The Passion of Commitment

The passion of commitment Job satisfaction, motivation and self-efficacy As the tittle says, this text focuses its purpose on teachers’ commitment. This word is used to differentiate between the people who prioritize their job for those who put their own interests first. There is a divided perception toward commitment since some teachers expresses the feel satisfaction when they committed to their practice, while others believe commitment is a burden. The writer cites some authors who associate the term commitment with what it means for different teachers, for example, Firestone (1996), Graham (1996), Louis (1998) and Tsui and Cheng (1999) states that it has to do with job satisfaction, identity, motivation, morale, as well as students’ achievement and attitudes toward school. On the first hand, the author tries to characterize commitment by stating some perceptions different teachers have. One of them said: “Give my whole heart to my work…. I love challenge…and I feel satisfied with having put my all into it…. I’ve been in teaching 27 years and up to this point I’ve never considered any other work, because I’m committed to helping every individual child achieve their potential” (Day, 2001) Another, for example, stated that: “I think there’s almost a ‘sliding scale’ of commitment. There are people who are prepared to invest heart and soul when you know you might not get much of a personal return. Children can be really rewarding but also frustrating if you invest a lot of yourself…. I’ve got a commitment above and beyond delivering a curriculum, to developing children as people…but also a commitment to developing myself as a professional, to widening my knowledge so that I can be really effective in what I do” Finally, some of the teacher’s comment was that commitment is “a value, a virtue. It is the combination of having a sense of responsibility, loyalty and hard work…. I try to give my best performance, though I’m aware that I have good and bad days”. It could be evidenced that some teachers characterize commitment as dedication, some as values based and other ones as an ideological concept. Apart from characterizing commitment, the author dealt with topics such as the uncommitted teachers, how commitment change over time and the personal investment in the professional task. On the second hand, the author proposes a different term, which is “Efficacy”. He brings this term because commitment and efficacy has a lot to since commitment without efficacy can become into a problem. Teachers work 6 hours + a day; that indicates that they should be effective to give classes, plan, assess, and all the work that has to be done and not start involving extra time in their practice what can affect occupational effectiveness and consequently enjoyment, satisfaction, self-esteem, and, ultimately, commitment. In order to teach effectively, teachers must not only feel psychologically and emotionally ‘comfortable’, they must also have some sense of belief that they can make a difference in the lives of children they are teaching and that those children are learning. They must feel their professional work is bringing about positive change in their pupils. Teachers need to feel wanted and important, and require affirmation of this by those with whom they live and work (Rudow, 1999). This text leave a door open to practice reflection since as teachers we can think how committed have we been being, how the external factor are affecting us, how effective and what is effort we are putting in our role and thet way re think the way we are working.