teacher of the future?
How many times have you heard ‘Aye, they did that 20 years ago, and then changed it and now they’re changing it back again”. Or “Yeh, it’s the next flavour of the month”. I’ve only been a teacher for 10 weeks or so and I’ve heard it plenty. From a lot of different people. Different backgrounds. Different schools.
At our council CPD meetings the most people address us (the NQT’s) with the words “You are the future of teaching. You are young. You can make change happen”.
Change. It’s a big theme, and it’s not like it is new or is the flavour of the month. It is something that no-one can escape from. People 400 years ago were thinking pretty similar things to what you are thinking just now. Maybe in a different context, but essentially the same stuff. But turning to the voices of those cynics – why do it? “If its not broke, don’t fix it” Is education a series of cliches? Sometimes from my young eyes I feel that it could easily be if we let it. “Do you want a learning intention with that?” I heard that one in the staffroom. But I’m supposed to be part of something, the new blood, the teacher of the future. But how do I battle against the cynics? Why should it be a battle? Why do things seem to change so much? And why should they?
Even in this web2.0 arena which provides us with ‘tools’ that are coming out our ears, we seem to go through fads. I honestly hardly blog about all these technologies because I feel that by the time I blog it, it will be out of date and the next thing will have come along. In the same way (I am told) Education goes through fads. Does it? I seem to have started my career at the start of a God almighty changing point. AcFE, AifL, Sustainability, Citizenship, Health Promoting Schools, Enterprise.
Could we all just not agree on something and stick to it? It would satisfy the cynics of change. But I know that this couldn’t be the case as education really is an evolutionary process. It needs to be diverse and different and suit the learner and teacher. So why, when I go to CPD, am I constantly told to incorporate a million different techniques and values into my lessons. I feel I should make up a checklist for myself: Enterprise, yes? Citizenship, yes? Use of technology, yes?
I feel if you want us to be the ‘teachers of the future’ advise yes, but don’t suffocate.
October 23rd, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Krysia
Here’s another cliche, “The only constant is change”
I have been teaching a mere 11 years and it is a constant. Is that a bad thing? Is it bad to put a mirror against existing practice and question it? As well as questioning the status Quo question, like the cynics, the changes.
I would encourage everyone to ask that the deep philosphy of a 3 year old and ask that question, WHY?
Something I have found in education is that a lot of the teachers who assume the staffroom cynic postion are the ones who have not been outside any education system since the age of 5.
Its all they know and make the assumption that if it worked for them it should work for everyone.
One last cliche. Do a Clinton, watch but don’t inhale
October 24th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
*lol*, thanks Ian. Yes, my post was a bit of a rant and your advice was good to hear.
However in the position of an NQT I feel we are asked to teach to the expectations of other people (apart from the pupils and ourselves). Having 13 observed lessons in a year is a good thing but not so much if you start thinking about it so as to satisfy the expectations of a higher agenda (ticking the boxes).
I am all for the principles of ACfE. It makes good sense. But there is a difference between creating a catalyst for change that in turn creates a snowball effect among teachers, compared to imposing changes on people.
October 24th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
It depends on the agenda of whoever is doing the observing and how much they know of what you want to do.
I had an NQT in the dept last year. He is now a valued fellow teacher.
As the PT I did the majority of the obs. There was no surprises in terms of ‘What’ only very thought provoking and inspirational ‘hows’ .
Yes you do have to make sure you hit the right bases (I hate fecking tick boxes) but how you arrive at those bases is your professional (Is that how you spell that?) judgement.
I was talking to an old friend tonight who actually encouraged me into teaching (its all his fault). To quote Tom the DHT at a large Glasgow School. “I want to see NQT’s doing things differently and approaching things in a completely new way. It makes it interesting for me.”
November 2nd, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Krysia,
I think your CPD and colleagues around you are trying to ensure that new teachers are firstly aware how complex the task of teaching is: there are many things to take into account if you are going to reach and develop each child – they are all different. Multiply this by the number of children in the classroom and the complexity is astonishing.
Secondly, there is nothing as dynamic as a classroom: things change constantly according to the time of day, events, interactions, wind, rain, the moon, things at home, and so on: situations are richly different and the teacher who multitasks this complexity needs a quiver full of arrows from which to pluck the right strategy for every eventuality or learning intention.
It can seem rich and complex when you are bombarded with all the advice. Truth is, you need all of it if you are to do your job effectively.
Nick
November 3rd, 2007 at 12:36 pm
thanks Nick for this well thought advice. If I leave a CPD activity having learnt something I didn’t know before then I view it as worthwhile. So far, in this respect, they have all been worthwhile.
Your comment has reminded me how much I love this blogging malarky. Hearing other peoples opinions is something I value most.
November 9th, 2007 at 7:09 am
[...] I find her use of the word ‘fad’ significant, since this is a word that is heard loud and often in school staffrooms up and down the land (and which reminded me of a recent discussion I read on Krysia’s blog on Teacher of the Future?). [...]