The teacher of the future and the teacher’s future in a changing profession.

Boldysheva Natal'ya Olegovna PhD in Economics Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Mass Communications, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation 125167, Russia, Moscow, Leningradsky ave., 49/2 nboldysheva@mail.ru

Introduction. Young teachers starting to work in schools will become the core of the teaching staff in the next 10 years, in this sense, the future of the professional group is directly linked to those who are just taking the first steps in the profession today.  It is important to note that young people begin their careers during the changes taking place in the teaching profession itself, the analysis of which is impossible outside the context of the school reform that has been implemented in Russia for three decades.

The tools of transformation carried out in Russia are in many ways similar to the reforms carried out in other countries, which have received such definitions as the "epidemic of educational policy" ^{[8, p.138]} or the "package of educational reforms" ^{[5, p. 215]}, which emphasizes the widespread use of similar tools and results of reforming national education systems.

The reforms were an instrument of educational policy, the purpose of which was to increase the competitiveness of the education system and its trained personnel in the context of globalization, fierce international competition and extreme uncertainty of the new world during the emergence of a new technological wave. The reforms were based on neoclassical principles, and were implemented in practice through the definition of the education system as a service sector, the introduction of a new result-oriented remuneration system, the stimulation of extra-budgetary activities of schools to provide paid educational services, standardization, the introduction of new assessment systems (unified examination), the transfer of responsibility and financing to the level of municipalities and other elements.

In the course of the reforms, measurable educational outcomes have become particularly important. This is evidenced by the importance attached by officials to international assessment systems, for example, PISA^[1]. It is obvious that the main vector of reforms was the marketization of the education system, which led to a social impasse ^[3].

The package of educational reforms could not but affect the conditions and content of the work of a modern teacher, his status and role in modern society, which led to changes in the profession, which both Russian and foreign researchers write about, presenting the changes rather in a negative (pessimistic) tone, using the terms "deprofessionalization", "precariatization", "proletarization" and "dequalification".

Thus, describing the global teacher model based on market principles, the researchers note that the teacher is no longer a professional partner in the educational process, but rather has become a technical worker or intermediary who delivers an educational program developed at the national level to a specific classroom.  In this model, competencies become more important than critical thinking, there is a focus on teaching rather than learning, action prevails over comprehension, skills over values.

The importance of achieving a measurable result leads to training students to complete control and test tasks to the detriment of moral, social and cognitive learning goals ^{[11, p.61]}. The teacher was caught in a culture of competitive performance and success ^[5]. Such a teacher is defined by researchers as a professional manager in the classroom, an entrepreneur teacher ^{[10, p. 36]}.

A modern teacher is forced to perform a huge amount of work unrelated to the educational process ^[4]. The decline in the prestige of the profession, the erosion of guarantees of stable employment, an increase in workload without a corresponding increase in wages, bureaucratization and regulation of professional activities, as well as an increase in the volume of non-pedagogical work, is defined as the precariatization of Russian teachers, which causes risks of decreasing professionalism, teaching quality, and further erosion of professional identity ^[1].

Speaking about the emergence of a new structure of a professional group in which teachers and teaching assistants are represented, which in conditions of a shortage of teaching staff can lead to the use of insufficiently qualified assistants as teachers, British researchers assess the consequences of the ongoing reforms in terms of the dequalification and proletarization of the teachers' workforce. ^[6]

Estonian sociologists also note that new trends, especially new models of state control and regulation of teachers' work, such as new public management, reduce the ability of teachers to regulate their work and reduce their autonomy. This manifests itself in several forms, including an increase in standardization and deprofessionalization of teachers, as well as a reduction in the power resource that teachers previously possessed ^[7]. Swedish scientists note that as a result of the reforms, relations between managers and consumers have been built, which limit the autonomy of teachers as professionals ^{[9, p.3]}.

Analyzing the results of the conducted research within the framework of an attributive approach to the study of professionalism, it can be argued that most of the characteristics of the teaching profession have undergone changes.

In fairness, it must be said that changes are also taking place with other professional groups. Thus, studies of a professional group of medical workers through the prism of their interaction with the state, colleagues and consumers of their services have shown the inevitability of overlapping interests and conflicts, as well as new professional roles ^[2].

The purpose of this study was to study how young professionals evaluate the teaching profession and see their future in it, in the context of ongoing changes.

Methodology: The empirical base of the study was made up of data from a survey of young teachers of the Moscow region, conducted in the format of a telephone interview, according to the author's methodology.

The database of young teachers working in the region became the information base of the study. The structure of the sample population does not differ significantly from the general population in terms of such indicators as gender, work experience, and the subject taught. The limitations include the lack of operational information in the database about the dismissal of teachers (information is updated at the end of the school year). Some respondents refused to answer questions about wages, and this article does not analyze the salary indicators of young teachers. Three of the respondents in the initial sample refused to give interviews, and were replaced by respondents with similar characteristics (gender, work experience, subject taught).

The sample included 24 teachers who had just started working in schools in the region, at the time of the survey they had worked for three to four months; 18 teachers who are in the middle of the first five years of their career and have worked for two years and four months in an educational institution; 22 teachers are completing the first five-year period and, at the time of the study, worked for four and a half years at school.

In terms of academic disciplines, the sample includes 9 mathematics teachers, 8 foreign language teachers, 10 Russian language teachers, 4 biology (chemistry) teachers, 9 history (social studies) teachers, 10 primary school teachers, 4 physics teachers, 2 computer science teachers, 5 physical education teachers, 3 geography teachers.  There are 6 men and 58 women among the respondents.

During the study, 64 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted. According to the structure of the interview, it consisted of several blocks of questions: job search and employment; workload and remuneration; work adaptation; work responsibilities; education (received and educational plans); career prospects.

The theoretical basis of the study was an attributive approach to the study of professionalism. The interview included questions on such characteristics of the profession as the use of skills based on theoretical knowledge by a young teacher, education and training in these skills, and rules of conduct adopted in a professional group.

The average length of the interview was 40 minutes.

Pedagogical education. The training of new personnel and the control of representatives of the profession over the quality and content of training is one of the essential attributes of the profession. The study set the task to consider how the education received by the respondents contributes to entering the profession.

Mostly young teachers have a pedagogical education received at a pedagogical university or at a classical university, sometimes young people become teachers after completing a non-pedagogical educational program and undergoing professional retraining. In this study, all respondents received pedagogical education during the development of the educational program of higher education.

In general, respondents highly appreciate the quality of theoretical education received, so one of the respondents, a chemistry teacher, said in his first year of work: "They taught well at the university, I especially appreciate the kind attitude of the teachers, but it is very difficult to prepare for work. They gave training at the university, the rest is practice."

At the same time, evaluating the educational program (bachelor's degree level) that they completed at the university, young teachers note the lack of practice-oriented programs, which can be expressed both in the short duration of pedagogical practice and the forms of practical training. Assessing the university teachers as highly professional theorists, the respondents noted the need to involve existing teachers in the educational process at the university.

In this sense, we can say that current teachers, of course, do not determine the content of educational programs, but there are practices of involving them in the educational process (for example, inviting them to conduct seminars), which were highly appreciated by respondents. The primary school teacher, the first year of work, noted:  "Sometimes teachers do not understand what is happening at school, they talk about outdated pedagogy, and I took a lot of techniques from teachers who were invited to seminars, and it works."

According to the respondents, the lack of practice-oriented educational programs of the university is also manifested in the fact that, having started work, they faced the difficulties of document management, working on the school portal, filling out electronic journals, developing work programs and communicating with the administration. Physics teacher, first year of work: "The paper load is huge, I did not expect it. How to design a work program did not take place at the university, it is difficult to master everything at once."  Let's add that the academic load of this respondent is 1.5%, she teaches physics in grades 7,8,9 and 10 and astronomy in 11th grade, which really makes entering the profession a rather difficult process.

As another respondent, a history and social studies teacher, noted: "Emotionally squeezed like a lemon." At the time of the interview, this respondent had worked at the school for a little more than two months.

Some graduates of pedagogical universities, noting good training in the methodology of teaching the discipline, pedagogical disciplines and psychology, talk about the lack of training in the discipline itself. Graduates of classical universities, on the contrary, say that the emphasis in the educational program was on disciplines related to the main subject, for example, mathematics, physics, history, a foreign language, but disciplines devoted to pedagogy, psychology and teaching methods were clearly not enough for successful professional activity.

A seemingly insignificant difference in the educational program (classical university – pedagogical university) leads to quite serious consequences, and can become the basis for the stratification of the professional group of teachers, as well as lead to retirement from the profession.  

Teachers' salaries are not enough to live on and they need a part-time job. The different level of training is manifested in the fact that young teachers who evaluate their knowledge of the subject they teach usually associate additional employment with tutoring, perform related work (a foreign language teacher moonlights as a translator), etc. Additional employment of this kind can be viewed positively from the point of view of professional development. The situation for those who noted a lack of theoretical knowledge in the subject they teach is different.  The respondents said that they find part-time jobs in areas unrelated to education. These may be jobs, mainly in the service sector, where they worked as university students, for example in the beauty industry, the restaurant business.  Such a choice of additional employment can also be considered as a marker of changes in the teaching profession, associated with a low assessment of one's own social status and willingness to perform unskilled work or work that does not require high qualifications.

When young teachers are extremely overloaded, the need to do such work not only takes away energy and time that could be spent on professional development, but can push them to a decision, to change their field of activity.

It is important to say that young teachers are trying to eliminate professional deficits through professional development programs, and many have indicated that they have enrolled or are going to enroll in a master's degree. Of course, the motivation to continue studying for a master's degree varies among young people: improvement in the subject taught, the desire to change the field of activity, the desire to receive additional education in a related profession (speech therapist, speech pathologist, psychologist, educational manager) to optimize employment at school. 

The social interaction of teachers with students, their parents and colleagues is the foundation of the profession.  The narratives of young teachers describing their daily school life demonstrate the changes that have occurred in the social status and role of the teacher, as well as the obvious shift of the power resource from the teacher to the parents.

The fears of the first days of work, which were mainly related to how the young teacher would be perceived by children, whether it would be possible to cope with discipline in the classroom and teach children, in most cases were not realized in practice. The respondents who worked for the first year spoke enthusiastically about the communication that had developed with the students. However, their senior colleagues shared, among other things, negative experiences, noting that failures in communication with children, which is three-sided and involves communication with parents, lead to psychological fatigue. History teacher, fifth year of work: "It is very difficult to work. Teachers and parents have different interests. Children sort things out because of grades. I think it is necessary to raise the authority of the teacher and organize some kind of training for parents so that they do not put pressure on young professionals."

This statement seems to be very succinct and reflects, among other things, the changes that have occurred in the profession.  The description of what is happening through the discrepancy between the interests of parents and teachers, as well as conflicts with children about grades, very well demonstrates the "manager–client" model of interaction imposed by the marketization of education, which was accepted by parents to a greater extent than by teachers.  The emphasis on the need to increase the authority of the profession is associated with a sense of a decrease in the power of the teacher. 

The attitude of parents certainly affects children: "... children's motivation to learn a language is low, but it depends on the attitude of their parents" (foreign language teacher, 3rd year of work). The difficulty of building constructive interaction with parents is also demonstrated by the following statements: "... to be afraid of working with parents ..." (primary school teacher, fifth year of work), "... the most difficult thing in the work of a teacher is parents ..." (foreign language teacher, 5th year of work).  To complete the picture, here is a statement from one of the respondents (geography teacher, fifth year of work), which shows how difficult the situation is: "There are conflicts with fifth grade children and their parents, which are caused by the difficulties of transition to the secondary level. I was even threatened on the street..."

Respondents' descriptions of their interactions with colleagues and the administration were significantly less emotional. Mostly, young teachers noted that the staff accepted them well, there were no conflicts with colleagues. Teachers working for the first year said that they had been assigned a mentor, and if necessary, they could also contact the head teacher or the head of the school's methodological association, who were ready to help. It is obvious that the institutionalization of mentoring has occurred in the schools of the region relatively recently.  Several respondents who have been working for the fifth year noted that they had problems with mentors: "... initially, a mentor was not appointed, but I felt an urgent need for mentoring, I was appointed later, when there was no need for it..." (chemistry teacher); "... a mentor was appointed, but practically did not fulfill his duties" (a foreign language teacher).

In general, interviews with young teachers allow us to say that relationships within a professional group can be described in a positive way.

Professional development is possible not only in mentoring relationships, but also with young colleagues. A teacher of Russian language and literature, 3rd year of work: "The three of us came to school, three young teachers, senior colleagues helped, but my colleague, with whom we got a job together, helped me a lot, she shared information, some techniques that she was taught at the university, for me it is it was very helpful....".

Taking into account the above, the idea of creating an association of young teachers of the region sounds logical. The history and social studies teacher of the 5th year of work, noting that pedagogical skills were not sufficiently developed at the university, and advanced training courses did not provide answers to the questions posed, suggests: "It would be good to organize voluntary congresses, gatherings for young professionals, a weekend camp, maybe. This is an exchange of experience, seminars and emotional relief."

It should be noted that the respondent emphasizes that the form should be voluntary, teachers are tired of constant orders from above, lack of organization, and the often meaningless "voluntary – compulsory" nature of the events held.

The teaching profession through the eyes of a young specialist. One of the objectives of the study was to identify how the expectations associated with the profession were justified in real work. It is important to note that the assessment of the profession differs among respondents with different work experience. Teachers of the first year of work speak very differently about the profession, linking their grades rather with first successes, successful lessons, overcoming fears of not coping with discipline, not teaching children: "...absolutely mine, it's a dream...", "... I like to work...". Primary school teacher, 1st year of work: "I liked working, the return from the children, I did not regret that I chose this profession." At the same time, the first doubts appear, the English teacher, the first year of work: "You need to study, you need practice, Conflicting feelings:  the lesson may not go according to plan, there is a lot of dependence on the system, but the return from the children is positive – everything is not in vain." There are also pessimistic opinions "... I'm not sure that this is mine...".

More experienced teachers (in their fifth year of work) stressed that they did not understand what the teaching profession was before coming to school.

Basically, the respondents spoke warmly about the university they graduated from, while they noted that the information about the teaching profession received at the university significantly differs from reality. Geography teacher, 5th year of work: "What was promised at the university did not coincide with reality." A teacher of mathematics and computer science, 5th year of work: "I was not mentally ready for the teaching profession. Constant instructions from above, inconclusive events, some kind of testing, because of which lessons are flying."

Along with the high academic workload, low wages and the volume of paperwork, respondents noted that they were concerned about the increase in the volume of work, which has little to do with the teaching profession.

Biology teacher, Balashikha, 5th year of work: "Now the teacher has to monitor social networks. In general, a lot of time is spent on ineffective activities, for example, it is necessary to register all children for a traffic rules competition. There are a lot of reports. Previously, educational work was carried out through events, then it was complicated by covid, as a result, there was a decrease in motivation, children may not do the job at all."

Entering a profession is a process in which a young person weighs all the pros and cons in order to connect his life with this profession. Comparing their profession with other professions, young people find many positive aspects, including job stability.

Conclusion. Summing up, it is important to note that teachers are key actors in the implementation of educational policy, so their narratives are important for understanding what is happening in everyday school life.

It is obvious that the profession is undergoing significant changes in the context of globalization processes, reforms based on the principles of economic efficiency, and a shortage of teaching staff. To the listed factors influencing changes in the teaching profession, we can add the consequences of the pandemic, during which distance learning models were tested.

One of the possible ways to solve the problem of the shortage of teaching staff in schools, which no longer seems fantastic after the outbreak of the pandemic, is the transition to blended learning. In a mixed format, teachers who know the subject at a high professional level directly conduct online lessons, and assistant teachers perform tutoring functions directly in the classroom.  This separation has already been implemented in a number of countries where teacher assistant positions have been introduced, and is actively criticized by researchers.

Such a model seems undesirable, first of all, from the point of view of the quality of education, and therefore, it is important to emphasize the need for the participation of the pedagogical community in the implementation of educational programs of a pedagogical profile, which will not only satisfy the request of young specialists for practical orientation of training, but also expand their understanding of the profession, reducing the stress that arises when a young man's encounter with bureaucratic reality.

There is an obvious need to reduce teacher labor costs for non-pedagogical work, which, according to respondents, leads to psychological burnout and takes time away from working with children, as well as creating favorable conditions for professional growth, taking into account the deficits that respondents quite clearly formulate.

For the future of the profession and the consolidation of young teachers in school, it is extremely important to abandon a narrow understanding of rationality based on an economic approach. The emphasis on the value of pedagogical work is undoubtedly related to the social status and role of the teacher in society.

^[1] International Student Educational Achievement Assessment Program

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