About the work of a teacher

Whether you are a teacher or child caretaker, everyone in the profession surly had days or weeks where it seems problems pile up upon problems, because...everyone wants something different from you!

It was like this for me last week, and it made me remember a talk I had a long time ago with a few colleagues.

In this profession, you have at least three sides you constantly have to make "happy"...the kids, their parents as well as the institution or school with their requirements and laws. All of them having different interests, of course. Even if we keep doing our best, there are times where it's simply impossible to please all sides involved. It can feel like being in a straitjacket or being pulled apart on the arms and legs.
Especially at such times it is important to remember why we do our work, and why we chose that profession. And also, to not take ourselves too seriously! Every life and work has its good and bad sides, and things go on in one way or other!

(On a side note, I really understand by now why this.profession has a high turnover as well as burn out rate.)

The goal of pedagogy

When i was studying at university, one of my professors liked to say that the goal of pedagogy in itself is to make itself redundant and not necessary anymore...

I understand why he said it, as the goal of education in general is usually looked as helping people to become independent,  and to be able to lead their live independently.

But! Society keeps changing, and so should the goals of education and pedagogy, shouldn't they? In a society where everything is in constant change, it has to help people to learn how to get along with the change, and how to find stability with it. In a society that is rather stable, it can encourage people to go out and explore, and to go out of their comfort zones.

Education has to adapt to the current needs of a society, while also taking into account how things might change in the future. Especially when it is about educating children!

I think the main point why pedagogy might have a goal of making itself obsolete, is that everyone should learn how to adapt to changes and different situations, and 'learning how to learn'. But even this is something that has to be taught!

Pedagogical situations happen everywhere, between all kind of people, not only with students and teachers. So that it one day should not be needed anymore, is kind of an utopian idea, I think.