So how are we all feeling at the start of another academic year? Excited? Apprehensive? Refreshed? Recharged? Exhausted already?
When I got to July 2016, I looked back on what was possibly the most exhausting 12 months of my career since my NQT year. It may just be that I am getting older (and with age slightly less energetic) or it may be that trying to raise funds to build a major new sports facility, establish ourselves as a Teaching
School and prepare for our first year as a QTS-awarding SCITT was all just a bit too much! On top of that we had the new SATs to contend with and the ins and outs with the White Paper (are we all going to become academies or has there really been some backtracking?!).
Slightly less energetic than I was at 23? Possibly yes. But no less positive about the job. As that fresh-faced NQT, I was thrilled that I had the sole responsibility of enhancing the educational and life chances of 38 eager pupils. Then as a year group leader that number increased to 120 and through deputy headship to headship where I now am responsible for providing the best possible educational experiences for all of our lovely 256 pupils.
It really is an honour to have that role. None of my friends from childhood are teachers and when we meet for a curry a couple of times each year the talk inevitably turns to our jobs. However, while they all have “good jobs”, none of them get the emotional rewards that I get from working with children and teachers.
The challenge that we all face is remembering why we got into education in the first place. As a SCITT, we have the delight of working with enthusiastic trainee teachers and I want to pass on what one of them (the delightful Craig who is now an NQT in a Hampshire school not far from here) wrote when reflecting on the end of his work-based training year.
He said: “I truly believe that I am just starting out in the greatest profession there is. Being a teacher is unbelievably rewarding and a career path that I am pleased I chose to follow. Working in the teaching profession is so much fun that getting up and going to work rarely ever actually feels like work.
“In my opinion, the most important skill for me to have is the ability to form strong relationships with the children. After these relationships have been established the lessons are so much easier as the children are willing to work and give their all for you. Even though you as a teacher must obviously produce results, it’s great to have a laugh with the children along the way. Having the ability to be adaptable and approachable makes planning and delivering fun and exciting lessons for the children much easier.”
Clearly Craig has a slightly idealised view of his career and so he should at the outset, but to be fair, having completed a successful year on School Direct in an outstanding school with very high expectations, he does have a clear picture of the role of a class teacher and he definitely works his socks off.
I would like to highlight one of his points – his emphasis on the fun that can be had working in a primary school. I was at a leadership conference recently and was lucky enough to hear Mick Waters speak. He spoke about the fact that he believes that recently there is “a lot less laughter and a lot less fun in schools”. This made me sad and I have subsequently talked to other headteachers about the importance of ensuring that we do not turn primary teaching into a “joyless profession”.
So, I will set a challenge for myself (and for you should you wish to accept it) – in those more trying and tiring times this year, I will try to pause and remember the reason I got into this job in the first place...
- Tom Donohoe is the headteacher of Anton Junior School in Hampshire.