Lesson 2: TEACHING AS A VOCATION AND A MISSION

“Keep interested in your own career, however humble, it is a real profession in the changing
fortunes of times. “-Desiderata

Learning Outcomes

Explain teaching as a vocation, mission and job.

ACTIVITY: Let’s Discuss

Write your answer to these questions!

1. When a mother says” “I think my son has a vocation, “what does she mean?
2. A soldier reports and says, “Mission accomplished” What does she imply? What
does he mean?
3. Some teachers regard teaching as just a job. Others see it as their mission. What
is the difference? Read: Teaching: Mission and/or a job below.

MISSION: Mission and/or 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 thank you for what you do, it’s a job.
It you remain teaching even though nobody recognizes your effort, it’s a mission
It’s hard to get excited about teaching job.
It’s almost impossible not to get excite about a mission.
If our concern is success, it’s a job.
If our concern in teaching is success plus faithfulness in our job, teaching in 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.
Adopted from Ministry or Job by Anna Sandberge.

ANALYSIS: Let’s Ponder on These

1. What is meant by vocation? Mission?
2. Are these two (vocation and mission) related?
3. Teaching as a job or a mission. What’s the difference?

ABSTRACTION: Let’s Add What You Already Know

TEACHING AS A VOCATION

Teaching comes from the Latin word “vocare” which means 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 brothers 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 just like man
calling another man, never a superior being called.
Most often, when people use the word “vocation” they refer to a religious vocation, like
the mother in the activity phase of this lesson. Vocation includes other big callings like
marriage and single blessedness. It does not only refer to a religious vocation. It can also refer
to a call to do something like to teach, to heal the sick, etc. Whatever is our calling or station
in life, the call is always to serve.

THE TEACHING PROFESSION

 The Christians among you realize that the Bible is full of stories of men and women
who were called by God to do something not for themselves but for others. We know of
Abraham, the first one called by God, to become the father of the great nation, of God’s chosen
people. We recall Moises who was called while in 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 teachings of 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 seek the answer
to the problem on suffering.
From the eyes of those who believe, it was God who called you to teach, just as God
called Abraham, Moses, and Mary, of the Bible. Among so many, you were called to teach.
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 handmade 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 College of Teachers Education signifies that you said YES to
the call to teach. Perhaps you never dreamt to become a teacher! But here you are now
preparing to become one! Teaching must be your vocation, your calling. May this YES
response remain a YES and become even firmer through the years.

Important Points:

✓ Derived from the Latin word "vocare" meaning "to call".

✓ Teaching as a vocation implies a divine or moral calling to serve others through
education.
✓ Teachers see their work not just as employment, but as a lifelong commitment to
service and formation.
✓ Core Traits:
✓ Selflessness
✓ Dedication beyond duty
✓ Love for students and learning
✓ Connection to Values: Integrity, compassion, humility, and stewardship.

TEACHING AS A MISSION

Teaching is also a mission. The word mission comes from the Latin word “mission”
which means “to send”. The Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines mission as “task
assigned”. You are sent to accomplish an assigned task.
The phrase “mission accomplished” from the soldier in the Activity phase of this lesson
suggests that you are sent to do an assigned task, a mission and so if you faithfully
accomplished the assigned task, you proclaim “mission accomplished.” You responded to the
call to be a teacher and so your mission in the world is to teach, the task entrusted to you in
this world. These are how vocation and mission are related. You were called for a purpose,
i.e. to accomplish a mission while on earth which is to tech.
If it is your assigned task then naturally 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 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
development. As the saying goes “once a teacher, forever a student.” (More is said of
continuing professional development code in the Code of Ethics for Professional Teachers in
Chapter 3.)

THE TEACHING PROFESSION

 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 for which you are prepared – teaching.
What exactly is the mission to teach? Is it merely to teach the child the fundamental
skills or basic r’s of reading,’riting,’rithmetic and right conduct.? Is it to help the child master
the basic skills so he/she can continue higher-level skills in order to become 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? Or is it to facilitate the maximum the development of his/her potential
not only for himself/herself but also for others. In the words of Alfred North Whitehead, is to
help the child become “the man of culture and expertise?’ Or is it to provide opportunities for
child’s growth and to remove “hampering influences “as Bertrand Russell put it?. You will be
made to answer this question again when you will be made to write down your philosophy of
education in a later lesson.
Teaching is indeed you mission:
-If you are doing it not only for the pay or service.
-If you keep on teaching out of love, it’s a mission.
-If you are committed to teaching even if it means letting go of other
activities.
-If you remain teaching even though nobody recognizes your efforts.
-If makes you get excited.
-If your concern is success plus faithfulness, it’s a mission.

Important Points:

▪ A mission is a purpose-driven undertaking guided by a deep sense of responsibility.

▪ Teachers as missionaries of values, knowledge, and societal transformation.
▪ Often associated with advocacy, social justice, and educational equity.
Teachers with a sense of mission:
➢ Serve in underserved communities.
➢ Promote inclusive and transformative education.
➢ Are agents of change.

TEACHING AS A JOB

Teaching as a job refers to the employment aspect—a paid occupation with specific
duties and professional standards.

Teachers are professionals who:

o Plan lessons
o Assess student performance
o Follow institutional policies

Requires:
o Formal training and licensure (PRC in the Philippines)
o Continuous professional development
o Adherence to ethical and legal standards

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 most noble profession. Consider what Dr. Josette T. Biyo, the
first Asian teacher to win the Intel Excellence in Teaching Award in an international

THE TEACHING PROFESSION

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.

There may be times, when you will feel like giving up (many leave teaching after 3 or
5 years for valid reasons.) Remember you responded to the call to teach and that you have
accepted the mission to teach. May you be found faithful to your vocation and mission till the
end.

The “Pwede na” Mentality: Enemy of Excellent Mission Preparation and

Accomplishment

For a professional teacher who looks at teaching as his/her mission, he/she will do
everything to arm himself/herself for an excellent accomplishment of that mission. The striving
for excellent accomplishment sometimes 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 magagawa,” “di na mahahalata,” “di ko na ‘yan sagot,” “dagdag
trabaho/gastos lang yan”- all indicators of defeatism and resignation of mediocrity. If we stick
this complacent mentality, excellent mission accomplishment eludes us. In the world of work
whether here of abroad, only the best and the brightest make it. (At this time, you must have
heard that with the rigid selection of teacher applicants done by DepEd, only a few make it!)
The mortality rate in the Licensure Examination for Teachers for these past years is a glaring
evidence that excellence is very much wanting of our teacher education graduates. If we
remain true to our calling and mission as a professional teacher, we have no choice but to
take the endless and the “less travele road” to excellence.

Aspect Teaching as a Vocation Teaching as a Mission Teaching as a Job

Purpose and Tasks and
Focus Service and calling
transformation responsibilities
Personal values, moral Advocacy, passion, Salary, duties,
Driven by
compass vision performance
Long-term
Life of service Social impact Career progression
Goal
Involves Personal sacrifice Innovation and advocacy Professional skills

APPLICATION: Let’s Apply What We Learned

The Humanizing Mission of Teaching

1. Read this letter given by a private school principal to her teachers on the first day of a
new school year. It may make your humanizing mission in teaching crystal clear:

Dear Teacher:
I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness:
- Gas chambers built by learned engineers.
- Children poisoned by educated physicians
- Infants killed by trained nurses.

THE TEACHING PROFESSION

 - Women 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
*Eichmanns.
Reading, writing, arithmetic are more important only if they serve to make our children
more human.

Explain your mission as a professional teacher by helping children become more

human.

1. Watch “Discovering Your Life’s True Calling- Lou Sabrina Ongkiko at YouTube. Based
on the video that you just watched, what is your life’s true calling? How can you apply
that in you calling to teach? Share your answers with the group.

SYNAPSE STRENGTHENERS

1. To be true to your vocation and mission as a teacher, you have to “have more, do more
in order to be more” to your students and all others to whom you were sent. What does
“do more, have more in order to be more” mean?

2. The Greatest Teacher, Jesus Christ, spent much time to prepare his apostles before
he “sent” them for their mission to “go into the world baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” What is the equivalent of this preparation
in your life as a future professional teacher?

3. Some teacher education institutions have a “sending off” ceremony for student
teachers before Education students go for practice teaching. What is the significance
of this ceremony?

4. Here is an excerpt of the True Decalogue of Apolinario Mabini.

Third. Develop the special talents that God has given you, working and studying
according to your capabilities, never straying from the path of good and justice, in order to
achieve your own perfection, and by this means you will contribute to the progress of
humanity: thus you will accomplish the mission that God himself has given you in this life,
and achieving this you will have honor, and having honor, you will be glorifying God.
(Source http://malacanang.gov.ph/8132-the-true-decalogue-by-apolinario-mabini/
Retrieved, June 22,2018)

What mission has God given to teachers according to The True Decalogue of Mabini?

REFLECTION

If you say “yes” to the call and mission to teach in this life, reflect on how you are going to
prepare yourself in this four-year teacher education course.

THE TEACHING PROFESSION