Age of teacher..

Fast_Mover

Thought this forum was very quiet so said i'd get a topic going for discussion..:)

Right..I just turned 20yrs of age at the end of September and im in my last year of college where im doing a Bachelor of Education (aka:Primary Teaching)
Im qualified come next May. I'll be looking for positions during the summer and hopefully will be taking one up in September as so to complete my diploma year.

Anywho if im successful I'll be 20 turning 21 having my own class and all the responsiblies that go along with it.
Thing im mainly worried about is the parents..and parent teacher meetings:eek:

Will parents/would you see me as to young/incompetent to teach their/your children? Thus would not be happy having such a teacher teach their/your child.
Would you perfer if your child had an older more mature teacher?
Or are you quite happy having a young teacher teach your children as they'll have fresh ideas, are energetic and motiviated etc..

Discuss..

undecided

I have two children-

I wouldn't have a problem witha young techer as I find they are more animated and keener to grab kids attention through different means. There is definately something to be said about younger teachers in that respect. I find alot of older teachers are more text book style. But when problems arise they would have more experience to deal with it.

popebenny16

Welcome to the board.

As a perant of two in primary school I have no problem with it. In fact I find that, esp in the Junior/Senior Infants years it may be an advantage as its very much play-school - as you said yoursel, energy and ideas are essential, plus any musical ability helps lol.

Our lads first teacher was in tears when they all went to first class as they were her first class after qualifying and to me it seems that as opposed to turning you off the job, teaching the little ones may simply confirm that you made the right choice. Dont worry about perent/teacher meetings all the fear and approhension is on the other side, not yours

corcaighcailin9

I was 21 and straigh out of college when I got my first permanent job teaching infants. I know that from day 1 the parents were sizing me up as I looked (and still look) quite young.
There's pros and cons about being so young : you definitely need a lot of energy and enthusiasm for young children and, generally, new teachers are given younger classes (although this is not always the case). Being fresh outta college means you are totally up to date with teaching methodologies and the curriculum. However there really is no substitute for experience but hey we all have to start somewhere. It would be very unfair of a parent to be bias based on your age. Just try to look confident (even if you are terrified!) and believe that after putting yourself through the hellish 3 years and achieveing a B.Ed you are fully deserving of your job. Good luck with it all.

undecided

Definately think the younger teachers should teach juniors. My little fella is in JI and loves his teacher. He not the sort of kid that would really take to someone. He always has something new and exciting to tell me everyday! I would imagine that she is probably younger than myself.

My older child says her teacher this year is boring and I have noticed the difference in her want to go to school. This is the first time she has had a teacher over the age of 30!

Not saying that older teachers are bad teachers or anything but in my kids case younger teachers seem to do it for them!

SuperSean11

Heres some points brought up on the same topic
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071202192946AAQiRn1

AnCatDubh

hey there - hello to all.

Just saw this thread on the front page and it got me thinking. Speaking as a parent and as parents we've probably seen a number of different experiences with various teachers of various ages so i think i can offer a reasonably informed opinion.

Essentially our experience as parents is that age of teacher doesn't matter (and believe me we've had allsorts) - one of our children in primary school had a difficult year last year. Difficult is probably too strong a word but basically our child got through last year with no major motivation - we would describe it as just 'ok'. The teacher in this case was new to the school - aged probably late 30's/early 40's, and as a person they were probably reasonably personable to us as parents.

This year there was a normal shift around in teaching staff / classes and our child ended up with a new teacher / straight out of college - a young looking lady (and young in reality). Our child had this teacher last year (on teacher training time) and didn't warm to her at all. Hence we (as parents) were very apprehensive last September and it was a case of belt n braces - fingers crossed.

Thankfully I can report that the experience thus far couldn't possibly have been further from our fears. This young teacher straight out of college is an absolute gem - thus we have no problems or worries with her. The teacher had a brief period when she was ill and our child couldn't wait for her to return - and return she did even though she probably shouldn't have come back so soon. As a parent we interpret this as being dedicated - having the interest in our children beyond her own health perhaps. We understand that she too couldn't wait to return - thank God for enthusiasm.

But your post has prompted me to consider the question purely from our (obviously biased) point of view. The conclusion that as a parent i have come to is that i don't care if anyone else in the class is good or bad, doing well or not, feeling ok or not, learning or not learning - we obviously only care (specifically) about our child. Our child's happiness is our first basic criteria by which we 'judge' the teacher - and our child thankfully is blissfully happy attending the class - soooooo different to last year. The teacher appears to take a genuine interest in our child - that we appreciate greatly. Its not phony - I can spot a phony from about a million miles away (as i can with some secondary teachers that we also currently have the pleasure of evaluating!) so never try be phony - be genuine. Our child is learning and loves learning - our child is bright anyway but our child is now enthused to learn - while we work hard on this at home we attribute and appreciate a lot of the success of our child to the positive experience gained with the significant effort (although it appears natural ability) of the 'young teacher'.

If you can gather from my ramblings above - the age of the teacher is not relevant - it aint about that at all. Helloooo - its all about our child ;o) At its basic level, if our child is happy at school and is progressing academically as per their ability and potential, then we will have no problem/complaint/or difficulty with our child's teacher (whatever age).

So i also guess that as a teacher a difficulty that you will face is how can you deliver on the above hopes/expectations 20 - 30 times (for each student).

I don't know if my wife and i are typical of parents but i hope the detail posted above is of some interest to you. I don't envy you though - i think parents are probably the most difficult breed of creature to deal with (heck - and i am one!). My best effort (and it may be flawed) at evaluating teachers thus far (both primary and secondary) is; if the teacher is genuine - genuinely interested, genuinely concerned, with genuine aptitude and ability - then parents can't find fault.

Cheers.

deisemum

OP don't let age worry you, everyone has to start somewhere.

I agree with AnCatDubh's post, if my children are happy with their teacher then that's half the battle at winning over parents.

Most of the teachers that my children have had over the years were young and they were all very enthusiastic. Some teachers were middle-aged (like myself) but from my experience I found some of them (mainly the ones with young children themselves) but not all to be very set in their ways or else just clocking in and doing the bare minimum but you'll get that in all walks of life.

My older boy is in 6th class and his teacher is about 40ish. She is the best teacher that I've encountered. My son thinks she's the best teacher he's ever had, she is so encouraging that he wants to do extra work for her and that's a lad who likes to just do the bare minimum that he can get away with. Before I had my children I'd heard all good things about this teacher who would have been in her 20's at the time. My mother in law taught there.

Now this is a bit tongue in cheek but there is still some truth in it as it may be an occupational hazard, try not to talk down to parents as if they're your pupils. Some teachers have a tendency to do this and some even wag their finger at you when speaking to you, Mother in Law comes to mind.:D:D
I've got a sibling plus several inlaws that are teachers.

To a 4 or 5 year old someone in their 20's can be old to them so you can imagine how ancient someone in their 40's or 50's seem to them lol Young can be very good

Brooke01

Fast_Mover wrote: »

Thought this forum was very quiet so said i'd get a topic going for discussion..:)

Right..I just turned 20yrs of age at the end of September and im in my last year of college where im doing a Bachelor of Education (aka:Primary Teaching)
Im qualified come next May. I'll be looking for positions during the summer and hopefully will be taking one up in September as so to complete my diploma year.

Anywho if im successful I'll be 20 turning 21 having my own class and all the responsiblies that go along with it.
Thing im mainly worried about is the parents..and parent teacher meetings:eek:

Will parents/would you see me as to young/incompetent to teach their/your children? Thus would not be happy having such a teacher teach their/your child.
Would you perfer if your child had an older more mature teacher?
Or are you quite happy having a young teacher teach your children as they'll have fresh ideas, are energetic and motiviated etc..

Discuss..

no one really cares what age the teacher is :eek:

SuperSean11

Brooke01 wrote: »

no one really cares what age the teacher is :eek:

Since when did you represent everyone:rolleyes:

ther27

I was in the same position as yourself as I was just 20 coming out of college. Yes, parents said good girl to me. I was definitely being sized up all the time and you have to be in a school a few years before you get a reputation as a good teacher. A few tips that I have learned:when you are outlining a problem to a parent, always have the solution at hand. Give them the solution and make sure they know all you are doing for the child. At parent teacher meetings, print out a sheet about each child. Have a bullet point profile of each child. Don't say they are fine, parents don't want to be fobbed off. Older teachers did this a lot but it won't work now. Agree with the parent even if what they're saying doesn't make sense. Also an older teacher told me this: if you have a little disagreement with a child, make sure to make it up by 3 o'clock and praise them for something if you can. That way, nobody can say you are picking on a child. It is a great strategy. Best of luck!

ilovemarmite

I am an SNA so have worked with various different teachers and got to see styles of teaching, the fifth class teacher is 21 and you would not think she is only doing dip this year. Very good teacher brilliant with the kids hey love her and she has got them so motivated.

Think is is how confident and enthusiastic and good at planning and doing interesting ideas rather than age, though always good to get tips and stuff from more experienced teachers

good luck

deisemum

Just wanted to add the my 10 year old son's teacher is 23 years of age so he doesn't have many years of experience but he's very good at relating to his class. He has the pupils well sussed out if yesterday's school reports are anything to go on lol. Fortunately my sons reports were excellent. Pupils are very good at sussing out adults as well.

He's firm but fair, enthusiastic and has his pupils respect. Also the younger teachers are generally more into sport so are more active in PE classes compared with a lot but not all of the older teachers.

Now as a parent I'm starting to worry about my older boy when he starts secondary school in September. I know there are a few relics still teaching there that my husband had when he went to school there back in the late 70's/early 80's.

MillieG

I think that younger teachers are much better teachers. They are straight out of college, full of enthusiasm, have all the latest know-how and methods, and kids relate to them much easier. teaching is a tough and sometimes thankless job. especially in the area of religion teaching. I can't get over how much extra work goes into getting classes ready for communion/confirmation. Why the church/priests and nuns/parents don't get more involved and help out a bit is beyond me! a teacher should only have to worry about covering the curriculum well, and this is tough enough to do with special needs and foreign students adding to the workload! (of curse I'm not saying that they should not be there, I'm saying that teachers have a huge workload thats all!) If it were up to me all classes would have a classroom assistant (with or without additional sna's). The way things are at the moment it's too easy for a teacher to get p****d off with the system and loose interest/enthusiasm, which seems to happen a lot.

buzzybee

i'm a young teacher still 20 out in my first year and i have to admit i love my job and my class but it's very daunting having parents judging you every single day, at the start of the year i did have a lot of parents telling me how young i looked and had i been to college etc. and i just got so sick of it, but it eventually did die down so be prepared good luck job hunting