Teacher’s CAN found me when I knew that I needed something more from my career as a teacher. This is by no means a promotional text, but a reality of one teacher, possibly a mirror of every young teacher out there who got into this profession fuelled by the fire of being a change maker.
My name is Gugu Shandu, and I describe myself as a visionary and a student of life. This conceptualisation of myself came at a very young age. Looking back, I never saw things as black and white; ever since I have been on a journey of self-discovery both as a human being and as a practising teacher.
Getting into this field, all I wanted to do was to be a role model I never had. The biggest shock was getting into a career whereby all the teachings I got from university and my teaching practice did so little to help me navigate my way through being an educator. Teaching makes you wear so many hats (this reminds me of the balloon exercise we did in the first immersion of Teacher’s CAN) whereby you get to be a counsellor, a therapist, a mother, and a sister amongst others; – these are all floating balloons you try to catch at the same time- and these are your everyday tasks. The truth of it all is that; no one told me about this! It all came at once from all learners across different classes. By modelling myself as what suited my class at that time, I also learnt to be an actress!
All this can be overwhelming, and if you have no boundaries, you find yourself trying to be everything to everyone until you lose the essence of who you really are. All this with the pressures of meeting impossible deadlines, following unrealistic policies and just being expected to perform miracles! I am not God! And mostly I am still trying to figure my own life out, and I don’t have all the answers everyone needs. Yet I am expected to.
Our [fellowship] facilitator, Juanitill said in one immersion, “All change-makers had something that bothers them” and it is that thing that makes you desire to change the spaces you occupy and make them better than you found them. I am bothered by monotony. Without intending to offend anyone; I find our education system completely out of touch with the realities of the children we teach. Teacher’s CAN became a space whereby I got to learn that I am not alone, there are a lot of teachers who get into this field with so much enthusiasm and then find themselves in a toxic relationship with their employer, the DBE (Department of Basic Education).
I learnt that our treasure is within our schools but we never see it because our managers are so hell-bent on producing results; no matter how inauthentic, no matter how toxic to its employees this is and no matter how unrealistic all these things sound. No one sits with teachers, the actual people who deal with learners and asks them how they feel about policies and how they can contribute (we can argue the instance in which that is done). But we are essentially thrown with problems, expected to take blows in the name of being in the honourable profession.
The fellows I met are true change-makers. Young teachers who are doing what they can with what they have. Teacher’s CAN brought me to the realisation that there is a place for everyone, all ideas matter and young teachers are going to bring relevant change to this profession. All the words they use to describe us with; untamed, wild, opinionated, and colourful. These are all true, and guess what? All the young teachers are using that to shift spaces wherever they are; whether it’s in rural areas, townships or urban areas, I got to realise; that we all have similar issues. Some teachers are building networks to change their spaces. The age of relying on the ‘bigger person’, ‘government’, ‘the department’, ‘the unions’ is gone, we understand the power of our voices and most of all the internet.
My last words in this reflection are these to young teachers; You are not frustrated, you just haven’t found the space that recognises your value. Change is in the air, you can either ride the wave or keep on drowning. The impact is not this ‘big t hing’ that is out there, getting up and telling yourself that you are bothered and you want to change your reality, even in the little way that you can; that is what being a change maker truly is. Continue searching, there is a tribe for all of you. I found mine in Teacher’s CAN.
Gugu Shandu
2024 Teachers CAN Fellow