Time Maraj, who has been working as a teacher for 42 years in “Hysni Zajmi” primary school in Vrellë, a village of Istog, says that she chose this profession by her own will.
“I am very satisfied with the job I do with pupils, and I feel a great pleasure while working with children, even though this is a job with a lot of responsibility and it requires a lot of dedication,” Maraj says.
She says that this profession is very favorable for women because of the short working hours, but one should be continuously prepared in order for the teaching to be of a high quality.
“If one does this job willingly, it is not difficult at all, it just needs continuous work,” Maraj says.
She says that the profession of a teacher is a “sacred” one and if she could turn the time back, she still would choose this profession.
Egzona Blakaj, a fourth year student at the Faculty of Education, the Department for Primary Education, says that she chose to study this field because she wanted to become a teacher since her early childhood. Furthermore, now that she is about to finish her studies, she says that she likes working with children and spend more time with them. It satisfies her and makes her feel good.
“I think that it is a very favorable profession for women since it has short working hours, and you have a lot of free time. Also women are more loving and dedicated to children and are in general more prepared than men to take care of children,” Egzona says.
She says that there are more women drawn to teaching. This is because it is a favorable profession because women like working with children, teaching them and educating them in the best way in order for them to achieve something in the future.
“I don`t think it is a difficult profession, it just needs a lot of work and dedication,” she says.
Milaim Mazreku, secretary at the Faculty of Education, says that there are more women than men in all the departments. In the 2016/2017 academic year, of 2,986 students who are registered in this faculty, 2,782 are women. Whereas, in the departments of Kindergarten and Education and Development in the Early Childhood (0-3 years-old), he says that almost 100% of them are women. In the departments of Primary Education and Pedagogy, again, women are more interested compared to men.
Demë Hoti, vice-dean of science at the Faculty of Education, says that in contemporary society there is no distinction of professions and each of us can do whichever profession, but it depends on what we like more and what we have affinity for. However, he emphasizes that teaching is mainly a profession of “the world” of women.
“It seems that women are more emotionally sensitive in nature, they are born to take care of the others and as a result, feel it an obligation to get a job in educating and teaching young generations,” he says.
Hoti says that in the contemporary world, it is thought that one of the reasons women choose this profession is because they may have more free time.
“From the outside it looks that it has shorter working hours, but one has to do at least 22 hours per week effective work with pupils. However, this does not mean that it does not consume a lot of time since one should prepare previously, or if there are problems in school you might bring them with you at home and you also have homework to check at home,” he says.
Also, Hoti says that direct work with pupils is an intellectual challenge, since one should be aware of what he/she is saying, who they are talking to, do the pupils have understanding, are they being independent, and are you giving enough to them.
“It is not easy,” he says, “to get in front of 30 people since somebody concentrates on your behavior, somebody on your physiognomy, somebody on your body language, somebody else on your speech, so you are always under watch. This is stressful until the teacher adapts and is able to fulfill everybody`s expectations.”
Even though women think it is an easy job, when they face it they realize the difficulties this profession has and that`s why “there are very few women who are retired and are well-preserved, despite their age, since this profession consumes you intellectually.”
However, compared to other professions that require 8 hours of work, e.g. in administration, this profession is more tolerant when it comes to working hours and it suits them more.
Gentiana Maxharraj
