Why become a teacher? -
from Mr. Chips our undercover teacher.
Sorry for the long gap between blogs, it has been a hectic few months. Rather than comment on the massive number of topical debates surrounding teaching at the moment, I thought I’d make an appeal on behalf of the profession.
Teaching is one of the few professions where you really can shape the lives of people. If most university students were to take an honest look at their educational path, many would find inspiration for their specialism from one particular teacher. This of course can work both ways, with some disliked subjects caused by a poor teacher.
For many people teaching is a profession for those who have failed in some other walk of life, or who cannot get a job elsewhere. I could not disagree more strongly with this silly argument. Neither (or so it seems) do any of the major political parties think that teachers are simply failures in their specialism. Large training bursaries are still available for teachers, especially in those areas where specialists are rare (Maths, ICT, Science and Music). There are also plans afoot to cancel student debts for those who choose the teaching profession. When one considers the current financial climate, this is a clear indication that all political parties believe in the importance of attracting the brightest and most talented graduates into teaching. If this were not the case then surely any government would just let the riff raff float into the profession. The education which you received is something which is being improved constantly, despite the doomsayers who write in newspapers. Ofsted have changed their criteria now such that schools previously rated as outstanding are now considered good. In order to succeed in providing the best possible education for the nation’s children, the best teachers need to be attracted. This is far more than mere degree classification or the university that you have studied that, indeed most university students would probably attest to their lecturers being quite poor teachers despite their formidable intelligence.
If you are thinking of becoming a teacher, let’s talk about the realities of the job. Firstly the holidays – 13 weeks of them every year, is what most people think of as the main perk of teaching, although I will warn you that you do deserve these holidays! There is also the joy of teaching. This is quite a vague concept, but you as tutors gain more than a bit of spare cash and a nice entry for your CV. There are times when teaching can be incredibly frustrating, but that is a common denominator in most jobs, whereas teaching has the selling point that most days you’ll have an interaction with a student that leaves you feeling on top of the world which no other job can offer. It’s also a job where there are vacancies all around the country, so you are not tied down to a particular area or region. Most importantly every day is completely different, and I find this leaves you feeling tired, but with a buzzing energy which I have never experienced before in a job, and from this perspective teaching is without parallel as a profession and I recommend it to you!
If you are thinking of applying to become a teacher, I suggest you try to find a bit of work experience in a school over the summer, a week is often a good tester to see how you feel about the school environment from a teacher’s perspective. You can then apply to PGCE courses and other routes into teaching through the GTTR (Graduate Teacher Training Registry) which is exactly the same process as UCAS so make sure you have a personal statement ready!
www.tutorlink.org.uk
