Bico – Teaching as an occupation to fall back on?

They say crisis equals opportunity, and the Brazilian website bicos.com.br has pointed out that teaching is its visitors’ number one choice out of their financial predicaments.

Photo via facebook.com/apliesp/

You can imagine how that went viral (and quite virulent) among Brazilian teachers. According to Brazilian legislation, regular school teachers need to have a teaching license, which will take the candidate at least 3 years to get hold of, if not 4 or 5. Hence, those newcomers are looking for jobs in educational sectors which are not as formalized: teaching computer skills, private tutoring, and – ta da – teaching in language schools.

So if you can’t find a job you truly want, you can always try teaching a foreign language you speak. Well, at least we can now encourage our students to learn all they can of the language so they have a career to fall back on, should they ever need to.

Many experienced teachers were outraged by the article, so much so that Bicos.com.br has written a disclaimer apologizing to teachers. I was not at all surprised, much less offended. I have seen it happen many times. Sometimes, those seasonal teachers find out that they are not cut out for the job and leave with a newfound respect for those who stay in the profession, us who take in stride the long hours and whatnot. They are our wounded in battle, allies in the war society seems to wage against teachers every now and then. And then there are those who stay, some of whom curse the moment they turned to this career, but many of whom find their true calling in teaching. Among the latter, I am proud to say, are some of my most cherished colleagues.

Of course the people who fall in love with the profession tend to seek out some qualification later on, be it a certificate, a postgraduate diploma, or an English or Education major. Some will do it immediately; some will take some time due to personal and financial reasons. Either way, the fact remains that they are our own. They often bring in a fresh perspective from their previous tracks and add to the richness of the field as a whole. In fact, many do very well in the profession, which I see as a testament to how hard they work and to how fast they learn.

I am not in any way implying that we should give up the fight to value our profession and its credentials, or the fight to improve our teacher development courses. I do realize that low entrance requirements and poor working conditions (including pay) are often related. All I am saying is that we could be less all-or-nothing or black-and-white in this matter. Not because of those who come in and out of education as if it were meaningless, but because of the admirable ones that have stayed.

Then, on this steadier and more peaceful ground, let us work on improving our teaching qualifications so that a candidate without them is so far behind a candidate with them that hirers are left with no real choice but to choose the most qualified. And may that help grant language education the recognition and work conditions it deserves.

I just don’t see how battling one another would secure us that dream.

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*Thank you, Priscila Mateini and BrELT Team, for the topic idea and links. You rock! The controversial opinion here conveyed is of my sole responsibility, however.