Arkhangelsk principal explains challenges with young teachers
Ivankin cited workload limits and reluctance to take homeroom duties among younger staff.
Young specialists are being hired more readily in education as well. We asked the director of Arkhangelsk’s largest school, Ilya Ivankin, how today’s teachers differ from those of the previous generation.
According to Ivankin, working with younger colleagues is harder for him as a principal.
«Well, first, not everyone wants to take on a heavy load. They take a standard 18-hour teaching load and don’t want anything beyond that. What else sets them apart? At the first sneeze, it’s straight to sick leave. I sometimes have situations where as many as 10 people are out on sick leave. But someone has to cover those hours. And that’s a problem. An older teacher wouldn’t even pay attention to it, but the younger ones head straight to the clinic. And there they’re always put on sick leave so they don’t spread an infection.
We try to address this. Teachers at School No. 7 have access to sports facilities. Want the pool? Go ahead. Want the gym? Go ahead. All of it is free. Exercise and strengthen your health».
The principal is also concerned that young teachers don’t want to interact with students’ parents.
«They often refuse homeroom teacher duties because they don’t want to communicate with parents. It’s a communication problem. The so-called soft skills are lacking».
There are several reasons for this problem, Ivankin says.
«It’s both a lack of experience and shortcomings in training. Often, teachers are trained by theoreticians who themselves are far removed from school. Some of these instructors have either never worked in a school, or did so a very long time ago, and the education system has already changed a lot.
That’s why in the spring we met with our esteemed Severny Arktichesky Federalny Universitet, Northern (Arctic) Federal University (NArFU), and gave them recommendations on training teachers», — the principal said.
Read also the long interview with the school principal. In it, Ilya Ivankin explains why schools lack teachers, whether a child should go to 10th grade, and whether the Unified State Exam (EGE) should be feared.
