We can't blame lack of time anymore - we have a responsibility to modernize education

I don't know about you who aren't living in Sweden, but the biggest issue me and my colleagues have to face is something that we could think we had a never ending source of - time. We simply don't have it or way too little of it. In Sweden teachers see themselves buried in administrative tasks and less time teaching. So we haven't got the time. But is there anything to do about it, then? Well, it depends, but not as long as you as a teacher with ideas on how to modernize your teaching don't get any positive feedback or support from you boss or colleagues. 
It is rather easy to me to find that precious time, however. I am single with no family which basically means that I have all my evenings and weekends to spend hunting down new tools, creating new lessons and educating myself in modern teaching. But what about the rest of us?

One could easily think that becoming that extraordinary teacher who always have new things going on and always surprise the students with new high-tech solutions, are good at what they are doing. Sure they are, they are brilliant, but it's not enough. They also need a good deal of dedication and support. Dedication comes from the belief that what they, or we, are doing is something good. It is something good for our students and for our profession. If we didn't think that we would probably not be doing what we are doing.

But dedication would be nothing without support and positive feedback. We need to hear it. We need our students to tell us if they appreciate what we are doing or at least, show us that they do. We need our principals and colleagues to acknowledge our work - if they don't we would lose our dedication. In the year of 2009 going on 2010, there is no reason for them not to acknowledge our work. If they do, they are hopelessly conservative and ignorant as educators and this worries me, to be honest, simply because I feel rather alone.

It isn't a question about interest and hobby anymore. Sure I am a bit geeky and sure I take great interest in the Internet, but it has grown into something much more serious. It has become such an important part of education that we can't hide from it anymore. Scientists and reports show us daily that today's children are growing up in a high-tech environment and the education system  must be a part of it. We can't bring the kids on to our court - we need to meet them on theirs.  It is as easy as that.

We can't blame it on lack of time or lack of knowledge. It is our duty to speed up and keep pace with development in order to succeed with out hard mission as teachers. Don't have time time? Demand it. Don't have the knowledge? Demand it.

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