including problem of promotion, incentives, placements and settlement of pensions are faced by teachers.

Some teachers become the teachers ,although they are not supposed to be teachers. They are bound with their duties, with the kinds of situation they have become. There were many factors which made them a teacher such as the times in which they grew up, value system of education belief , unemployment and so on so.


The teacher’s sex is another concern in the sense that the way teaching and work in general for men and women are often bound with very different kinds of lives and interests.

There is misconception among people regarding teaching, we judge people those who fail rather than those succeed. When teachers are new to the job, their incompetence can be excused. Teaching takes time in becoming competent. Due to this they are not given due respect. on the contrary,if teachers become old, people of society have notion that he/she is old so can not teach well.


As the Chattopadhyaya Committee (1983-85) had recommended that teacher education should be 4 or 5 year training after class12th pass out. Whereas in reality as Poonam Batra (2005) points out in her paper that teacher training is offered in a piece-meal and ad-hoc manner which hardly promotes habits of independent thinking, collaborative learning and the capacity to adapt to the changing needs of children and society. Hence, it leads to the problem of dissatisfaction in the work they are engaged.


Elementary teachers’ major concern pertaining to teaching pay scale for which they are paid less as comparison with others job. They do not get satisfied with this meager money. Whatever teacher get is not sufficient for their livelihood. Hence they always appear reluctant towards their duties [teaching]

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Another here is misconception among people regarding old teachers. They are regarded as bad teacher especially bad old teachers. School principal or administrator waits for them to leave, retire, or die! ‘If only I could get some new teachers …’ or wait until my new teachers arrive…’On the contrary once when they were 25 or 35 it was likely were bright and ideal for their pupils.

REFERENCES

Batra,Poonam (2005); 'Voice and Agency of Teachers-Missing Link in National Curriculum Framework 2005'' EPW,October 1.

Kale,Pratima (1970); '' the Guru and the profesional -The dilemma of the Secondary School Teacher in Poona, India' Comprative Education rewie,P.376