Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed
Do you remember your first week as a teacher?
It was probably a while ago but hopefully significant enough that it was memorable. Quite possibly, if you are old enough, it was also a bit of an “in at the deep end” experience because induction was still to be invented. In my case it involved 28 children, a classroom with three walls and cupboard dividers between my territory and the neighbouring group who were being taught by the Deputy Head. I didn’t have anything at all – and I mean nothing: no desks, no chairs and certainly no equipment: that arrived over the first couple of days.
You might think it would have been supportive to have a very experienced teacher so close to learn from but it was soon apparent that wasn’t to be the case. Her teaching style involved many hours with the children on the carpet being talked at and as she didn’t like Maths that was a once a week event – if they were lucky! Oh and it also soon transpired that she didn’t like me much either but I don’t take that personally as it was a default position.
None of this mattered. I was doing the job I had always wanted to do and I was loving it and I was allowed to muddle through on my way to becoming a good teacher and actually that joy never went away.
So why do I mention this? Well this year I am doing some work with NQT’s and it just strikes me how well prepared they are to take on their new roles. At the moment they are bright eyed and bushy tailed and full of enthusiasm. They get extra time to plan and prepare, they have their own programme of CPD to help them settle in and someone on the staff specifically allocated to support them. The understanding that the group have of planning, preparation and assessment is far beyond their experience. Their expectations of the role show that they know how many hours they are going to put in.
It ought to be utopia and it ought to give us a supply of staff who are going to make a very long career in education and yet statistics still show that the drop out rate from teaching is too high and after only a few years there will be many of this talented group who will be a statistic. I went to the bank and both the staff members I talked to were teaching drop outs. One of my ex colleagues, a potentially outstanding teacher, is working in admin for an academy chain. Another young teacher is working for the RSPB for a much lower salary but with much less stress and greater personal rewards.
So what goes wrong and how can we put it right. This is crucial to the well-being of the profession and the development of the children.
Now “in at the deep end” has a new meaning and far more judgemental overtones. Our new teachers have to achieve the same results as the rest of the staff. If you are brave enough or, some might say, foolish enough, to put them in year six your whole school data may depend on them and them alone. As they approach the end of term 1, I am busy encouraging them to make sure they are well on the way to meeting teaching standards to keep the DfE happy. You are working on the termly pupil progress meetings and about to hold them to account for progress in their classes which is probably more about Ofsted than the DfE .
So what can we do for them? Seems to me we really need to cherish this generation of new teachers and help them to be both fantastic educationalists and to keep a balance in their lives. And before you say “But of course we do this” maybe we need to take a hard look at the messages we send out. Are we reminding them that they need to meet all the teaching standards or are we so overwhelmingly concerned with making the school great that we lose our supporting instincts and chase Ofsted grades? Are we showing them how to live long and prosper in the profession or are we looking over our shoulders so much we lose humanity? When did you just chat to the NQT about nothing much at all just to check out they do have times still of doing nothing much? Now I am a fringe participant I look back at the RI to Good journey I led my school on and know that there were times I did things I didn’t really believe in and didn’t really want to do. I can justify it by saying it was for the good of the whole but I am not sure it makes me feel good.
At the moment the NQTs are still bright eyed and bushy tailed and long may that remain. They are our future and it is up to everyone to make sure they stay just that way.
Hilary Cooper, former Head Teacher at Barnes Junior School