Occupational Analysis of a High School History Teacher - Research Paper Example

? Occupational Analysis of a High School History Teacher Over time and in the of history, different occupations have come up from the daily evolving world. However, one of the oldest and most reputable occupations present in the contemporary society is teaching. Education is a key component for the success of human beings and the attainment of this is through the attendance of classes in modern day society. With any well-set occupation, one of the factors that drive the workers is the concept of rewarding. This is from the fact that rewards act as some form of appreciation for work carried out and thus the importance of having a system through which teachers get rewarded for their work. Understanding the social organization of the teaching occupation is imperative for the identification of rewarding strategies of an organization. The first step that I took in the identification of the rewarding habits in the academic organization was to conduct interviews. These were important in that personal contact with the people under review would help in further understanding of the issue. My first interview that I carried out was with a given history teacher, Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson was very friendly as he was able to tell me his most important value in life. Mr. Johnson had been in the job for the past 30 years and thus had observed the changes that had hit the teaching sector. He told me that watching as his students passed in the subject was a priceless feeling that he held on to each day that he went to work. He however told me that despite this being the most important feeling to him, the issue of the economy had brought a large toll on the academic fraternity and thus the importance of increased funds in an effort to keep up with the changing conditions. I was able to observe the teaching criteria that went along in his institution. The teacher had a very clear schedule in which he had different classes to attend during the day and had set up a timetable behind his major notebook. This he told me was important to save time that other teachers spent going to the staffroom and checking their timetables. He always had his notebook with him that was helpful in case he was going from one grade class to another. When I was around, the teacher went to a staff meeting where he later on told me that they had discussed the various means through which they would make teaching more habitable. The second interview that I carried out was with a teacher of the same subject in a different school. The teacher went by the name Miss Annah. Similar to the sentiments of the teacher on focus, she told me that her greatest reward in life would be the success of her students. This however, I did not find satisfying because she did not mention the need for funds that I find rather important to almost everyone in any given occupation. I did a comparative study between the two teachers and turns out most of their other reward mechanisms are similar. However, I sought to follow in the character of the first teacher I interviewed. In understanding the concept of the teaching practice concerning rewarding teachers, it is important to go through the history of academic life1. Schools in the country started opening up very early paving way for children to attend and gain knowledge that was to assist them lead a better life. However, in the former days, organizations to advocate for the rights of the teachers were few. This has become one of the greatest changes in the 21st century. Regarding the issue of raises, teachers always portrayed a sense of discomfort because the payments were not reviewed as often as they were supposed to. The existing unions in the early days did not exercise as much freedom as they have today. This generation has had changes in terms of freedom, enlightenment and civilization. These have been key factors that have had numerous rubrics set in place by the academic organization in an effort to reward the hard work of the teachers. Enlightenment has made the organization realize that with rewarding the teachers, the subsequent effect of motivation is assured and thus greater outcome in terms of the quality of education that students receive from these teachers. Another chain process involved with the rewarding of the teachers over the past years was concerning the student population. In earlier years, there was the allocation of a huge number of students to a particular teacher, which more often than not turned out cumbersome. This led to classroom clogging whereby the performance of the teachers was otherwise substandard. This was a major point of weakness for the teachers and despite the fact that they tried asking for remunerations, their efforts did not succeed. Despite the clogging of the classrooms, the teachers kept on working with the hope for a better future. This has seen numerous changes in that the academic organizations have set up institutions that major specifically on the training of teachers. This has led to an increase in the number of qualified teachers2. With an increase in the number of teachers, students have been widespread and every teacher has had a standard number of pupils in his class. This has given the teachers a better learning atmosphere and thus increased their performance index. Consequently, they have received awards from the academic organization that employ them. The organization has had the ability to increase salaries from the high amount of money that it acquires in terms of school fees. Racism in the past was another issue that hindered the development of the teaching fraternity. History is one of the major subjects that dwell on the issue of racism. It is thus important for this issue to be viewed also with relation to the subject of the teacher under review. One of the aspects of racism and actually the major aspect is with regard to employment. In the past, Black people did not receive appropriate employment opportunities and actually ended up working for wealthy people in their farms and other casual jobs. This did not give them opportunities to explore other areas that they might have excelled 3. This has changed over the years and the ability of all kinds of people to get a job in the academic field has assisted in that the quality of education has increased paving way for increased payments. Concerning teachers of history, the concept of racism had affected their working exceedingly. This is from the fact that the History teachers did not have the independence to talk about racism adequately. Further research shows that racism was not the only issue that these teachers did not have freedom to discuss. Other issues such as slavery were also a key component that they were warned against and thus containing the teachers’ field of work. This negative effect had the teachers not excel in teaching their students. However, with the bill of rights allowing freedom of speech and the protection by the various academic organizations, contemporary days have seen history teacher exercise independence in terms of the information they pass on to their students. This has boosted the attitude of these teachers making them even further quality educators. Consequently, rewards have been set in place with frequent revision of their salaries in an effort to boost them even further. There are different types of awards that an occupation can offer its workers. Just like any other ordinary working group, teachers expect rewards from their superiors in different forms. There are two types of rewards namely intrinsic and extrinsic; however, many of the teachers expect the extrinsic award of pay. This from the fact that with the changing society and the tough economic times experienced, everyone is out looking for ways through which they can earn more money to support a fulfilling life. Teachers are no exception and thus the teaching social organization has various ways through which they assure the teachers get their reward. A High School History teacher is one of the averagely paid income earners. One of the manners through which the teaching organization does this is by focusing on the relationship between the teacher and the management. The organization does this by setting a clear set of rules that makes the teacher comfortable in his work place. The management of the school works very hard to ensure that all the teachers are satisfied and this is through enforcing rules that show clear gender equality. History is one of the subjects where the role of gender from the past is taught and thus the teacher of this subject has a rather strong notion about equality. Ensuring that the school maintains gender equality boosts confidence in the teacher as he gains the assurance that his teachings are right and thus sets his mind right on the track of working harder in an effort to capture the attention of the higher authority so as to get an increase in salary 4. Technology is another important concept to incorporate in the analysis of how a history teacher may get influenced towards working harder and receiving a higher income. Technological advancements is one of the characteristics of the 21st century and has received a lot of criticism, both positive and negative, from different people. In the learning environment, teachers have viewed technology as one negative aspect provided the manner in which students go with small gadgets in school such as phones and ipads and use them in classes for non-educational purposes5. These uses have been the major effect that technology has had in schools and thus it is common to find the average teacher complaining. Despite the notion that technology has negatively affected students, the average history teacher has used this positively. After consultations, the history teacher has been allowed to incorporate technology in the classroom setting as a positive impact. The History teacher can bring in projectors and have the students watch movies depicting various historical world events such as the World War. This assists the students in having a rather comfortable relationship with the teacher and consequently, the students pay much more attention in class. With attentive students in class from the incorporation of projectors, they are bound to have impressive results and eventually do. This definitely captures the attention of the teaching organization and thus it embarks on manners through which the teacher can receive a raise. The raise, however, is not the only means of pay that the teacher gets from the school board. The organization also invests in the teacher in that she gets funds to get various other technological and educational materials for his class and with that come few bonuses. This consequently gets the teacher to work even harder to achieve a much more increase in salary and bonuses. Another manner through which the school system works to assist the History achieve his reward is through other lesser rewards offered during the course of employment. Occasionally, different schools hold different competitions in terms of contests and related activities. These activities are characterized by the history teacher in this case putting in a lot of effort in anticipation of winning. This healthy competition nature between different schools is one means through which the academic organization works towards rewarding the teachers with their respective requirements6. The teachers in these competitions get rewards in form of money or other gifts. This serves as a platform to add in more effort towards excellence whether or not the teacher won an award at that level. This is from the fact that the teachers who do not receive compensation are inspired to put in more time and effort towards the success of their students. This effort is recognized and in subsequent contests when the teacher actually wins a reward, he gets recognition from the school board and thus given a salary increase. These contests act as reward awarding platforms for the school organization. From the study, I was able to understand that the organization of the rewarding system for the school was rather concise and that it solely depended on the efforts that the teacher took. Mr. Johnson however was able to quote one point that made me understand the main force behind getting his reward. As my interview with him was heading to the conclusion, he stated that “I have to get to class as it is important that we cover the syllabus fast to have time for revision that will assist the students understand the taught topics further.” This was important in that the students would perform better and consequently put the teacher in a better place to receive the reward. The study was important in that it assisted me in understanding the teaching profession further with relation to payments. It is common for all the teachers that offer a quality job to get rewarded in form of payments. Receiving or lack of getting the reward affects the workers in almost a similar way. For the workers that receive the reward of increased payments, they get motivation to work even harder with the hope of landing further payments. As for the teachers that do not receive the reward, they get to work even harder with the hope of getting the reward later. The method through which this occupation goes by rewarding its workers is rather appropriate from the fact that the quality of work is what gets attention and not the quantity. This is because the numbers of students that perform well largely determines the rewarding of the teacher. References Evans, Linda. Teachers Morale and Job Satisfaction. New York: McGraw Hill Publishers, 2009. Print. Khan, Alex. Teaching Motivation. London: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print. Weigart, Pauline. Teaching and Education in the 21st Century. New York: Vintage eBooks, 2011. Print. Brown, James. Racism in Europe and the United States. 2011. Retrieved on 10th November 2012 from http://www.pbs.org/itvs/fromswastikatojimcrow/racism.html Abel, Karen. Factors Affecting Academic Interest and Self Perception of Education. New York: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Read More