BEING A TEACHER IS MORE THAN A PROFESSION: REFLECTIONS ON THE TEACHING VOCATION IN THE XXI CENTURY

Abstract

This paper analyzes the position of the teaching profession within the broader
social reality in the 21st century, with particular reference to the contemporary Macedonian
pedagogical and social context. The paper first gives a summary presentation of
several central points related to the teaching profession in modern society: 1. Interpretation
of this year’s UNESCO theme: “The Transformation of Education Begins with
Teachers”; 2. Consulting several theories that give a broader perspective to the teaching
profession in general (Konrad Liessmann, George Steiner, John Dewey and Jerome
Brunner); 3. Criticism of the negative tendency to interpret the teaching profession from
the point of view of information transmission, and not within the broader educational
process, as the theory and history of pedagogy dictates. The rest of the paper deals with
the application of general pedagogical and philosophical theories to the contemporary
Macedonian contest in dialogue with the specific Macedonian pedagogical tradition.
The paper pays particular attention to the “Conception of Primary Education” (2021),
which is interpreted as an attempt to reinterpret and rehabilitate the position of the
teacher in contemporary Macedonian education.