Tomorrow is world teacher's day so I thought I'd give you all a heads up on what being a teacher is really all about.
Forget the pithy sayings written on coffee mugs which suggest you are a world changer 'one student at a time'. That is not to say that we don't do that, I firmly believe we are an integral part of a child's life but that isn't the reality of every day teaching.
The reality is that we are motivational, organisational, behavioural experts who on a good day get to teach something which may or may not be of use to our students.
Schools are a great testament to 19th Century industrialisation but have nothing to do with teaching children to live in the 21st Century. If they did they would look very different.
Schools today are a paradox, teachers who have studied education and know the students don't get any say in what students learn. Instead governments, other adults and every man and his dog get to have their say in what schools should teach but not the ones who are doing the teaching.
Adults who hated school think we should teach what they learned, business wants what suits them, governments want what will make them look good but nobody really considers what students really need.
The public are consulted in TV interviews when statistics come out, government spokes people talk about getting back to basics and every time there is a social problem schools are told we should be tackling that issue.
Schools today teach sexual health, road safety, drugs and alcohol safety, bullying, resilience, organ donation, blood donation, water safety, water conservation, social skills, job interview skills, legal rights ...... as well as english, maths, science, history, geography, environmental science, social studies, information technology, japanese, hpe, sport and a myriad of electives.
Add to this parents who expect us to teach behaviour, manners, social skills, self discipline, social awareness as well as most other parental duties that they no longer want and then complain if we give homework as they can't deal with it. Most parents don't help students with spelling, revision (what's that?), research (no not plagarising from google) or anything that would help their child when they are at school.
It's no wonder that the average number of years that teachers last in the profession is '5'. Yes '5'!
Don't get me wrong I love my profession, I wouldn't do anything else but it is a major challenge everyday and is not what most people think of when they think of teachers.
So spare a thought for teachers tomorrow, they are amazing, wonderful, creative people who wouldn't be doing the job if they weren't passionate about it because it definitely isn't a walk in the park!
