EDITORIAL - ‘Major vocations crisis’

It’s described as a noble profession, but the appeal of teaching as a lifetime vocation has been significantly eroded over the years. This is not unique to the Philippines. As World Teachers’ Day is marked today, the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization noted that while teachers play a vital role in societies, “this profession is facing a major vocations crisis.”

Ahead of the special day, new data published by UNESCO showed that 44 million teachers are still needed worldwide – down from the estimated shortage of 69 million in 2016 – to achieve the UN goal of providing primary and secondary education for all by 2030. The profession has become unattractive to the younger generations, UNESCO lamented, with recruitment slowing down and the dropout rate increasing among the teachers’ ranks.

UNESCO cites three main factors for this: “poor working conditions, high levels of stress and low pay.” It recommends seven measures to address the problem. Apart from the obvious, which is to provide competitive salaries and benefits especially in relation to other professions requiring similar levels of qualifications, UNESCO suggests reducing “unnecessary workload” and streamlining administrative tasks and paperwork so teachers can focus “more on teaching and less on bureaucracy.”

UNESCO also suggests improving initial teacher education as well as the provision of continuing professional development and mentoring programs. Teachers also need mental health and counseling services to cope with stress, UNESCO pointed out. A strong and supportive school leadership is needed, it said, “that values teachers’ input, provides constructive feedback and fosters a positive work environment.”

These suggested measures will take some work in a country where teachers’ organizations are bickering with the secretary of education over a wide range of issues. The feud can only aggravate the deterioration in the quality of Philippine education, as reflected in international test results showing Filipino students lagging behind their peers in other countries in terms of reading comprehension, science and mathematics.

Experts have warned that education problems were worsened by two years of COVID lockdowns and the forced shift to remote learning. Even before the pandemic, teachers were already leaving the country in droves for jobs overseas. The deteriorating quality of education has pulled down national competitiveness, which has adversely affected many aspects of life and hindered national development.

It’s cold comfort to know that the teacher shortage is a global problem, which inspired the theme for this special day: “The teachers we need for the education we want: the global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage.” What is needed is urgent action to address the problem. As UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay put it, “we must better value, better train and better support teachers.”