COMPLEMENTOS FORO UD4

Do you think that a good education in English language is a matter of funding (yeah, money),
good teachers (you only need a blackboard and a piece of chalk) or both are necessary?

Funding and good teachers are both necessary to have good education but each one to varying
degrees and for different reasons.

Funding is necessary to have educational resources, for example labs, boards, facilities, but also
exchange programs, continuous training for teachers, new technologies etc. I consider funding
essential to good education for two main reasons: 1. Fulfill the basic needs for teaching (in some
part of the word this means to supply a black board, a piece of chalk and a place where to have
class; in European countries this would not be enough as an effective link between school and labor
market implies to supply education tailored to the needs of a modern, globalized, high tech
environment); 2. Give an appropriate salary to teachers; I believe this in an important point as it can
influence motivation of teachers. There are a number of writing about how scarce motivation of
teachers - due to low salary and poor recognition of their professional status - has a bad influx on
the quality of education and on teachers turn-over.

Lets talk about good teachers now. What makes a teacher good? Good general and specific
knowledge first of all, but it is not enough. I have met people having very deep knowledge in their
field of expertise, but at the same time being awful teachers because they were not able to pass
their knowledge. Specific training to become a teacher (and here we go back to funding issue) can
help to become a good one. To be a great teacher you have to have the X factor: to have the
innate skill of passing knowledge, of catch students attention, to fascinate no matter what you are
teaching, but that is a different story.

To summarize, quality education needs first good and motivated teachers, but to have them it is also
necessary to invest in their training and to work on the recognition of their professional status.
Secondly, especially in developed, globalized countries, quality education needs new and updated
educational resources.