Contributory Stressing Factor: The Media and Public Perception
Everyone has been to school and therefore everyone's an expert on education. Does this happen anywhere else in life? I don't think so but it certainly seems the case when it comes to schools and children. The media plays an enormous part in skewing perception and acting as a mouthpiece for anyone with an axe to grind. The viewing/listening/reading public are then bombarded with views which appear (more often than not) to be damning of the teaching profession. It seems that those who want to be critical of the profession are simply louder and less reasonable than those attempting to engage in intelligent dialogue about education. An example came for me this week when watching a morning talk show where the annual teaching union conferences were being discussed. A guest was very vocal and forceful on the matter of assessment claiming that testing children as often as they are is a good thing. Irrespective of the arguments for and against testing the message was that this person knows little about assessment, teaching and learning and child psychology yet he was given a platform from which he decried the standpoints of a profession grounded in wisdom and knowledge. Unfortunately the subtext was simple, the teaching profession is full of whingers who know less about children than parents and political commentators and should be viewed with suspicion.
We know that the population is persuaded, cajoled and bullied by the media into holding views that may be contrary to instinct. I believe that most people are reasonable but are open to persuasion, and this does not necessarily have to be rational!
We all know that we teachers have short days, long holidays and easy lives and that we deserve to be an easy target. No one wants to see the real work, the 60/70 hour weeks, the stresses and pressures of our working lives, and all too often the portrayal of the profession in the media is unsympathetic and ill-informed.
Consequently teachers feel even more under-valued.
I am not suggesting that the whole of the broadcast and print media are anti-teachers, but I am suggesting that when ill-informed media outlets take a pop at teachers that there is a negative impact on not only the profession as a whole but also on individuals.
I will talk about parents as a source of stress at a later date, but consider some of the negative attitudes we deal with and ask yourself where these come from?
Everyone has been to school and therefore everyone's an expert on education. Does this happen anywhere else in life? I don't think so but it certainly seems the case when it comes to schools and children. The media plays an enormous part in skewing perception and acting as a mouthpiece for anyone with an axe to grind. The viewing/listening/reading public are then bombarded with views which appear (more often than not) to be damning of the teaching profession. It seems that those who want to be critical of the profession are simply louder and less reasonable than those attempting to engage in intelligent dialogue about education. An example came for me this week when watching a morning talk show where the annual teaching union conferences were being discussed. A guest was very vocal and forceful on the matter of assessment claiming that testing children as often as they are is a good thing. Irrespective of the arguments for and against testing the message was that this person knows little about assessment, teaching and learning and child psychology yet he was given a platform from which he decried the standpoints of a profession grounded in wisdom and knowledge. Unfortunately the subtext was simple, the teaching profession is full of whingers who know less about children than parents and political commentators and should be viewed with suspicion.
We know that the population is persuaded, cajoled and bullied by the media into holding views that may be contrary to instinct. I believe that most people are reasonable but are open to persuasion, and this does not necessarily have to be rational!
We all know that we teachers have short days, long holidays and easy lives and that we deserve to be an easy target. No one wants to see the real work, the 60/70 hour weeks, the stresses and pressures of our working lives, and all too often the portrayal of the profession in the media is unsympathetic and ill-informed.
Consequently teachers feel even more under-valued.
I am not suggesting that the whole of the broadcast and print media are anti-teachers, but I am suggesting that when ill-informed media outlets take a pop at teachers that there is a negative impact on not only the profession as a whole but also on individuals.
I will talk about parents as a source of stress at a later date, but consider some of the negative attitudes we deal with and ask yourself where these come from?
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