Spare a thought for the teachers

Through the various stages of life, we all encounter them - the people who stand out and leave such a mark on us that they help shape us into who we are.

They are the people who encourage and inspire and in the early years at least, they are often our teachers. We will all have memories of those who have stood at the head of the class and enthralled with the opportunities knowledge offered.

They define our learning path, and set us on a course that can determine our career progression and standing in the community.

So often you hear of people who have excelled in a particular area paying tribute to a person who helped them find their direction. It is not uncommon for that person to be an educator. I know when I think back on the people who have helped shape the person I am, several teacher names come to mind.

They inspire a passion for a subject or the thrill of learning and achieving that stays with you for life.

Teaching as a career certainly is a challenging prospect but the rewards are no doubt plentiful.

It is perhaps unfortunate that this dedicated skilled profession aren't afforded more respect for what they do. I know there have been times I have been flippant about how hard they work.

Years ago my brother and I used to tease my sister - a teacher - about the short days and extended holidays. Of course, that was all in jest and never took into account the stresses like the occasion when this slight woman who stood just over 5 foot had to separate two larger pupils engaged in a fight, one armed with a sharpened piece of metal.

There were many skipped lunchbreaks, early starts were routine, and work was often brought home at night. That is par for the course.

And that's the problem, teachers these days have to do so much.

They are picking up the pieces for so many deficiencies and are almost at the brink of becoming more social workers than educators. Forget the three Rs, nowadays they are nutritionists, psychologists, police, welfare officers, you name it, if there's a problem it can be fitted in to the curriculum for the school system to sort out.

Things aren't getting any easier. Think of the fallout over national standards, league tables, larger classroom sizes, the need to feed hungry kids ... and some teachers aren't even being paid correctly. They are blamed for many of society's ills but get little recognition for all that they contribute.

Yesterday was World Teacher Day, but I'd like to think we could do a little better and appreciate our educators on more than one day a year.

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