Why is there a shortage of female teachers in kindergartens?

Teaching is a beautiful profession. Working with children is varied, creative, far from boring and monotonous. However, it takes a lot of time and effort to prepare a fun and interesting programme and sometimes one is sucked in like candy. ItThe Czech Republic is therefore facing an acute shortage of preschool teachers, is challenging to set a positive example throughout the day, to ensure empathetic communication and to create a stimulating environment. It’s also a huge responsibility, considering that the preschool period is crucial in a child’s development and personality formation. The teacher is the one who can influence many things and set the direction for the future.

It is therefore in the interests of society as a whole that pre-school teachers are of the right quality, are motivated to do a good job, feel supported by the state and the public, and that there are enough of them.

Why is there a lack of young teachers in preschools?

When someone drops out of the rota due to retirement or maternity leave, principals, their deputies and the rest of the staff find themselves in the precarious situation of having no one to fill the vacancy.

• Where to take when there are no teachers?
• And why are there no teachers?

It’s not just low pay. Those who have achieved a university education and live in big cities where they face a higher cost of living are more likely to be dissatisfied with them. But many teachers do not complain about finances.

They are mainly dissatisfied with working conditions. Some graduates take their first job and then quickly leave education. It is more demanding than they expected. Others stick it out, but in their minds they wonder how on earth they are going to make it to retirement. Working with children (and their parents) is just a big strain on the psyche.

In state kindergartens, there are usually twenty to thirty children in a class. With such high numbers, most of the time the teacher is just a nice policeman trying to maintain some sort of order and safety. His fragile system can be completely overthrown by a single demanding child who does not follow the rules, boycotts everything except his own fun, and pushes others to do the same.

 

Another pressing problem
is the dismissive attitude of some parents.

They don’t say hello, they don’t say thank you. They perceive the kindergarten as a service, they show no interest in their children or, on the contrary, they have more and more demands, they find faults mainly in the teacher, not in their approach to the children.

“Often parents tend to tell us how to educate our children in kindergarten, how to approach them,”
Mgr. Regína Ouhledová, director of the private kindergarten Monty School of Prague said in this interview.

You can read about the fact that parents
sometimes confuse a teacher with a babysitter in this article. >

 

The school management tries to please mainly parents,
the founder and the ministry demand more and more administration.

Yes, there is someone everywhere who can make you feel bad about your job. But the problem is when you’re outnumbered. Teachers sometimes feel that it’s not only parents who throw sticks at them, but also their superiors.

When it all adds up, it is no wonder that ideals take over and all efforts seem futile. It can go so far as to feel like burnout. Many teachers therefore prefer to leave education and seek a quiet place in an office somewhere.

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The ones who stick it out are those for whom teaching is a calling.
For them, we have this message:

Know that your work is meaningful. You are an important part of a child’s world.
If you do your job with love, the children will pay you back many times over.

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12. 4. 2023 | Martina Zatloukalová