It took me a while to get started (much like my aging body in the mornings these days) but now I'm up and running, I seem to be on a roll so he's my second serving.
As David Bowie and Queen once sang, 'pressure pushes down on you, splits a family in two'. This time around, in education, in the UK, I feel that I am actually managing to let most of the pressure waft over me but I am watching what it is doing to my colleagues. Why can I let it waft over me? I work for an agency, I'm a temp, so I don't have that permament contract to worry about.
I've been kicked up the arse by the system once, so maybe I'm a bit more savvy this time round. Maybe I'm more able to dodge the kicks now BUT there are definitely some things which still make my blood boil and sometimes they are fellow educators.
I regularly read The Secret Teacher blog which I found via the Guardian's 'Teacher Network'. This is honest, sensible writing from someone who is obviously still working hard at the chalk face (or is it the interactive-multi-media face?) which I enjoy reading and can always empathise with. There's no 'I sacrifice my life for the sake of my students' or any suggestion that this anonymous teacher is anything but a thoroughly dedicated professional. I have to comment, of course, on the need for anonymity. Teachers all live under a permament shadow of the fear of blame. If any of us actually dared to stand up and tell the truth, we know that we'd soon be heading for the door.
So what's making my blood boil? I decided to look at another blog recommended by The Guardian and found a man who uses the twitter name @headguruteacher. Really? Who gives themselves the title of 'guru'? Even just for a twitter handle. The dictionary has a couple of definitions of guru. Firstly, a preceptor giving personal religious instruction. Since there is nothing about religion, I'm assuming that's not who he thinks he is so that leaves the alternative: an intellectual or spiritual guide or leader. His blog often gives advice on how teachers should manage classroom behaviour, their time or cope with their work load. All good but it's his tone that irks me. Anyone who has the audacity to title themselves guru is far too arrogant for his own good. He tells me that because I don't see the value of homework (and there is as much research which agrees with me as there is which argues for it) that I do not take education seriously and therefore am not a good teacher. How very dare he? Ask any of my students, past or present: I take their education very seriously and they (if not Ofsted) tell me I'm a good teacher. And that, as they say, will do for me.
So, not only do we have to deal with the pressure of our own senior leadership, HMI, the league tables and the media we have an additional layer of pressure pressing down on us from our own fellow professionals. It's no wonder good, experienced teachers are looking for an alternative.
That idea of being a good teacher sparks another thought but I will save for my next blog.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/guru?s=t
http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/series/the-secret-teacher?INTCMP=edi_231654
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