For pope, school must be a positive reference, teachers are people first
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Whether public or private, the school's "tasks include the call to enlighten and motivate a just idea of the school, [even though this is] sometimes overshadowed by discussions and reductive positions. The school is certainly composed of a valid and qualified education, but also of human relations, which for us are welcoming and benevolent relations, to be offered indiscriminately to all," said Pope Francis as he received this morning a delegation from the 'Unione Cattolica Italiana Insegnati, Dirigenti, Educatori, Formatori' (Italian Union of Teachers, Principals, Educators and Instructors, or UCIIM).
"Dear colleagues," said the pope in his opening, "allow me to address you as such, given that I too have been a teacher like you and I have fond memories of my days spent in the classroom with students."
"Teaching is a beautiful profession. It's a pity teachers are badly paid . . . because it is not just about the time they spend in school, but the time they spend in preparation, the time they spend on each individual student. I think of my own country, where many teachers have to work double shifts just to be able to get a decent wage. But what state will a teacher be in after a double shift?
"It is a beautiful and badly paid job, because it allows us to see the people who are entrusted to our care grow day after day. It is a little like being parents, at least spiritually. It is a great responsibility!
"In all these years you have helped the country to grow, you have helped to reform the school, you have especially contributed to educate generations of young people.
"Over the past 70 years Italy has changed, schools have changed, but there are always teachers willing to engage in their profession with that enthusiasm and willingness that faith in the Lord gives us.
"We can ask ourselves," said the pontiff, "who is a teacher's neighbour? The students! It is with them that he or she spends their days. It is they who await guidance, direction, a response - and, before that, good questions!
Hence, "UCIIM's tasks include the call to enlighten and motivate a just idea of the school, sometimes overshadowed by discussions and reductive positions. The school is certainly composed of a valid and qualified education, but also of human relations, which for us are welcoming and benevolent relations, to be offered indiscriminately to all. Indeed, the duty of a good teacher - all the more for a Christian teacher - is to love his or her more difficult, weaker, more disadvantaged students with greater intensity."
Like like-minded groups, "If a professional association of Christian teachers wants to bear witness to their inspiration today, then it is called to engage in the peripheries of the school, which cannot be abandoned to marginalization, exclusion, ignorance, crime."
What is more, "In a society that struggles to find points of reference, young people need a positive reference point in their school. The school can be this or become this only if it has teachers capable of giving meaning to the school, to study and culture, without reducing everything to the mere transmission of technical knowledge.
In fact, "they must aim to build an educational relationship with each student, who must feel welcomed and loved for what he or she is, with all of their limitations and potential. In this direction, your task is now more necessary than ever."
Lastly, "On a professional level," Francis said, "it is important to update teaching skills, especially in light of new technologies, but teaching is not just a job: it is a relationship in which each teacher must feel fully involved as a person, to give meaning to the educational task towards their students. Your presence here today is proof that you have the motivation that the school needs."
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24/04/2020 11:24
