Learning the English language is going through a sustained crisis that worsened after the pandemic.
Beyond the fact that there is no national teaching plan that gives priority in curricular planning – and there are few cases that are strengthened with more hours –, the shortage of teachers in Córdoba demonstrates a reality that is difficult to remedy in the short term.
“Every day they send a job search in a group that we have with my classmates,” said Florencia, a teacher at a secondary school in the city.
The job offers are dissimilar. They range from substitution for a few hours to covering a time range all week. In all cases, it is urgently needed.
As in other subjects, the traditional way for a person to fill a job position and be in front of a classroom is through a degree awarded by an authorized teacher.
In Córdoba there are different establishments that offer this possibility. The Faculty of Languages of the National University of Córdoba (UNC) is the most recognized, where the Public Translator degree is also taught.
“The problem worsened after the pandemic with the proliferation of distance learning and in English it was very noticeable,” said María Belén Oliva, vice dean of that house of studies.
For Oliva, language teaching allows virtuality in some cases, which is beneficial for teachers because they have better opportunities, especially economic ones.
“Some graduates directly go to work abroad and others prioritize teaching classes.” on-line. The high level of teaching works against us,” he acknowledged.
In practice, requests from the directors of primary and secondary schools in the Capital and Greater Córdoba to the academic authorities to send them CVs of graduates or advanced students are persistent. The shortage is observed both in a trilingual institution in the northern zone and a private institute in the Matienzo neighborhood, to give an example.
The situation is similar in public education. According to official data from the Province, in May around 5% of the courses do not have teachers and are in the search process.
In some cases the classes end up being taught by teachers of other subjects with a good command of English, native speakers or people who studied English in private academies.
Cost versus benefit
The critical situation responds to different variables. One of the most important, which is not foreign to the rest of the teachers, is low salaries.
In this context, a teacher or professor prefers to spend their time with classes with fewer students and from the comfort of their home. The plus is offering the service to foreign institutions or students where the difference can be double or even triple.
Another con is that the educational system does not allow the majority of teachers to cover a good number of hours in the same establishment. Therefore, they must take a few courses at various schools and assume transportation costs, among others.
This trend of teacher reduction is also observed in the training stage. There are teaching students who start with great enthusiasm for their vocation to teach, but who in the middle of their career decide to change direction to a profession that is worth it and more profitable.
“I liked the idea of teaching and being able to reorient my professional profile. However, the workload did not allow me more than a part-time job, so I had to leave my degree after eight months,” said Nathaly. His level allowed him to get a 100% remote job for a company in the United States.
Leticia Di Siena is the director of the degree in English teaching at the Blas Pascal University (UBP) and throughout her career she worked as a teacher in schools, academies, she was director of a bilingual school and director of a teaching staff. According to her point of view, the panorama is critical for various reasons, but fundamentally because of the poor hierarchy of teaching work.
“Knowing English is not enough to teach it. It is not about transferring knowledge. Teaching is a creation, it is an art that includes pedagogy so that knowledge is built together with the student,” she said.
Think solutions
The teaching of English fits into a crisis in the educational system where half of the students do not understand texts appropriate to their age. To this we must add the difficulty of incorporating knowledge in another language in courses that often exceed 35 students. One way or another, knowledge becomes insufficient.
Inés Savid has more than four decades of experience as a teacher. She had her own English academy with a partner, but its virtuality gave her another way of thinking about teaching. During the last few years she trained and currently offers a learning program to students from the age of seven without geographical limits.
For Savid the way on-line It allows the student to be more comfortable and concentrated than if the class were in person. “The results are formidable, there is more attention and commitment and the screen does not become a distance,” she concluded.
The teacher recognized that a negative aspect may be the lack of interaction with her peers. However, she also said that the child obtains this opportunity at school, in sports and other social activities.
The Faculty of Languages faces another aspect of the problem: they are evaluating presenting a request for modification to the Higher Council in the curriculum for teaching the English language so that the duration is reduced by four years and in this way offer more trained professionals. speed.
