A Degree of Hope: The Triumph of Obtaining a B.Ed and the Challenge of Entering the Profession of Teaching
Obtaining a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree is a significant achievement, as it comes with its fair share of challenges. For the vast majority, a B.Ed is a dream come true, signifying a life milestone and a long-awaited validation of the effort invested. While it is intended to be the starting point of a meaningful career, for many, it is riddled with roadblocks.
Possessing a degree is an achievement on its own and amassing the qualifications that come with a B.Ed transforms that achievement into a blend of pleasure and pride. With a degree comes personal passions, each lesson plan and teaching practicum that forms a part of to be educational psychology, is an art and practice around teaching.
Graduates now walk around with a degree and the sense of purpose that comes with it. Here, change is not a nine to five job, but a profession that allows one to enact transformative impact. While there is power in a career driven by need, the feeling of standing before a class, teaching, and being an integral part of a child’s life is transformative.
It’s an equipping sort of joy, one that comes with the practice of having to care, with the having to truly care.
The Challenge: A Career That Faces Challenges from the Onset
If you have recently completed your B.Ed, you might have experienced a phenomenon we so uncaringly call a ‘career slump’. This discrepancy between your passion and an actual teaching job is rather common amongst B.Ed graduates, in the form of an unforeseen gap: a stark absence of teaching vacancies.
1. Oversaturation of Graduates
The number of teaching graduates surpasses the number of available teaching vacancies. This happens primarily because the schools don’t open up new positions to match the level of competition in the education sector, which is very prominent these days!
2. Experience Paradox
Finding a teaching position has also become incredibly frustrating due to changes within schools offering teaching positions. These days, every place wants you to have some level of experience and is willing to offer zero experience striding a brace. Most new graduates think, “You need experience to land the job, but you need the job to gain experience”.
3. Location and Accessibility
If you visit a city, you might see a plethora of schools. However, all of the schools of the city are in extreme competition. Although it is difficult to relocate for a job, rural and remote schools are often devoid of competition. Quite unfortunate, right?
4. Temporary or Underpaid Work
Having a B.Ed often results in settling for a disproportionate part time position, or a freelance teaching position at a private institution. A stark difference lies between these positions and the dream career which one often fantasizes about.
Emotional Toll: Forgotten Aspirations
Post-graduation B.Ed students often succumb to a prolonged waiting period. There is a psychological toll associated with the holding a degree that requires a great deal of effort to obtain, especially when one is confronted with either rejection or silence.
With friends and colleagues pursuing more readily available career opportunities, self-doubt becomes a common theme. Many start to ponder, “Did I make a mistake?” or “Was this dream always unrealistic?” and the perseverance that previously powered their ambitions begins to wane.
Automatic enrollment for non-related jobs due to a lack of available opportunities is helpful in theory, but the defeated mindset strains them. Without a doubt, the overwhelming divide between their education and their actual occupation can seem to be a personal defeat, but in reality, the situation is completely the opposite.
Resilience: The Mark of a True Educator
Despite the overwhelming burdens, B.Ed graduates remain remarkably resolute to the degree of showing forbearance. Most of them proceed to apply for additional jobs, volunteering, tutoring, or acquire further qualifications. Others even make drastic and bold decisions, like founding their own appointment based coaching centers or within non-government organizations, as a means to remain in the teaching sphere.
Such relentless determination is more than praiseworthy. The situation perfectly encapsulates the essence of brilliant teachers. These extraordinary educators possess immense flexibility to change, backbone to withstand preserving challenges, and will unflinching resolve.
Final Thoughts: A Crisis of Waste, Not of Worth
The lack of employment opportunities for a holder of a B.Ed is not an issue with the individual graduate’s skills or work ethic: it is an issue with the system as a whole. When people with the right skills and an appropriate level of enthusiasm are “put on hold” in an idle state, it is not only wasted potential for them; it is a wastage of human capital for the system in question.
Reforms are required. Better teacher recruitment tactics, more funding for public education, more open hiring procedures, and support networks for recent graduates entering the field are all part of this.
Because every B.Ed. graduate deserves more than a degree of congratulations; they deserve a classroom, a chance, and the chance to change the world for which they have worked so hard.
To All B.Ed. Graduates Who Are Still Awaiting:
It’s not a waste of your degree. Your enthusiasm is still important. Additionally, your classroom is still open despite the delay. Continue teaching as much as you can. Your contribution to the world is still needed.