young education professionals

young education professionals

Empowering Young Education Professionals: Strategies for Success

1. Introduction: The Importance of Supporting and Empowering Young Education Professionals

There could also be no more important time to invest in considering how we might think and act differently in the way future educators are fostered and empowered to shape the world. Education is a political act that shapes the future. Engaging and empowering young people effectively in the struggle for improved schools and schooling is one of the best ways of preparing these transformational educators of the immediate future. We should not underestimate the thoughtfulness and innovative caucus these new grads are already capable of and indeed they demonstrate.

There has arguably never been a more important time to support young people in the early stages of their journey to becoming the transformational educators we need across nations today. As they commence their careers, fresh graduates commence journeys into the beating hearts of schools across the world. Much has been written about the challenges faced by school systems across the world and the social imperatives required to meet these. As the final essays of their student careers are abandoned for new adventures in the early hours and the long paired-back months of application writing commence, it’s easy for young people to enter this new phase with a sense of trepidation. Sadly, whether you are an educator in your nineteenth, thirty-fourth, fifty-seventh or sixty-seventh year, some of these anxieties stay with you over time. This phase when educators commence or attempt to commence as many new endeavors as they face uncertainties, strong judgments, emotional frustrations, and multiple new relations is tough for anyone. Those navigating this maze – educators or not – deserve to be nurtured, have their strengths cultivated, and be meaningfully empowered in their endeavors.

2. Challenges Faced by Young Education Professionals

Do young professionals feel inducted and supported during these periods of change and mobility? Do they start to think and talk like teachers while considering how this long-hour work might impact on mental health or work-life balance, particularly considering commonly reshuffled schools? What value can their enthusiasm and increasing experience bring to a school’s culture, and what are the challenges of shifting from participant to interlocutor in professional and staff meetings or via the school’s communication and media channels? Interviewees also encountered some specific and double-edged challenges associated with short- to medium-term fixed contracts. Many were prepared to, or had to, work long hours and were keen to volunteer for additional activities to gain experience and demonstrate their commitment to their school or settings during their early stages of employment. However, the workload also made it very difficult for interviewees to engage in developing their practice or continuing postgraduate studies, or even teaching beyond the academic year in schools in some cases.

In order to best support young teachers and school leaders, we have to better understand the environments they are entering and some of the pressures and challenges that they may be encountering. For individuals who have come to education as a second career or with experience across different types of settings and organizations, the career stage of the early to mid-20s is often marked by intense working hours in environments that can be quite different from their training. What defined previous professional roles – confidence in a particular skill set, subject knowledge, and pupil interaction – has shifted significantly. NQTs and recently qualified early-career teachers are often asked to specialize in a particular year group, year group, and then key stage, and each specialization brings new and specific challenges.

3. Key Strategies for Success and Professional Growth

Lastly, always, always, always be prepared to fail. And then prepare to grow from it. Failure. It is the most humbling word I have ever experienced, and yet a word that also has brought me the most personal and professional growth. Does that mean I stop pushing myself and my students to reach for the stars? Absolutely not. What good was the risk, the bold decisions, the lifestyle of constant learning and growing if it wasn’t channeled into making a difference in the lives of my students? Failure, growth, humility must all collide for you to be an influential and successful young professional.

Use that reflection to then take your “why” and align it with organizations and passions and initiatives that also support those values. It can be exhausting. It can be frustrating. But if you can marry your passions and your values to careers, initiatives, or places that reflect them, then you will find success. Find the areas where your gifts, passions, and the world’s needs collide and you will experience a rewarding career.

Secondly, make bold decisions and take risks. As a 21-year-old, I did not expect to end up teaching in a small community in rural Indiana, but here I am ten years later, still there! The support and love I found when I accepted my first job has made a tremendous impact on me and it is a vital element that still drives me today. Yes, I took a risk, and it panned out in a way I never thought possible. But please know, this is not the case for everyone. When you make bolder decisions, you must align and understand your greater “why.” This often means reflecting on your value system.

First, build your own personal and professional capacity. Stay informed about what is happening in your district, with your school, and with your students. Attend school board meetings. Start getting more engaged in the activities and programs provided in your district, which could be as simple as attending a concert or participating in a charity event. Strive to be a life-long learner and connect with all the resources available to you. Professional organizations provide valuable research and strategies in all areas of education. In addition, professional organizations can also provide you with the tools to become an effective advocate.

4. Mentorship and Networking Opportunities

The old adage “it’s not what you know, but who you know” is arguably never so true when thinking about network theory in the workplace. As a strategy for advancing one’s career, networking can greatly enhance an individual’s ability to learn new skills, gain access to important information, and inspiring role models to argue a sense of professional identity. The world is an intimidating place, and social networking serves as an invaluable tool for identifying and solving problems, which increase an ECE professional’s sense of self-worth and emotional security. When facing changes and challenges, having an experienced mentor to guide us is invaluable. According to Wiencek, of 80 participants surveyed, the higher the degree program, the more likely the student is to seek out a mentor.

Besides their strong dedication, there is another characteristic that young professionals are encouraged to cultivate, and that is the need for guidance in the form of a mentor. Lawler et al. propose a concept that “mentoring relationships increasingly play a significant role in the evolution of professionals in academic environments”. VENV can increase the quality of instruction, boost morale, and increase retention rates at institutions of higher learning. Beautiful minds hold start in their eyes, a certain sparkle that makes it clear they are the hope for a better future. Thus, Emerald is committed to ensuring this generation of ECE professionals is ready to face their varied concerns and responsibilities. Similar to the candle metaphor in the first paragraph of this section, Emerald understands that the best guidance comes not from an expert, but from someone who has tread the same path—someone who has experienced the loneliness and the fracturing of planes that accompany graduate-level study.

5. Conclusion: Building a Brighter Future for the Education Sector

An environment that is ideal for youth and new leaders is one that is conducive for everyone. We have to be cautious. We ignore or underestimate the impact of these attitudes at our peril.

Young educators and aspiring leaders of today need and deserve any kind of support we can offer to them. They enable us to hope; they give us hope for the future; and it is our responsibility to ensure that they have the support and resources they need to make a reality that is worth hoping for. There are young people now who are so passionate about positive change, and we cannot let them lose that passion. With our support, they are in a position to change systems, innovate new ideas, and skillfully navigate both government policy and local needs. They place values such as collaboration, creativity, reflection, inquiry, and equality above all else; these are the ones who, given the structure in which they can thrive, have the power to transform the entire sector. They, in short, have the potential to help us build a brighter future of education, and they deserve such a future to inherit.

In this final portion of this essay, I would like to synthesize the key points I have made and conclude this essay by discussing the importance of supporting young education professionals, how they can drive change, and what is at stake if we choose not to.

Young educators today need support. They are qualified, skilled, passionate, and full of promising ideas. But those in the “bleak” western world of the education sector, perpetuated by the burnout and disillusionment of their more experienced colleagues, can be incredibly difficult to turn into action. As a result, these young education professionals are often appreciated rather than utilized, made to do most of the groundwork – with the assumption that they will probably leave the sector (or the country) before they can really make a difference.