I have written a book

I have so many anecdotes sent to me, as well as my own teaching stories to share, that I decided to put some into a book.

It’s a mixture of opinion, ranting and humour, is available to download on kindle and will be in paperback in the next few weeks.

I will be sharing some of the unused material on this blog. Hope you enjoy.

Why so many teachers leave teaching

I receive many messages from current and former teachers, some asking for advice (which I’m woefully inadequate to offer) and some just wanting to offload.

Here I’m sharing just one of those messages. I chose this one because it echoes so many of my own thoughts and so many of the thoughts other teachers and former teachers share.

The sender has agreed to allow me to share this, as long as she remains anonymous.

‘I worked hard to become a teacher and achieved a 2:1 from the University of Cambridge. Many were appalled by my decision to teach, calling it a waste of a good degree. This sums up the general feeling about the teaching profession.

‘The first part of my teaching career was a roaring success and it seemed I could do no wrong. I was put on the management team in my second year, not realising that it was my willingness to jump through hoops and the energy to keep doing so that were the main reasons. No one wanted me to really ‘manage’ or have a say in educating our pupils.

‘The first time I commented on an initiative I knew wouldn’t work (because I’d tried it, as had many of my colleagues) I was threatened with a formal warning. I realised that I would be considered an outstanding teacher only as long as I would toe the line and agree to everything thrown at us from SMT.

‘More alarm bells rang when I was asked to observe the teaching of a colleague who had had the temerity to question something the deputy had said at a staff meeting: it was clear the head wanted this colleague out and I was expected to complete forms that would ensure this would be achieved. This teacher was an outstanding teacher and my observation feedback reflected this.

‘This was the death knell for my teaching career at that school.

‘In short, to be a successful teacher I needed to become a sycophant.

‘I left that school and applied to another as an ordinary teacher with no management responsibilities.

‘I soon became sick of having to answer to sycophantic school managers who rarely took classes but had the last say over which classes I had to take and how I had to take them. I found I was being judged by those who taught subjects with smaller classes at KS4 and who had the benefit of sixth form teaching, whereas I was teaching a core subject that all KS3 and 4 pupils had to take and which many hated. My marking load was higher, as was my regular data entry expectation, parental communication, detention rota and general accountability for every misdemeanour of the hundreds of kids I taught each week. I wasn’t allowed any more time for this than the teachers with far fewer pupils per week teaching non-core subjects with relatively little marking.

‘I ended up neglecting my own wellbeing and that of my family in an effort to keep up with the ever-increasing expectations put upon me.

‘When I needed to go into hospital for a major operation, the head asked if I could wait until the summer holiday and go private. As my husband had medical cover, I did this. By the end of the summer holiday I had not fully recovered and was told to take another month off work. Because of the pressure I was under, I went back part time but, teaching being the job it is, part time became full time then stupid hours again. During this time more pressure was put on me to do even more than before. I had a complete breakdown and had many more weeks off work.

‘For me, the final straw was when the standards for GCSE were changed in 2012 – after the pupils had taken their exams. Total disregard for the effect this had on pupils’ futures, many of whom had worked like Trojans to get the grades they needed for college/ jobs.

‘I came into teaching because I know that a good education is the best start in life for everyone, and that learning is something we never stop doing. Everyone has a different way of learning. Not everyone is good at the same things: some are great at maths and English; some will always struggle with one or the other but will be talented at something else, such as games, music, art, … yet they are made to feel that their talents are worth less than academic ones.

‘Teachers are not taken seriously, even those who work mad hours and want the best for their pupils.

‘There is an appalling lack of respect from pupils, parents, politicians, media, SMT, general public

‘State education is just an exam factory, giving no real ‘education’ that’s useful in life

‘Education secretaries go on about how we need to attract more good quality teachers with good degrees and there are many adverts claiming that teachers can earn up to £65k. What about those brilliant teachers with good quality degrees who have been lost? What will they do to get them back?

‘State education is at the whim of every education secretary who takes the job as a step towards bigger things – bugger what’s best for children!

‘I want no part in this.

‘I will come back to teaching when professional educators – not politicians – are making the decisions as to how schools are run.’

Teacher retention and recruitment crisis

Happy New Year to you all. Here’s to 2018 being the year the government sees sense and listens to experienced educators. (See, I haven’t lost my sense-of-humour.)

Short and sweet today, with apologies for leaving it so long since my last post.

I read this morning that applications for teaching posts are down by a third. I see many reports about the teacher recruitment crisis, but very little in the way of how we could retain those teachers still clinging on for dear life.

Difficulties with recruitment won’t raise the public perception of the teaching profession. As schools desperately try to attract non-existent applicants,  standards will inevitably need to be lowered. Teaching will then be seen even more as a job for ‘those who can’t do’.

This is so unfair as the majority of teachers (not all, I agree) teach for the right reasons.

There are several young people of my acquaintance who are applying for teaching roles (despite my threats to beat them severely) and they are quite a mixed bag. Mostly they are intelligent, eager and hard-working, genuinely wishing to enthuse pupils in their chosen fields. A couple, however, are definitely of the ‘I can’t think of anything else, and the holidays are great’ brigade. (I suspect that these fools will either fall before the first term or quickly aspire to posts that mean they will never have to teach pupils.)

As for those teachers still fighting the good fight, their credibility and morale is set to take another nose-dive, especially those who will no doubt eventually find themselves working beneath one of the fools mentioned above.

We need this government to recognise the value of experienced teachers and their opinions, but that doesn’t look set to happen any time soon. On the contrary, there are rumours that Greening will lose her education secretary post as a result of her lack of antagonistic behaviour towards ‘the blob’.

Gove lives on, but the teaching profession won’t for much longer.