Teachers' day, between class and TikTok. The principals: "Essential, but they must be valued"

From a simple physics professor in a high school in the province of Bari to a TikTok star with 1 million followers.

On the day when teachers are celebrated, increasingly tired and mistreated by the social changes that weigh down the school institution, we started with him,

We intercept him while he is traveling to Milan to promote his book titled as the TikTok profile, followed by over a million followers: "The physics we like", already entered in the best sellers list.

You are more of a phenomenon than a teacher.

How many years have you been teaching physics in high school and when did you realize you had positive feedback from students?

“I've actually been teaching since 2007. It was my dream.

I wanted to teach physics because I want to tell it, leave my passion to others.

When I passed the state exams, I jumped for joy with my mother.

This enthusiasm, this positive tension on my part, the students immediately perceived ”.

What is the dowry, the ability that makes the difference in the classroom?

“The ability to communicate with pupils by enriching our story;

we teachers must first of all be communicators.

Then we should always remember that we were students too, with our frailties and show our students our vulnerability.

We must not just chase the program ”.

How did the landing on TikTok happen and how does more than 1 million followers relate to it?

Are they students, parents, colleagues?

How do you keep them hooked?

“Many believe my followers are high school students, but both 5-year-olds and 90-year-olds follow me.

A few days ago a 90-year-old grandmother told me: 'Prof I always watch it on the net'.

I also write people with the eighth grade who, thanks to the videos, are discovering physics ”.

You don't just talk about physics in the videos.

Very nice is the video of her on fear and how to manage it.

What about her would you recommend to her colleagues on Teachers' Day and what do you think is missing from the school?

Digital is a medium that goes alongside traditional education.

The school revolution must start from the bottom.

The rush to finish the programs must go away.

Each of us teachers must put some of his own in order to convey his own subject.

If we don't style our teaching, we fail.

I would say to all colleagues 'be courageous, throw your heart over the obstacle, have a vision'.

Thanks from Minister Bianchi

A fundamental job is that of teachers, the Minister for Education Bianchi

recalls on Twitter :

"Today I want to thank all our teachers, who, in this digital age, are more and more people of reference for our children. Teachers not only spread knowledge and knowledge: they help female students to grow free and responsible ".

Yet the school is not always an environment where teachers are able to derive satisfaction from their work, as

(National Dean Association) explains in response to the words of Minister Bianchi: "The teachers, I will never tire of remembering this, they play an essential role in society. We entrust our future to them every day, that is our children. But it is not enough to thank them, now it is

. This can be done by starting to pay them adequately and creating a real teaching career ".

"The complexity of the world we live in - continues Giannelli - also makes it necessary to carry out a continuous updating campaign on teaching and docimology. Our teachers must be enabled to face with the utmost competence the sudden changes that go through the community to guide the our young people and make them aware and autonomous. The school is the main place in which to welcome and manage the technological and social challenges and to do this we need a revision of tools, methods and contents to be made available to our teachers ".       

"We are well aware of the great sense of duty that characterizes those who work in schools, but it is not right to continue to take advantage of it. We are always ready to reflect and plan, together with the next government and the next Minister of Education, a new school, open to future and in which teachers are the protagonists of change ".

A clear appeal from the ANP president who hopes for a new school that truly honors those who choose the difficult job of educating and training future generations.

ANP

Antonello Giannelli president of ANP Ass Presidi

Italy lags behind in the enhancement of teachers

Over the years, in fact, teachers have gone from being the cornerstone of the education system to an undervalued category that is constantly under scrutiny.

In the space of a few decades, the status of Italian teachers, especially those of compulsory education, has changed a lot;

worse.

According to the OECD 2022 Report: our professors are paid little, certainly less than their colleagues in many other countries.

While in the total of the 38 states analyzed, on average, the real annual salaries of teachers (in the public sector) vary from approximately $ 42,000 for the pre-primary level to nearly $ 54,000 for the upper secondary level, in Italy the fork is it opens much lower, reaching an average of $ 40,000 for pre-primary, and stops at less than $ 46,000 once you reach the apex of upper secondary level.

Furthermore, not all teachers are so "lucky" to have access to a stable employment contract: according to an estimate made by the Agnelli Foundation, about 24% of the more than 900,000 teachers employed in the last school year had a fixed-term position.

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Students and teacher in high school classrooms

To question the teachers are also the students.

A recent survey conducted by the Skuola.net portal together with the National Association of Headmasters of Rome and Lazio - on a sample of 5,650 girls and boys of middle and high schools - highlights how the vast majority of students (well 8 out of 10) would like that periodically there was feedback on the work of individual teachers.

A sort of "teachers' report card".

To understand what are the elements that the students are accusing and which are the most urgent elements to be evaluated, we asked for help from

director of Skuola.net.

“There is a priority theme in schools today, an anomaly: students are evaluated every year, managers are evaluated, but teachers are not.

To dismiss a teacher you really need serious reasons: harassment or behavior incompatible with a public office ”, Grassucci immediately underlines.

“Whether you are capable or incapable of teaching it is difficult to be removed.

The boys know this and, above all, they feel it in the classroom.

This is why they would also like to 'evaluate' the teachers ”.

The elements to be rated are characteristics considered essential by the students:

In fact, in the first place - indicated by about 8 pupils out of 10 - should be included in the "report card" both a judgment on the ability to "motivate and enhance" the children and one on the ability to "communicate and involve".

Next, there emerges the need to detect the “competence in the subject taught” and the level of “listening and attention” towards the students.

However, the evaluation of the degree of “impartiality” in the assignment of votes (put on the list by 57% of the boys) was also very much felt.

In short, a school works well if the teachers "work" just as well.

They are the real protagonists of Education.

So what are the 'evils' that weigh on the school system by preventing the teaching staff from taking flight to a more valuable school?

“The problem - explains Grassucci - is the Italian system that levels teachers, instead of differentiating them.

There is no hierarchy that allows you to value the best.

Today there is no career as a teacher, there is no intermediate figure to coordinate.

There is the teaching staff, all the same, and then there is the principal who has to take care of everything, including the administration.

And then there is no evaluation system.

Abroad there is regular evaluation of teachers by school principals and inspectors.

We have no control.

In this way there is no motivational lever, in addition to the organizational one ”.

“Then - continues the director of Skuola, net - economic leverage is also missing.

There is no salary growth for a teacher.

Salaries in Italy are lower because they don't grow over the years.

So, in summary, we should implement: training, organization and coordination and encourage salary increases and career in the teaching staff in a short time.

If a professor is worth he must hear it and see her results rewarded.

This leveling does not allow us to be competitive, above all it does not allow us to attract and interest young people ”.