I have wanted to be a teacher since as long ago as I can remember. I remember watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie at 7 or 8 years-old on my Grandma’s 14-inch portable and being awe-struck. Mary Ingalls, the oldest daughter of the family, had taken a teaching post at a small school where the children had been without a teacher since Miss Peel, the town leader, had driven out the previous one with scrutiny, control and criticism.
After a barrage of abuse, Mary confronts Miss Peel. Eventually, the truth is revealed: Miss Peel’s opposition to an education for the children stems from her own illiteracy. Mary’s quiet determination and dedication to the cause won out. Mary Ingalls was a superhero and I wanted to be like her.
Thirty years on, and I’ve been a teacher for 15 years.
I’ve worked in a special school, an inner-city school, opened a brand new school as its deputy head and, latterly, been headteacher of Shropshire’s only free school. In every post I have been in, I have done whatever it takes to help children realise their potential.
And that - from what I can see - is becoming a problem in teaching.
In a system of ever-increasing scrutiny, accountability and culpability and ever-declining professional support, frontline budget and good old respect and decorum, whatever it takes is simply no longer fair.
These three BBC News headlines below, all published in the past 18 months, sit amongst a sea of similar rhetoric. And they barely scratch the surface.
Both from personal experience and from what I hear from fellow teachers, I know that our job is so, so much more than imparting skill and knowledge - it always has been. It’s far more than the huge responsibility of shaping characters or allowing the exploration of beliefs. The reality is that the call to go”‘above and beyond” this, in today’s education culture, is the over-expected and under-appreciated norm.
The funny thing is, despite all of those “extra miles”, I still love teaching. I still see happy, effective teachers and schools in practice. I hear supportive discussions between colleagues that spark friendly debate and genuine improvement. I would encourage anyone who thinks teaching might be the right path for them to stick with it.
But to redress the imbalance, we have to shine a light on a few things:
Don’t let perfection stand in the way of ‘good enough’
It’s not true that in order to be an effective teacher, you have to be the hardest working. You don’t need the prettiest classroom or the jazziest of resources. You don’t need to be the bona fide expert on every aspect of the national curriculum. Some days, just being there is enough.
Hard work + support + patience = success
You need to be open to feedback, constantly willing to learn and develop, able to operate under pressure, but fundamentally not sabotaged by unrealistic workload or underfunding. You need to be able to say,“no” and state your case, to ask questions and give opinions without fear of repercussion.
Expect to be happy sometimes
My biggest asset as a teacher, by far, was my happiness. When I was unhappy, I was ineffective. Not because I wasn’t using open-ended questioning or because I didn’t triple-mark my books.
Celebrate the child, not the statistic
Schools should be evaluated and applauded not just on the basis of academic outcomes, but on how happy, confident and fulfilled their pupils are. The banners outside schools need to say “Our children are thriving!” rather than “It’s official: Ofsted say we’re ‘outstanding’!”
Scrap the Ofsted grades
We need an inspection system which seeks to support and improve, not just to judge. Instead of grading schools, Ofsted should focus on fair, descriptive evaluation of schools’ achievements, which recognises the budget they operate within.
Revamp the curriculum
We need a curriculum that flexibly accounts for life in modern Britain, that is vague in its content but specific about its ambitions. Why teach the names and dates of our country’s monarchs or the intricacies of complex grammar when the child can’t tell you their home address or the approximate cost of a loaf of bread?
Invest in the future
We need to be getting children back into green spaces, where they can engage in authentic communication, problem-solving and resourcefulness. We need to develop their sense of awe and wonder, to show them that a consumer society is not sustainable and that the future is theirs to shape.
You know, I could go on...
Our children deserve the best. And any teacher or school leader who is in this profession for an easy ride, for the power trip or for the bursary to train, then this is not for you.
But for those who simply want to be the best teacher they can be - and are willing to work hard to achieve that - then they deserve the fair chance that any professional would expect to learn, develop and improve in a system that values them every bit as much as it values the children and parents in their care.
I’d rather my son be taught by a hopeful novice, who is well supported by a happy and empowered school leader, rather than an experienced teacher who works 60-plus hours a week, never makes it to the staffroom for a cuppa or to the loo for a pee, let alone having time to improve their own state of happiness.
John Newton was a headteacher and is now an education consultant. This blog was orginally posted here. John tweets at @JNEdu5.
