In The duty from 1er February, Mme Daphné Felton, an elementary school teacher in La Prairie, wrote that she loved her profession. But she added in the same breath: “However, in recent years, I have become increasingly disenchanted with the daily exercise of my profession. I am indeed overwhelmed by the lack of recognition towards teachers that is becoming more and more open. She added: “I would also like parents to understand our reality and to speak well of us to their children. And, before concluding, she wrote: “Elementary teachers must feel valued and respected. »
Having “covered” education in this journal for 15 years, I can testify that many other teachers before Mr.me Felton experienced these same feelings and demanded to be better recognized. Their unions are also regularly responsible for forging unfortunately, by cumulative effect, the image of an unloved or abused profession.
The profession of teacher is by definition a profession of human relations. Inevitably, it is occasionally marked by difficult, sometimes painful moments or incidents.
I remember this mother who, 70 years ago, burst into my class of 3and year to scold Mshe Côté, our teacher, and accuse her of mistreating her son, actually a little inconvenient! We had all been gripped, and Mshe Side, even more.
I also remember, as a parent this time, having had to complain, along with other parents, about a teacher who, by her bizarre behavior, frightened her young students.
So what ?
Because if there is the singular, there is also the general. In this respect, the news is excellent. In fact, as the “professions rankings” compiled by Léger Marketing regularly reveals, the vast majority of Quebecers continue, year after year, to show their confidence in teachers.
Indeed, their profession is among those that inspire the most confidence. Come first, firefighters (95%), various health professionals (between 92% and 94%), farmers (90%), professions with which citizens have (very) occasional contact. Next come teachers and professors (88%), whom each parent has known for at least 11 years and even more through their children.
The journalists are located at 37and rank, with a confidence rate of 49% (the Montreal Journal, January 2021). That’s why I left journalism to become a teacher!