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The call has been put out for people ‘of the highest quality’ to put their names forward as candidates for election to the States in the forthcoming 2022 election.
The business sector seems to be especially keen to get people to stand, but interest has not exactly been overwhelming.
Reasons behind the antipathy seem to range from the mediocre salaries on offer to the stories of the abuse they are likely to be subjected to once in post. I mean, who in their right mind would forego a well-paid job, with perks and a cosy working environment?
For many States employees. working long hours for moderate pay and being routinely subjected to personal attack is their daily bread. Ask nurses working weekends at A&E, or teachers thrown into the lion’s den of a challenging class, or care workers being accosted by clients with dementia.
Why do all these people knowingly put themselves in the firing line, day after day? It’s simple: because they care. They have a calling, a vocation. It’s in their DNA.
Pictured: A challenging class can feel like a "lion's den" for teachers.
A vocation can be defined as “the type of work that you feel that you are suited to doing and to which you give all your time and energy”. Any job, from accountancy to agricultural labourer, could fit this definition.
In the vernacular, having a vocation means so much more. It’s about helping people that are in need and being prepared to go that extra mile, without question, unpaid. Over the course of the pandemic the public of Jersey have witnessed this in abundance.
From an education perspective, teachers have been tirelessly preparing work for pupils both in class and for home-schooling. Secondary and tertiary teachers have had to set assessed work in lieu of cancelled examinations and mark it at short notice.
Then there are those working at the chalkface, who have had to come into school with little or no protection from the coronavirus. The demands being made of them are still not at an end, and now the tsunami of mental health issues consuming children will have to be fielded by these front-line staff.
Pictured: Teachers working at the "chalkface" have had the least protection and faced the most uncertainty during the pandemic.
At one time, people signed up to become teachers because it was a respected profession. The pay was not to be sneezed at, but with their qualifications teachers could earn double or triple the amount by working in the private sector even then.
No limits were set on the hours they worked, and most followed their leanings and gave away their time without complaint. Teaching was not a nine-to-five job, but rather a vocational career.
How things have changed.
Teachers still work long hours without any extra pay, but now it is a fait accompli: empowerment has been replaced by expectation. Micromanagement is tearing the heart out of their vocation, and that is why there is such a worrying shortage of trained staff.
Teaching has become less of a vocation and more of a job. Who would want to work under challenging conditions without proper reward? Yet the burden of conscience remains, only to be exploited by scurrilous management and expedient government.
Pictured: "The burden of conscience" can make teachers accept difficult conditions without adequate award.
What is true for teachers also goes for most other rank and file States employees.
It sticks in the craw when the education minister chooses to spend valuable money, allotted for our children, on a patronising video which was made supposedly to thank staff in schools for their ‘hard work’. This was perceived by many as a cynical piece of electioneering propaganda.
If the government values teachers so much, give them the proper resources to do the job and pay them accordingly. Anybody that goes into teaching without being drawn by a vocation will fail.
Children are discerning and recognise bull when they see it and they can be very unforgiving in their response. The opposite is true for those teachers who show empathy. Their careers are generally very rewarding and a lot less stressful. Herein lies a lesson for all would-be politicians.
So why do vocational careers, like teaching, nursing and care-work carry a lower salary to jobs that require equivalent qualifications? The pandemic has proven that they are as essential to the economy as any other job, but still they are undervalued in every sense of the word.
Pictured: Salaries for vocational careers should remain competitive with those that require similar qualifications.
Like rank-and-file states workers, politicians are public servants. So, if you are considering a career in politics then weigh up whether your vocation is strong enough to compensate for the mediocre salary and intermittent abuse that you will receive. If not, stay where you are because otherwise you will be doing the people of Jersey a disservice.
The words of St Ignatius sum up the job spec:
“…To give and not to count the cost, To fight and not to heed the wounds, To labour and not to seek to rest, To give of myself and not ask for a reward...”
It’s what public servants do every working day.
