Teachers around the world share their stories

Ahead of the OECD PISA results, the Telegraph and the British Council conducted interviews with teachers around the world about the challenges facing the profession. The interviews are below.

It was Aristotle who said of teachers, "those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well." 

Perhaps it is unsurprising that the Greek philosopher spoke so highly of the profession, since he himself acted as a tutor to Alexander the Great and subsequently founded the Peripatetic school of philosophy in Athens.

Despite this connection, Aristotle recognised how essential good teachers were both to the education of a child, and to the life of the child. It's an understanding that, according to many in the profession now, seems to have degenerated over time.

According to a 2015 survey, more than half of all teachers are considering leaving the profession in the next two years due to workload and low morale. With headlines like this, it's hardly surprising that the Government has failed to hit its recruitment targets for the last four years.

However, the problem isn't unique to the UK. According to new figures published by the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, a total of 68.8 million teachers will  be needed worldwide by 2030 if we are to meet the goal of universal primary and secondary education.

It's a study that can easily ignite change within the sector. When results of the 2012 assessments were published in 2013, countries around the world reported on the study: 'Gap widens between NZ students', said the New Zealand Herald,  'American 15-Year-olds lag, mainly in math, on international standardized tests' wrote The New York Times, while Le Figaro went with 'À Shanghaï, ces enfants uniques surperformants'.

Shanghai and Singapore, as Le Figaro suggested, were lauded across the world for their scores.

Indeed, following the results, the UK Government established 35 maths hubs across England in an attempt to improve standards by training teachers to replicate East Asian maths education.

But what is it that truly makes a difference? According to Andreas Schleicher, director for Education and Skills at the OECD, teachers really are top of the list.

"East Asian countries certainly have made very different choices," he says. "Whenever they choose between a smaller class or a better teacher, they go for the better teacher.

"Many high performing countries see teachers playing a different role," he continues,  "a role that goes beyond teaching in the classroom, to closer engagement of teachers in developing and sharing professional knowledge."

According to Schleicher,  spending per student only accounts for 20 per cent of why a country performs well.

Put simply, great teachers make great education systems, but how do we get great teachers to join the profession? 

One thing is for certain. The majority of teachers see their roles as a vocation; they are in the classroom because they want to help children achieve the best.

To find out more about the challenges teachers are facing around the world, The Telegraph partnered with the British Council to ask teachers about the profession. 

Mark Herbert, head of schools programmes at the British Council, says: "We all know the difference that an inspired, motivated and skilled teacher can make to the learning and life chances of young people.   

"These teacher interviews from some of the countries we work in give a flavour of the variety of circumstances that teachers are working in all around the world and the challenges they face."

1. What has been your favourite moment as a teacher?

Sedat Dagtekin, Turkey (24 years in the profession)
Maths, secondary school teacher

I was teaching a grade 7 class in 1994. During the class, when I was writing a problem on the whiteboard, one of the students in the back row stood up and started making funny actions to make his friends laugh. He assumed that I couldn’t see him, but the whiteboard was reflecting his image.

After a while, without turning around to face my class, I told him to sit down and solve the problem. He was shocked and didn’t understand how I could see him. To be sure, he slowly raised his right hand to test if I could really see him. Without turning, I slowly started to speak and said: “don’t you know, some teachers have eyes on their back? Why are you still raising your hand?” He was shocked, and with a trembling voice said: “but..  but .. how did you see me?”

Laura Giugnini, 55, Italy (28 years in the profession)
English, secondary school teacher

I always remember, with great emotion, one of my student’s final exams. He was deaf from birth and he was ashamed of speaking, even in Italian. However, he liked English and really wanted to learn it. It took him a long time but in the end he decided to speak and take an oral test, even though he could have chosen to only take written tests.

During his final exam he presented a short part of the programme in English. Everybody was really touched and when he finished nobody could say anything. I am still very proud of him.

Natalya Penner, Kazakhstan (31 years in the profession)
English, primary school to secondary school teacher

Many years ago, a student stayed after a lesson and asked me why I had chosen to be a teacher. He told me that he couldn’t understand why people work at school as the salary is low and there are so many challenges at work and such a great responsibility. He told me that his mother was an accountant and worked only half of the day and got lots of money for her job. It was the first time I thought about my reasons for being and staying a teacher.

I forgot about the conversation, but a year later I went for a trip to another city with a group of students from the school and that student was among them. I was surprised when, at the railway station, I was welcomed by lots of my former students. Every evening they came to our hotel to meet me and speak to me. I remember that student telling me that he now understood what it meant to be a teacher.

Drita Emrullahu-Krasniqi, 60, Kosovo (37 years in the profession)
English, upper secondary school teacher

One particular moment happened at the beginning of my career; it was early in the morning before breakfast time and I was reading about food and the ingredients used to make pizza. I noticed a student who was unconsciously making noises and licking his lips as if he were eating the things I was mentioning. I was not able to continue since he was sitting in the first row and very close to me. I burst out laughing with the whole class. 

Snežana Ciganović, 56, Serbia (33 years in the profession)
English, secondary school teacher

I come from Belgrade, but got married in Dubrovnik, Croatia, where I used to teach at a primary school. The war started and it was awkward. I was one of the ‘enemy’. Some time before the war there had been a difficult student at school who everyone had been afraid of. I, somehow, had got along with him pretty well.

Of course he was among the first to enlist into the Croatian army. Once, I met him in the street, he was in his uniform. I didn’t know what to expect. He came up to me and said: “Don’t worry. Nothing bad will happen to you. I will see to that. I will protect you and your family.” I still meet him occasionally when I go to Dubrovnik.

Francis Muema, 43, Kenya (18 years in the profession)
Home economics and computer studies, secondary school teacher

One favourite moment for me as a teacher was training my boys and girls in both lawn tennis and badminton; progressing from a small village school to national level. Since 2003, when we introduced the racket games to my former school, my team have risen to glory.

Indeed, when well-known schools fell to my team, the local daily newspaper headlines would read “X school surrenders to little known bush school”. This helped to nurture the talent of the students as well as motivate them to perform equally well in their academics.

Fareda Etalla, South Africa (25 years in the profession)
Languages, maths and life skills, junior school teacher

Years ago, I taught alongside an older teacher who received walnuts from a Grade 1 learner in her class. The walnuts were always in a little plastic bag. She enjoyed them.

One day she asked the learner where she got them from. The learner's answer was priceless. She said that she received the walnuts from her grandmother, as her father bought her gran walnut chocolates every Sunday and as her gran never had teeth, she would suck the chocolate and keep the walnuts for her teacher. The look on the teacher's face was priceless. Needless to say, I still smile thinking of her face!

2. What is the greatest challenge to education in your country?

Stephan, 30, Germany (four years in the profession)
English and chemistry, secondary school teacher

In Berlin student numbers are ever increasing. Many families are moving to Berlin and there is also a significant number of young refugees who need to be integrated into society. At my school, we are lucky to have a very open-minded student body, who are happy to help the new arrivals. There are so-called “Welcome Classes” and after school clubs to help students learn the German language as quickly as possible.

Dr Sophia Kitsou, Greece (20 years in the profession)
English, secondary school teacher

The economic crisis has posed severe limitations to the education system. One third of the education budget has been cut. In order for a serious education reform to take place, a certain level of finance is needed. However, money is not the only issue.

Educational reforms in Greece have been strongly politicised. Ministers of education announce and impose reforms from the top down. Although creative ideas for reforming education come from many sources, only teachers can provide the insights that emerge from direct experience in the classroom itself.

Natalya Penner, Kazakhstan (31 years in the profession)
English, primary school to secondary school teacher

Teachers don’t have much freedom to choose textbooks they believe suit the objectives of the course; they may only choose those that are included in a list compiled by the Ministry of Education. The students are overloaded with extra lessons on additional subjects and don’t have a chance to learn the skills  they will really need in the future.

Ma Zhi, 26, China (6 years in the profession)
Chinese, secondary school teacher

In my opinion, the greatest challenge is how to reform education in the global context. Right now in China, the majority of schools still don’t have the chance to exchange teachers or students with other cultural backgrounds, countries or areas.
They only know how to teach by textbooks in teacher-centered formats, but they do very little to inspire and empower the students, giving them the necessary room for self-learning and creativity. The result is a group of students who are extremely good at passing exams, but many of those same students have been found unemployable by some of the most creative and challenging professions, such as programming and business.  

Fanyn Yeh, 54, Taiwan (33 years in the profession)
English, lower secondary school teacher

Low birth rates have resulted in a drastic decrease in the enrollment of students, which now means that the number of teachers is exceeding the number needed.

Another great challenge is boosting teacher morale and equipping teachers with efficient professional development so that they are able to equip their youngsters with the skills needed for our fast-changing world.

Francis Muema, 43, Kenya (18 years in the profession)
Home economics and computer studies, secondary school teacher

Currently I teach at Kajembe High School, in the outskirts of Mombasa city, along the shores of the Indian Ocean. Many of the students come from disadvantaged backgrounds, most of them come from dysfunctional families and some are orphans. Most of my classes range between 20 and 70 students.

One of the hardest things about teaching for me is the poverty and the lack of teaching and learning resources, which makes it hard for students to understand concepts being taught. This is made worse by poverty and the lack of support from school administrators to use funds to acquire teaching and learning resources in some cases. Eventually, teaching becomes talk and chalk.

Olga Sapukhina, 29, Russia (8 years in the profession)
Computer science, secondary school teacher

I believe that schools should be peaceful islands in this changing world. So anybody who goes through the school gates should feel at home and protected. Because of this, education must be changed carefully. The mother and father, grandmother and grandfather want to know that their child is learning. Any innovation should be carefully checked before it is introduced to schools. So the greatest challenge to education, is to save it.

Source: Telegraph