Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Being a young teacher in these times

Home Letters Being a young teacher in these times

Unlike in the past when female teachers were often way older than their learners, when most of them were mothers who had families back home (husbands and kids), today we have a lot of young people who have passion for teaching; as a result they choose teaching as a career.

These young teachers mostly graduate and start working while they are still young, with their age ranging between 22 and 30, where the age gap between them and their learners could be four to five or six years’ difference. Most have fewer responsibilities, as they have no kids of their own, so they are still having fun, probably the fun they never had while in school, or they feel they are still too young to settle.

Being a young teacher today means being a teacher to young boys and girls, who – while you are busy teaching – are fantasising about you. When these boys and girls see you, they do not see a teacher, they see a girl who can be their girlfriend, or a boy who has the potential to be their boyfriend.

It also means being a teacher to young girls and boys who want to compete with you – for female teachers it gets even worse.

It means being a teacher to young girls, who probably have a crush on your boyfriend/husband, have been in a relationship with him, or are still in a secret relationship with him. It means having most of these young teenage girls show you attitude, not wanting to pay attention to you in the classroom, disrespecting you and creating gossip about you.

It means going to a club or a party and meeting your students there. They will be partying and drinking, without caring much about their teacher being around. You may be drinking non-alcoholic drinks and they will be drinking hot stuff.

It means having old colleagues complain about your dressing code every day. No matter how decent it may look, they will always have something negative to say about it. The question is: should these teachers stop going out to places, such as clubs, to avoid running into their learners?

The truth is even at private bars you will find learners these days. They are everywhere there is a party or alcohol. Are teachers not entitled to social life at all?

All in all, being a young teacher in the modern days of globalisation is a very big challenge. Therefore, teachers should maintain professionalism everywhere they find themselves. They should make sure they are careful about what they do in public, because it can be used against them in the classroom.

Cecilia Namakasa