La Vanguardia, its Society section, has been raising voices for several days among teachers in Catalonia. This newspaper wants to know what their experience is, their daily life in the classroom, what they think, how they experience so much social, legislative and professional change when PISA has come to hang the sign of danger of collapse of the system. And what have we encountered? With one refusal after another. The majority, with some exceptions, convey their concern to us with powerful reasons that deserve a loudspeaker, but they do so in private. They prefer anonymity.
The question is why they don't want to show their faces. There is a lot of talk about children's discomfort and, what about the teacher? Discontent runs through a profession that has (or at least had) a high vocational component. The discomfort of teachers is latent, like that of doctors. One of the big mistakes that a government can make if the troops of its “essential” groups are unmotivated is to normalize the situation. Careful. PISA as a symptom.
Teachers tell us that there is a fear of being singled out. Fear of “what will they say if I think that…”, fear of the school family chats, the faculty chats, fear of the directors, of the inspection, of there being some kind of “retaliation”… So many fears together lead them to remain silent, or to block, or to disassociate themselves from the vocation. Or even to give up.
Reality without nuances has been well known for years. There is a lack of hands and resources to address diversity, immigration, learning problems, reading and comprehension difficulties, and growing disorders. Teacher training plans and improvements in university careers are lacking. There is a lack of support from the Administration and every time more money is asked for, the response is not just do as you can. Lack of demand. Lack of authority. Lack of self-esteem.
And there are plenty of curricula, pedagogical experiments, bureaucracy, cell phones, and loss of respect. There are plenty of families who question the teacher's word before their child's.
The school has become criticizable, everyone thinks. It is not understood that teachers continue to hide behind their fears.
