This week in the eteach office we have been talking about Mothering Sunday and which jobs fit well with family life. In the past teaching has been seen to be a career that fits well, with teachers being able to take holidays with their children and not have to worry about getting family or friends to cover the long vacations. I remember my own mother who was a teacher all her life, always being able to collect us after school and was rarely aware of her job affecting our family life.
Today in the light of the curriculum, assessment and after school activities I do not feel the original advantages associated with this job still exist in the same way. Large chunks of weekends are now spent creating huge amounts of planning and preparing for the coming week. Holidays are spent catching up with reports, assessment and filing and coordinator work. I have spent two weeks of my summer holiday washing lego and equipment in my new Reception class, because building work from the summer holiday had covered the whole lot in dust. Not fun I can tell you!
I believe that we need more teachers who are parents in education because they bring a wealth of additional experience to the job that can only benefit both pupils and schools. I look back on my own career and even though I felt I did a good job I would certainly have a greater empathy with parents and their concerns for their children had I been a parent then.
Finally I think schools could be missing a trick. All the working mums I know are extremely efficient and professional with their time. Rather than over looking them for posts because they can’t give you 24/7, how about thinking outside the box and offering more job shares or part time roles? I bet you would find them more effective for time they are with you and their maturity a real support for the younger staff.
Are you a parent looking to find a teaching role that fits in with your family life? Eteach offers many part time positions on our website. If you are a working parent let us know what you look for from a school you want to work in. Do you thinking teaching still works well with family life?
Gerry
20 Mar 2009
18 Mar 2009
Quentin St. John Warder bit his lip.
Over time, questions for which he was ill-prepared had resulted in this conditional reflex. Prep school, King Charles II Boys, then Oxford, and finally the merchant bank in the city; every phase of his life seemed to him to have been one long Pavlov experiment aimed at damaging his mouth.
Why is the square root of two irrational? Why are the Halogens so alike and yet so different? Why had he poured millions of pounds of investor’s money into risky derivatives?At least he could afford the lip cream. The £80k bonuses meant that he was financially secure for the moment, and the Mercedes hadn’t depreciated as much as his stocks, so he could always downsize to an Audi.
Idle hands, the devil’s work he had thought, so he looked for new employment in insurance and in high street banks, but the crisis had hit hard.
A friend mentioned teaching. New six-month courses for talented individuals who were interested, fast-tracked upwards in the system. He felt he had all the skills that a new recruit needed. The 2.1 (tick), an ability to make spreadsheets and flowcharts (tick), experience outside school in the real world of international investment funds (tick), occasional babysitting for the nephews on weekend leave from St. Agatha’s (tick) – all present and correct. No need for him to waste a whole year with mumbo jumbo pseudo-psychology, learning about the latest education methodologies.
The interview had been going so well, until that thin faced woman with the glasses had asked him “Why is it that boys, who used to lag behind girls in maturity and academic development before closing the gap around year 9, now seem no longer able to? What changes in teaching style do you think could positively benefit them, whilst still maintaining the interest of girls?
Quentin St. John Warder bit his lip.
Why is the square root of two irrational? Why are the Halogens so alike and yet so different? Why had he poured millions of pounds of investor’s money into risky derivatives?At least he could afford the lip cream. The £80k bonuses meant that he was financially secure for the moment, and the Mercedes hadn’t depreciated as much as his stocks, so he could always downsize to an Audi.
Idle hands, the devil’s work he had thought, so he looked for new employment in insurance and in high street banks, but the crisis had hit hard.
A friend mentioned teaching. New six-month courses for talented individuals who were interested, fast-tracked upwards in the system. He felt he had all the skills that a new recruit needed. The 2.1 (tick), an ability to make spreadsheets and flowcharts (tick), experience outside school in the real world of international investment funds (tick), occasional babysitting for the nephews on weekend leave from St. Agatha’s (tick) – all present and correct. No need for him to waste a whole year with mumbo jumbo pseudo-psychology, learning about the latest education methodologies.
The interview had been going so well, until that thin faced woman with the glasses had asked him “Why is it that boys, who used to lag behind girls in maturity and academic development before closing the gap around year 9, now seem no longer able to? What changes in teaching style do you think could positively benefit them, whilst still maintaining the interest of girls?
Quentin St. John Warder bit his lip.
17 Mar 2009
SIX MONTHS no way....my response to the six-month teacher training plan
SIX MONTHS no way..... I could never have taught PE in a London Comprehensive after 6 months training.
This will put undue pressure on prospective teachers and schools who will have to handhold these (I presume) graduates through the process and beyond extending the induction period to two or three years maybe.... !!!!!
Is this the end of formal vocational teacher training ??
JPH
This will put undue pressure on prospective teachers and schools who will have to handhold these (I presume) graduates through the process and beyond extending the induction period to two or three years maybe.... !!!!!
Is this the end of formal vocational teacher training ??
JPH
9 Mar 2009
Inspiration for teachers and support staff
Have you ever heard someone you thought was truly inspirational and what they said kept coming back to you over and over again?
Eteach had the wonderful opportunity to listen to such a person at the SHMIS Annual Conference in Brigg North Lincolnshire earlier this week.
The person in question was Carrie Herbert the founder of Red Balloon Learner Centres. Every teacher training college should have this lady to speak to their students about the work she does. Her words would stay with them the whole of their careers.
Carrie’s Red Balloon Learner Centres provide support and one to one teaching for pupils who have been bullied out of schools and can no longer attend regular schools. She provides ‘safe houses’ that have been converted into learning centres where pupils receive crucial emotional support to help give them back their self esteem. Through this and individual learning programmes she enables students to have belief in themselves and their abilities and in turn gives them strategies that reintegrates them back into regular full time education, apprenticeships or work.
Her understanding of the complex issues surrounding the victim in bullying was fascinating and enlightening. The way she conveyed all of this made each and everyone us want to go out of that room and champion her cause.
Have you had anyone who has inspired you in your career? At Eteach we fill many job vacancies for teachers and support staff from all spectrum's. A number of us hunt for the next job, whether it is in teaching or any other career, because someone has provided inspiration to find that next step. We’d love to hear whether someone’s inspiration has helped you land a successful job in education?
Eteach had the wonderful opportunity to listen to such a person at the SHMIS Annual Conference in Brigg North Lincolnshire earlier this week.
The person in question was Carrie Herbert the founder of Red Balloon Learner Centres. Every teacher training college should have this lady to speak to their students about the work she does. Her words would stay with them the whole of their careers.
Carrie’s Red Balloon Learner Centres provide support and one to one teaching for pupils who have been bullied out of schools and can no longer attend regular schools. She provides ‘safe houses’ that have been converted into learning centres where pupils receive crucial emotional support to help give them back their self esteem. Through this and individual learning programmes she enables students to have belief in themselves and their abilities and in turn gives them strategies that reintegrates them back into regular full time education, apprenticeships or work.
Her understanding of the complex issues surrounding the victim in bullying was fascinating and enlightening. The way she conveyed all of this made each and everyone us want to go out of that room and champion her cause.
Have you had anyone who has inspired you in your career? At Eteach we fill many job vacancies for teachers and support staff from all spectrum's. A number of us hunt for the next job, whether it is in teaching or any other career, because someone has provided inspiration to find that next step. We’d love to hear whether someone’s inspiration has helped you land a successful job in education?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
