COVID boosts teacher regard

Thanks in part to the pandemic and parents’ firsthand knowledge of what it’s like to oversee a child’s education, our perception of teachers has improved.

Seventy-two percent of the nationally representative sample of respondents in a nationwide study headed by Dr. Amanda Heffernan, Senior Lecturer in Leadership at the School of Education, Culture and Society in Monash University’s Faculty of Education, believed that teachers’ work served students’ best interests.

Of the 1,012 respondents, around half agreed that parents (55%) and pupils (51%) respected instructors. Furthermore, 58% of participants concurred with the assertion that Australian educators adequately prepare their pupils for life beyond school. Families in Australia reported excellence in exploring more learning in future.

The study’s conclusions demonstrate the public’s high regard for Australian educators and their concern for the welfare of their pupils. Additionally, it is evident that instructors continue to have a significant impact on students’ social and emotional development, and this facet of their work ought to continue to influence conversations about teaching in general, according to Dr. Heffernan.

According to the report, 74% of the public said they valued their previous professors and could describe how such teachers had benefited their lives. To encourage overall teacher retention, efforts to recognize the wide range of beneficial effects of teachers’ work will be crucial.