Concetti Chiave
- The transition from an architect to a school teacher was unexpected, initiated by a long-forgotten public competition result.
- Teaching provides better work-life balance with shorter working hours and more vacation time, allowing for travel and personal growth.
- The new teaching role is fulfilling through creative engagement with students, particularly in art, enhancing the teacher's own sense of youthfulness.
- Positive experiences with students include successful school trips where students showcased their interest and good behavior.
- Despite the rewarding nature of teaching, the role is underpaid compared to other European countries, yet the career change improved overall life quality.
Past Work Experiences
I’ m an architect and I used to work as a technical manager in the city planning office of a local town hall. I quite liked my job. It was a work of great responsibility and, at the same time, it was very satisfactory. I used to work from 09.00 a.m. to 07.00 p.m. and often I had to take some work home. People who came to my office were almost always angry and aggressive due to problems about their home project or even because of the Italian bureaucracy which is full of rules, regulations and laws, that do not make citizen’s life easy and neither those who work for the government. My salary was good but on the other hand working all those hours, having to deal with all that bureaucracy made me also very nervous and very tired!
Unexpected Transition
Two years ago, in September, I received a very unexpected letter: I had to go to the school management office to sign a contract as a permanent state teacher! I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Ten years ago I took part in a public competition to become a teacher. I passed al the exams and tests successfully, which meant that sooner or later I would have been called to start teaching in the Italian state school. I almost forgot about it but then after ten years the postman delivered me a letter that would have changed my life forever .
So I thought : what shall I do? What do I really want to do in my life ? I had one year to decide, and eventually I decided to have a go! I left my job as an architect and I started this new adventure in teaching, even if I had never been convinced about teaching. At the beginning I wasn’t sure of having made the right choice, and I was worried about this new job because of the new and very different responsibilities involved in it, like having to deal with middle school children and not papers and piles of documents. If someone would have asked me about teaching some years ago, I would have said that I didn’t like it, but now after my two years experience in teaching I can say to be happy about the choice I made.
What are the benefits of the new job?
There are many advantages about teaching, starting for example from the working hours. At school I work from 08.30 a.m. to 01.30 p.m. instead of the 12 hours in my previous job, and I have also many days off from work, so I can travel a lot. I teach art so I can do a lot of creative activities with my students and I’m proud to teach them art and history, especially Italian art. I have a good relationship with my students and staying with them makes me feel younger!
Positive Experiences with Students
In April I went with them for 4 days on the annual school trip to …………I was terrorized because I thought that they would have been uncontrollable, but things turned out to become nice and easy, as they behaved very well. They showed lots of interest at every museum or art gallery we went to ,and always asked interesting questions about the art works or archeological finds displayed. In several occasions the local tour guides paid us compliments on how well behaved our students were. We were all very proud of them, and we all had a great time.
Challenges and Rewards of the New Role
With my previous job I always had to study laws and technical issues, now in order to be updated on art in general, I have to visit museums and art exhibitions which of course is really a lot more interesting. The only weak point about my new job is that Italian teachers aren’t rewarded (2) enough for the work they do. I think that they should be paid more. I not so (6) sure, but I think we are the less paid in Europe with a salary which is 30 % lower than the other European Countries, but I have the feeling of having done the right move, and after two years of teaching I can finally say that (1) If I didn’t change job, I wouldn’t have the quality in life that I have today.
Domande da interrogazione
- What were the main challenges faced in the previous job as a technical manager?
- How did the unexpected transition to teaching occur?
- What are the benefits of the new teaching job compared to the previous role?
- How did the author’s perception of teaching change after starting the new role?
- What are the challenges and rewards of the new teaching role?
The main challenges included dealing with angry and aggressive citizens due to bureaucratic issues, working long hours from 09.00 a.m. to 07.00 p.m., and often taking work home, which led to feeling nervous and tired despite a good salary.
The transition occurred when the author received an unexpected letter to sign a contract as a permanent state teacher, ten years after passing a public competition to become a teacher, which they had almost forgotten about.
Benefits include shorter working hours from 08.30 a.m. to 01.30 p.m., more days off for travel, engaging in creative activities by teaching art, and having a good relationship with students, which makes the author feel younger.
Initially unsure and worried about the new responsibilities, the author now feels happy with the decision to teach, finding joy in the creative aspects and positive interactions with students.
Challenges include low pay for Italian teachers compared to other European countries. However, rewards include engaging with art through museum visits and exhibitions, leading to a better quality of life and satisfaction with the career change.
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