Demands of teaching as a profession

As they devote themselves to this work of training teachers, they will seek to instil in them the deep conviction that the teaching profession must be practised in a self-sacrificing spirit of service, and that it demands full dedication; that they must contribute to a climate of freedom, understanding, mutual esteem, integrity and love for the truth, in all sectors of education. They will help them see that they in turn will have the duty to train others, with the joyful hope that their trainees may be better teachers than they themselves are.

Here, too, we could apply in some way Our Lord’s words: qui autem fecerit et docuerit, hic magnus vocabitur in regno caelorum;¹⁴ my children, someone who not only tries to work honestly and effectively, but also teaches others, so that they have the benefit of being able to begin where he or she left off, will be considered great in Heaven.