edcha##er

10th October 2014, 1:00am

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edcha##er

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/edchaer-66

We bring you discussion, debate and issues from around the web and around the world by focusing on the most popular educational hashtags on Twitter

To mark World Teachers’ Day last Sunday, TES asked the educators of the Twittersphere to tell us why they taught. Using the #whyiteach hashtag (not to be mistaken for the Geordie version #whyayeteach), thousands of answers were soon being exchanged across the globe.

Some were 100 per cent altruistic, such as @davebeccles, who told us that he taught “because it is one of those jobs where you do it entirely for the benefit of others”.

Elsewhere, @kicsprincipal wrote that “nothing is more important than helping the next generation reach higher than we have reached”.

Others, such as @wmar98, explained that their motivation was seeing the “light-bulb moment” when their students “got it”.

Yet more loved the excitement. “Because I share a room with 30 emotionally incontinent people five hours a day and that’s an exciting way to make a living,” @1stclown said.

Many simply wanted to give something back. Perhaps the most touching contribution was from @dcntito, who tweeted: “I was EAL [English as an additional language], FSM [free school meals], vulnerable and looked-after and yet the state system gave me a life-changing start so that is #WhyITeach today.” Amazing.

Ed Dorrell

Keep up to date with the latest education chat online by following @tes on Twitter

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