A person’s a person no matter how small.
-Dr. Seuss
How much are teachers respected in different parts of the world? The Varkey GEMS Foundation attempted to find this out by asking more than 330,000 questions in 21 countries related to how teachers are respected in their countries. Results were compiled into the 2013 Global Teacher Status Index. Here are some key findings:
- Teachers are most highly respected in China, Greece, Turkey and South Korea and least respected in Israel, Brazil, Czech Republic and Italy. A teacher in China is almost 100 times more respected in China than in Israel. Finland, with one of the best education systems in the world, came out near the bottom third of countries polled on the status of teachers.
- Parents in China, South Korea, Turkey and Egypt are most likely to give encouragement to children to become teachers. Similarly, these countries show a higher level of belief that pupils respect their teachers. Conversely in most of the European countries surveyed, more respondents thought that pupils disrespect teachers than respect them.
- In all 21 countries, more than 59% of respondents (representative sample of citizens in each country) stated teachers ought to be paid
according to the performance of their pupils. In Egypt over 90% of respondents agreed with this, while in Israel, Brazil and New Zealand the figure was over 80%.
Ellen Galinsky provides research-based advice for parents and teachers on how to raise their children to be well rounded and achieve their full potential — learning to take on life’s challenges, communicating well with others, and remaining committed to learning. |
Comments (3)
Displaying All 3 Commentsece consultant
Dallas, TX, United States
Having taught public preschool and kindergarten in a public elementary school, I understand how it feels to be unacknowledged, looked over, discounted, even by the principal and by other teachers, because they thought early childhood education really wasn't that important. "Just make sure the children are ready for First Grade!" they would say. But then it all changed! A state-funded High/Scope curriculum came into our classrooms, and all kinds of brand new classroom materials showed up! I shared what materials I couldn't use with the 1st and 2nd Grade teachers, and slowly but surely, people started "getting it", realizing how very important very young children's education was to their future, and not just learning their "abc's and 1,2,3's". And I started understanding what kind of pressure the 1st grade teachers were under-very enlightening.
OMEP-USA
Washington, District of Columbia, United States
What about the US? Or don't we want to know?!
United States
This was truly depressing. Are there organizations in these countries working to educate their people and raise the profile of teachers? Please don't leave us with just this awful news.
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