Discussions and debates on relevant educational topics, exchange of experience and good practices among teachers, strengthening of cultural and linguistic ties. All these take place within the International Congress of Teachers from Romania and Romanian Teachers Abroad, which is being held in Chisinau during July 24-27. According to the organizers, the Congress offers opportunities for initiating and developing partnerships between schools, institutions, companies and organizations from Romania and the Republic of Moldova, facilitating the exchange of experience and good practices in education, which will contribute to improving the quality of education offered to children on both banks of the Prut. The organizers and participants in the event invited to IPN’s public debate “Educational bridges between Romania and the Republic of Moldova” discussed the objectives of this educational event.
Mariana Marin, president of the Moldovan branch of the General Association of Teachers of Romania, said that this edition raises three major issues. One of them is the emotional resilience of teachers, which is also directly connected with the status of the teacher in society. “As long as the teachers are trained in emotional intelligence, in managing their personal emotions in front of children, we are even more efficient in the classroom,” noted Mariana Marin, an associate professor of the Moldova State University and of “Ion Creangă” State Teacher Training University.
According to her, the status of teachers and attraction of young people to this profession and teaching career are among the discussed issues, including of the extent to which these aspects are similar in Romania, Hungary and Serbia. “When we talk about attracting young people to the teaching career, the common vision is be to invest a lot in today’s youth, regardless of whether they are from Romania or the Republic of Moldova. It must be clearly understood – this profession is not only a profession in which you learn particular occupations or skills. It is a profession in which you also have to take risks," Mariana Marin noted.
The president of AGIRoMd also said that last but not least, a theme that is always taken as a basis at AGIRo congresses is the teacher as the ambassador of the Romanian language and culture. Respectively, all three aspects are part of a rather busy program of the International Congress of Teachers from Romania and Romanian Teachers Abroad, which is taking place in Chisinau during July 24-27.
The president of the General Association of Teachers of Romania Viorel Dolha said that in education, there can always be better because new things always appear. For this reason, it is necessary for teachers to study, to exchange good practices.
Viorel Dolha, who is also a primary school teacher at “Vasile Goldiș” National College in Arad, noted that no lesson in this world has been and is perfect. “None. Do you know why? I have a particular voice, for example now, but for some children I have to raise my voice, but they are 30 or 20, or 10. For another child, if I raised my voice, I would do harm. For perfection there should be only one child, whom I know perfectly. But then, this would be deprived of socialization with the other children. The perfect lesson does not exist. That’s why we suffer because we always have to train by learning,” said the teacher.
As for young teachers, Viorel Dolha stated that he was shocked by the low level of salaries received by teachers in Moldova. But to attract young people and motivate them to come from the faculty to a teaching career, one needs to motivate them. The young professionals are also thinking about starting a family, bringing some money home. “I have a salary of €2,000 as a teacher teaching the fourth grade. The counterparts from Moldova were surprised because some of them have four to five times less. It is difficult,” said the president of the General Association of Teachers of Romania.
According to him, in the Republic of Moldova the positions of teacher are unoccupied and there is a crisis here, but in Romania, to become a teacher you need to go through a competition. In Romania, there are always more teachers ready to enter the system. A few months ago, the teachers went on strike. “I have €2,000 because I have seniority, I have ranks and the authorities thought about it, but they also had to think about the strike action what we, the teaching staff, took. We thought about the beginners, about the future. They need to see that they are financially motivated. They should not go home without €1,000. This would be a step to ensure greater competition, which is for the good of children and for parents’ peace of mind,” stated Viorel Dolha.
Psychologist, Lucian Liviusz Olteanu, an associate professor of “Gál Ferenc” University of Gyula, Hungary, teaches social psychology, developmental psychology and other common subjects at the university. By participating in the event in the Republic of Moldova, he believes that he can come up with a contribution for the teachers here. Working together with counterparts from Romania and the Republic of Moldova, they learn new methods, transmit new methods.
Being a Romanian teacher who teaches in Hungary, he says that there are kindergartens, secondary schools, high schools with teaching in Romanian. Also, “Gál Ferenc” University has a faculty and master’s degree studies where future educators and teachers are taught, including in Romanian. The Romanian language, literature, culture and civilization are studied.
In his opinion, it is very important to show gratitude to teachers and the financial part also contributes to this gratitude. “It is important for this to happen as soon as possible because the years go by – a generation passes, two generations pass, the teachers get older, there is an increasing shortage of teachers. If there is no competition, anyone will fill these teaching positions. The same difficulties were experienced for many years in Hungary, but this year the Government amended the laws and raised the salaries for beginners considerably,” stated Lucian Liviusz Olteanu.
The public debate entitled “Educational bridges between Romania and the Republic of Moldova” was the 15th installment of the project “Double integration through cooperation and information. Continuity”, funded by the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova. The content of this debate does not represent the official position of the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova.
