ST.

ANTHONY COLLEGE THE TEACHING PROFESSION

CALAPAN CITY, INC.

Information Sheet 1.7

Teaching as Your Vocation, Mission and Profession

“One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched
our human feelings.” Carl Jung

Etymology of the word “VOCATION”

Vocation comes from the Latin word “vocare” which means a call. Based on the etymology
of the word, vocation, therefore, means a call. If there is a call, there must be a caller and
someone who is called. There must also be a response. For Christians, the Caller is God Himself.
For our brother and sister Muslims, Allah. Believers in the Supreme Being will look at this
voiceless call to have a vertical dimension. For non- believers, the call is also experienced but
this may be viewed solely along a horizontal dimension. It is like a man calling another man,
never a Superior being calling man.

The Christians among you realize that the Bible is full of stories of men and women who
who called by God to do something not for themselves but for other. We know of Abraham, the
first one called by God, to become the father of great nation, the nation of God’s chosen people.
We recall Moses who was called while in Egypt to lead God’s chosen people out of Egypt in order
to free them from slavery. In the New Testament, we know of Mary who was also called by God to
become the mother of the Savior, Jesus Christ in Islam, we are familiar with Muhammad, the last
of the prophets to be called by Allah, to spread the teaching Allah. All of them responded positively
to god’s call. Buddha must have also heard the call to abandon his royal life in order to sick the
answer to the problem on suffering.

Teaching as your vocation

Perhaps you never dreamt to become a teacher! But here you are now preparing to
become one! How did it happen? From the eyes of those who believed, it was God who called you
here for you to teach, just as God called Abraham, Moses, and Mary, of the Bible. Like you, these
biblical figures did not also understand the events surrounding their call. But in their great faith,
they answered YES. Mary said: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me according to
your word”. (Of course, it is difficult explaining your call to teach as God’s call for one who, in the
first place, denies God’s existence, for this is a matter of faith.) The fact that you are now in the
Collage of Teacher Education signifies that you positively responded to the call to teach. Right?
May this YES response remain a YES and become even firmer through the years. Can you
believe it? Better believe it!

Etymology of the word “mission”

Teaching is also a mission. The word mission comes from the Latin word
“mission” which means to send. You are called to be a teacher and you are sent into the world to
accomplish a mission , to teach. The Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines mission as a
task assigned. You are sent to accomplish an assigned task.
 ST. ANTHONY COLLEGE THE TEACHING PROFESSION
CALAPAN CITY, INC.

Teaching as your mission

Teaching is your mission means it is the task entrusted to you in this world. If it is your
assigned task then you’ve got to prepare yourself for it. From now on, you cannot take your
studies for granted. Your four years of pre service preparation will equip you with the knowledge,
skills and attitude to become an effective teacher. However, never commit the mistake of
culminating your mission preparation at the end of the four year pre service education. You have
embarked in a mission that calls for a continuing professional education. As the saying goes,”
once a teacher , forever a student.” More is said of continuing professional education in the Code
of Ethics for Professional Teachers in Chapter 5)
Flowing from your uniqueness , you are expected to contribute to the betterment of this
world in your own unique way. Your unique and most significant contribution to the humanization
of life on earth is in the field where you are prepared for- teaching.
What exactly is the mission to teach? Is it merely to teach the child the fundamental skills or
basic R’s of reading, writing, arithmetic and right conduct? Is it to help the child master the basic
skills so he can continue acquiring higher level skills in order to become a productive member of
the society? Is it to deposit facts and other information into the “empty minds” of students to be
withdrawn during quizzes and tests? Or is it to “ midwife” the birth of ideas latent in the minds of
students? Is it to facilitate the maximum development of his /her potential not only for himself but
also for others? In the words of Alfred North Whitehead, is it to help the child become “the man of
culture and of expertise? Or is it to provide opportunities for a child’s growth and to remove
hampering influences” as Bertrand Russel put it?
Recall the various philosophies in Lesson 1 and you can add more to those enumerated. To
teach is to do all of these and more! To teach is to influence every child entrusted in your care to
become better and happier because life becomes more meaningful. To teach is to help the child
become more human.
A letter given by a private school principal to her teachers on the first day of a new school
year may make crystal clear for you your humanizing mission in teaching.
Dear Teacher :
I am a survivor of a concentration camp.
My eyes saw what no man should witness:
-Gas chamber built by learned engineers
- children poisoned by educated physicians
-infants killed by trained nurses
- woman and babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates
So, I am suspicious of education. My request is : Help your students become
human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths and Eichmann’s.
Reading, writing, arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more
human.

Mission accomplished! This is what a soldier tells his superior after he has accomplished
his assigned mission. Can we say the same when we meet our Superior face to face?
Some teachers regard teaching as just a job. Others see it as their mission. What’s the
difference? Read teaching : Mission and or a Job?
 ST. ANTHONY COLLEGE THE TEACHING PROFESSION
CALAPAN CITY, INC.

Teaching: Mission and/or a Job?

If you are doing it only because you are paid for it, it’s a job
If you are doing it not only for the pay but also for service, it’s a mission
If you quit because your boss or colleague criticized you, it’s a job
If you keep on teaching out of love, it’s a mission
If you teach because it does not interfere with your other activities, it’s a job
If you are committed to teaching even if it means letting go of other activities, it’s a mission
If you quit because no one praises or thanks you for what you do, it’s a job
If you remain teaching even though nobody recognized your efforts, it’s a mission
It’s hard to get excited about a teaching job
It’s almost impossible not to get excited about a mission
If our concern is success, it is a job
If our concern is success plus faithfulness, it’s a mission
An average school is filled by teachers doing their teaching job
A great school is filled with teachers involved in a mission of teaching

ADAPTED FROM MINISTRY OR JOB BY ANNA SANDBERY

THE ELEMENTS OF A PROFESSION

Teaching like engineering, nursing, accounting and the like is a profession. A teacher
is like an engineer, a nurse and accountant is a professional. What the distinguishing marks of a
professional teacher? Former Chairperson of the Professional Regulation Commission, Hon.
Hermogeners P. Pobre in his pithy address in a national convention of educators remarked : the
term professional is one of the most exalted in the English language, denoting as it does, long
and arduous years of preparation, a striving for excellence , a dedication to the public interest and
commitment to moral and ethical values.

Teaching as your profession

Why does a profession require ”long and arduous years of preparation and a striving for
excellence? Because the end goal of a profession is service and as we have heard many times
we cannot give what we do not have.” We can give more if we have more. His Holiness Pope
Paul VI affirmed this thought when he said :”Do more , have more in order to be more, continuing
professional education is a must. For us teachers, continuing professional education is explicit in
our professionalization law and our Code of professional ethics.
Our service to the public as a professional turns out to be dedicated and committed only
when our moral, ethical and religious values serve as our bedrock foundation. The same moral,
ethical and religious convictions inspire us to embrace continuing professional education.
If you take teaching as your profession, this means that you must be willing to go through
a long period of preparation and a continuing professional development. You must strive for
excellence, commit yourself to moral , ethical and religious values and dedicate yourself to public
service.

The PWEDE NA mentality versus excellence

 ST. ANTHONY COLLEGE THE TEACHING PROFESSION
CALAPAN CITY, INC.

The “striving for excellence” as another element of a profession brings us to our PWEDE
NA mentality which is inimical to excellence. This mentality is expressed in other ways like
“TALAGANG GANYAN YAN , WALA na tayong magawa.”all indicators of defeatism and
resignation to mediocrity. If we stick to this complacent mentality excellence eludes us. In the
world of work, whether here or abroad, only the best and the brightest make it all. At this time,
you must have heard that with the rigid selection of teacher applicants done by DEPEd, only few
make it. The mortality rate in the Licensure Examination for Teachers for the past ten years is
glaring evidence that excellence is very much wanting of our teacher graduates. If we remain true
to our calling and mission as a professional teacher, we may have no choice but to take the
endless and the less travelled road to excellence.

Teaching and a life of meaning

Want to give your life a meaning? Want to live a purpose – driven life? Spend it
passionately in teaching, the noblest profession. Consider what Dr. Josette T. Biyo, the first Asian
teacher to win the Intel Excellence in Teaching Award in an international competition, said in a
speech delivered before a selected group of teachers, superintendents, DepEd officials and
consultants to wit:
Teaching may not be a lucrative position. It cannot guarantee financial security. It even
means investing your personal time, energy and resources. Sometimes it means
disappointments, heartaches and pains. But touching the hearts of people and opening the minds
of children can give you joy and contentment which money could not buy. These are the
moments I teach for. These are the moments I live for.

You Are A Teacher

ST. ANTHONY COLLEGE THE TEACHING PROFESSION
CALAPAN CITY, INC.

If I speak interestingly, effectively and well

But do not understand my students
I am a\ noisy gong or a clanging cymbal
If I know all the methods and techniques of teaching
If I have complete faith that they will work
So that I use them completely
But think only of the materials or techniques
Instead of how they can help my students
I count for nothing
If I go the second mile in my teaching
Give up many activities
But do it without understanding
It does no good
Love is patient, very kind
Love is not jealous; it does not put on airs
It is never tyrannic, never
Yet does insist on truth
It does not become angry
It is not resentful
Love always expect the best of others
It is gladdened when they live up to these expectations
Slow to lose faith when they do not
It will bear anything
Hope for anything
Endure anything
This kind of love will never fail
It there are teaching methods, they will change
If there are curricula they will be revised
For our knowledge is imperfect
And our teaching is imperfect
And we are always looking for better ways
Which an infinite God has placed ahead of us
When I began to teach, I fumbled and failed
Now I have put away some of my childish ways
At present I am learning bit by bit
But if I keep on seeking, I shall at last understand
As all along I myself have been understood
So faith, hope and love endure
These are the great three
But the greatest of them is love