Teaching vocation as a hopeful response in contexts of fragile human ties

María de-los-Ángeles Romero-Ramírez

lily.romero@hotmail.com

Dr. Rafael Calles Sierra School, Santa Ana de Coro

Venezuela

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0708-2702

Reception: 15 Julio 2019

Revision: 01 Agosto 2019

Approval: 20 Agosto 2019

Publication: 01 Enero 2020

ABSTRACT

The teaching profession demands the vocation, and both have to be closely linked, because the vocation without profession often makes the educational action ineffective and harmful when the educator is among the illusion, the desire to do and the ignorance of not knowing-doing. A qualitative interpretive study on the Teaching vocation was carried out as a hopeful response in contexts of fragile human ties. The formation of autonomous and supportive citizens in contexts of human fragility is a commitment that is assumed with responsibility, leadership and certainty when, in the person of the teachers, there is a being able to understand that their action in the other will be multiplied for better or worse. The sublime of the teaching profession is that of forming authentic, free and strong citizens in the human, as well as committed leaders, capable of responding and facing the complex life that God gave us.

Keywords: Teachers, teacher’s responsibility, teacher’s role, educational quality, educational relevance (Words taken from UNESCO Thesaurus).

INTRODUCTION

Educating has always meant an opportunity to achieve men’s plenty of freedom, since through the formation of the persons; individuals develop in an integral way and change their life perspectives respect to themselves and to the society for the better.

Teaching as a vocation of service implies that individuals are reviewed from within, reflect on being teachers with dedication and commitment, confront their reality, that is, their own persons with the social and human context in order to know if they are truly prepared to educate in situations of human fragility without ending up affected or having effect on girls, boys and young people whose lives are under their responsibility, since they must fulfill the role of being integral educators. Hernandez, (2018).

Therefore, educating without a vocation is a synonym of carrying out a function without the human element involved. It is to see in others (students) a box or object of knowledge deposit without valuing what they really are: people with dignity who require preparation for life, for work, for relationships with others, with God, with themselves and with their environment. In this case, teachers with a vocation are the protagonists of the changes in the human dimension that our society demands and requires a lot. For this to happen, educators need to profoundly transform the role they play.

Now, one of the most prominent problems in educational contexts is the presence of teachers whose vocation has been affected by a lack of faith, together with the difficult circumstances that surround the educational centers: violence, lack of respect and indiscipline, lack of resources and disagreement with parents. All those aspects have triggered a real crisis of values where authority is unknown, the person is assumed, in many cases, as an object of pleasure regardless of the risks that are taken, laziness stands in front of the desire to do, and knowledge is seen as an unattractive element, which leads to subtract not only the students in their personal being, but also the teaching work.

This situation has led to redesign strategies, thoughts and attitudes to tackle the difficult task of educating for constructive purposes with determination and effectiveness. However, the effort in many cases has been insufficient due to the nature or complexity of the situations presented. Based on the foregoing, a qualitative study of an interpretive nature was carried out on the Teaching Vocation as a hopeful response in contexts of fragile human ties. Below the general purpose of the research is specified:

General Purpose:

Interpret teaching vocation as a hopeful response in contexts of fragile human ties.

METHODOLOGY

The scientific paradigm that guided this research on the teaching vocation for a hopeful response in contexts of fragile human ties is the qualitative one which was focused on the principle of the hermeneutic theory, allowing the researcher not only to know but also interpret and, therefore, add meaning to that reality. Such paradigm offers the possibility of an approach based on an interpretive methodology that allows visualizing the characteristics of the educational beings in their contexts of development. (Aldana Zavala, 2019).

Hermeneutical Analysis

Hermeneutical analysis was framed in the comprehensive interpretive paradigm, which involved a rescue of the subjects’ elements about those facts external to them. For this reason, it should be noted that such analysis took the interpretation process as a fundamental axis. A fundamental aspect to consider within the practical aspects of the hermeneutic process is related to the interpretation as a dialogical event in which the interlocutors are brought into play equally and from which they are modified ; that is, they are comprehended insofar as they are understood within a third horizon. (Vattimo, 1991) quoted by Polo (2001).

RESULTS

Categorization and Theorization

This part of the research constituted a fundamental element, since it implied what the teachers of the General Media level who worked at Doctor Rafael Calles Sierra School regarded in the teaching vocation as a hopeful response in contexts of fragile human ties. This is the interpretation phase of Gadamer's Hermeneutical Circle (1984) cited by Martínez, (1999). To achieve this, direct contact was made with the key informants, with whom it was possible to know and inquire about their experiences and also achieve with them a clear understanding of the data obtained through the observation and the semi-structured interview.

Synthesis and Interpretations of the Categories

It is important to highlight that the interpretations, the codes of each category, and their respective concepts will be presented below. It is necessary to emphasize that all of them involved knowing the being, the actions of teachers and, hence, their vocation in contexts of fragile ties, which helped achieve the purpose of this research.

Synthesis of the Teaching Vocation Category

This process corresponds to the phase of understanding the hermeneutical circle of Gadamer (1984) cited by Martínez (1999).

For the PT informant, teaching is a work that has to do directly with the formation of the human being. If it has been assumed by vocation, it must satisfy the persons who carry it out. Teaching work is getting involved with the others and being part of them, of their laughs, of their life. For the PC informant, teaching is a work that must be aligned with the changes in our society so, when we are trained, it opens up the range of work possibilities regarding our professional practice.

Summary of the Informants: E1PT, E2PC, E3PG

In the interviews with the key informants, it was noted very little use of the term work to refer to teaching; it was manifested as an exercise of commitment, rather than an employment relationship. Also, it was seen as a vision of service and vocation. Teaching work is synonymous with dedication, training with responsibility and love for the replacement generation.

Researcher’s Synthesis

Teaching as work is essential for society because it promotes the great social responsibilities such as: that of training the rising generations for values, knowledge and fundamental principles. It involves doing our best to ensure that the fruits are good and abundant. Teaching as work must be accompanied by dedication, professionalism, vocation, love and appreciation. In summary, when the educators have a teaching vocation and move their being and their actions, manage to direct their vocation in the world and externalize the human being from within. It also moves them to develop the seed of their own beings, to promote freedom of thought and expression as well as sincere, constructive and honest criticism.

Furthermore, it is important to highlight that vocation is a task that requires a constant effort of fulfillment from each person. This means that, to be a teacher, you must put in the balance how called we are for this task and how willing we are to assume the development of the necessary skills to correctly carry out the functions inherent to this profession and all its implications.

Triangulation

The triangulation of information is an act that is carried out once the work of gathering the information has been completed. Stake (1998) proposes strategies for the confirmation of qualitative research, for which, he suggests the triangulation between the data sources, the researcher, theories and methods.

When the Teaching Vocation is part of the educators’ performance, their beings and actions manage to direct their vocation in the world and externalize the human beings inside. It also moves them to develop the seed of their own being, to promote freedom of thought in addition to sincere, constructive and honest criticism. It promotes the knowledge of the persons to accept and love one another; also, it guides people to develop all the talents carrying out the mission in life with others. In this sense, Pérez Esclarín (2005) points out that, specifically, the teaching vocation contains the noblest missions which is to educate and, therefore, to humanize.

In addition, it is important to emphasize that vocation is a task, which requires a constant effort of realization from each person, a firm will that guides the steps and illuminates the inspiration that leads to the construction itself in and from the relationship with others. It is also important to highlight that teaching does not only deal with caring vocation, but also with trying to maintain it when this is idealized excessively.

Gichure (1995) quoted by Larrosa (2010), points out that vocation determines the most suitable people for a profession and that the most suitable profession exists for each person. This means that, for being a teacher, you must put in the balance how called we are for this task and how willing we are to assume the development of the necessary skills to correctly carry out the functions inherent to this profession and all its implications.

On the other hand, teaching assumed as a profession requires possessing previous qualities or aptitudes that, in this case, lead the teachers to play their roles with property, determination, quality and dedication. Likewise, it requires lively and coherent beings with solid values that allow them to assume one of the most sublime professions with dignity. Similarly, the teaching profession requires a vocation and both must be closely linked, since the profession without a vocation can be ineffective and can harm the action, in this case, educational.

With regard to teaching work, it is necessary to take into account the vocation because it will determine how effective and diligent teachers can be in the educational field, since that identification and natural inspiration will accompany them in their daily work, in their decisions, in their actions and contact with students, parents, representatives and society in general.

In addition, it constitutes a guarantee in terms of willingness and desire to build a better world because the answer will be adjusted to reality, to current needs and not to own benefits. In this way, teachers’ natural leadership will be manifested by guiding, kindly monitoring, educating and humanizing the children and young people with love, especially, the ones who are under their responsibility.

Emergent Intersubjective Theory of the Teaching Vocation for the Training of Autonomous and Solidarity Citizens as a hopeful response in contexts of fragile human ties

The formation of autonomous and supportive citizens in contexts of human fragility is a commitment that is assumed with responsibility, leadership and certainty since the teachers are beings capable of understanding that their action in the other will multiply for better or for worse. When teachers understand that educating is synonymous with awakening the human beings, it helps them to build their personalities and to channel their vocation in the world.

It is about developing the seed of their own beings, promoting no longer conformity, but freedom of thought and expression as well as sincere, constructive and honest criticism.

In order for the students to know themselves, it is essential to educate them in the capacity for reflection and silence. Hence, genuine education should help students answer the questions of the human beings: Who am I? What is the meaning of my life? How to achieve happiness? It is as important to educate in self-knowledge and personal love as it is to educate the way to live authentically, thus, learners will be the owners and lords of their own lives.

In short, the formation of autonomous and caring citizens bears the vocational mark of the teachers who have taken on the task of educating for life, in values and with the commitment to give the family and society, in general, a being strengthened personally, that is, to prepare beings in the ethical, in the authentic and autonomous way of thinking and acting, capable of responding to a battered society minimized to the material, due to it has lost its north in terms of humanity (Borrero, 2019). This path only materializes, when conscience, love of profession and commitment are an essential part of the educators, regardless of the level they exercise.

Consequently, to achieve citizens’ training based on autonomy and solidarity will not be a utopia when it is developed with love, intelligence, leadership, dedication, balance and conviction given that the teacher has been called to practice the profession with joy, enthusiasm in order to generate with it a hopeful response in contexts of fragile human ties.

CONCLUSIONS

Educating for values and for life is the great responsibility of people who have opted for teaching. When the teachers’ service is carried out through dedication, commitment, enthusiasm and sufficient awareness of knowing that our whole being is an instrument for the integral formation of individuals of different ages, it generates in the individuals the possibility of dedicating themselves fully to the chosen profession.

Fragility in all sense deals with: the exercise of authority, the nonsense of phantom relationships that only seek to cover so much loneliness and heartbreak, immediacy for everything, impatience to achieve or practice in appropriate time what corresponds to age, intolerance, love for the material rather than for life itself, neglect, moral abandonment, mediocrity in acting, speaking and thinking, inability to give a concrete and prompt response to so many human needs.  All this produces, in many teachers, the abandonment of their educational role; they try to reduce their performance to that of mere instructors. Therefore, teachers turn their back on a reality that demands from them a way to base his profession on principles, values,  and commitment assumed in teaching, even if the entire environment has darkened. Society asks the educators sustain their teaching vocation despite the opposite currents in order to continue promoting solidarity, cooperation and freedom in the generations that are rising.

For this to be possible, it is vital to understand that transformation can only be possible from the teachers’ being and actions, when the teachers assume the task of educating for values and strive to teach students with their own life and with great responsibility. The sublime of the teaching profession is to train authentic, free and strong human beings in addition to committed leaders, capable of responding and facing the complex life that God gave us; so, we must know, love and value our reality as long as we are part of it.

FINANCING

Non-monetary

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A sincere thank you to the management and teaching staff of the Dr. Rafael Calles Sierra School located in Santa Ana de Coro city for the support provided in carrying out this research.

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