So here we are at the start of the new academic year….but let’s not rush headlong into the melee. Instead let’s wind back a few steps and approach it from a short distance!
As the year loomed large and the summer holidays ebbed away ; just how were you feeling as the challenges of a new year approached?
Well if you are an NQT, then I am sure it was with a mixture of excitement and trepidation…a sort of fear of the unknown and if you are more experienced – well just what were you feeling?
Its a strange sort of time about 2 weeks before the start of a new academic year – a feeling of suspended animation – the inevitable appears on the horizon as you try to hold tightly to what remains of your holiday….coupled with a gradually increasing sinking feeling!
But just how should we be approaching the new year and why is it that we are often lacking in enthusiasm?
There’s always a feeling of the holidays slipping away whatever occupation you may have – however not too many jobs have the sort of holidays that we enjoy as teachers. Not that we don’t deserve it, because we do, and despite what many think the actual length of holiday time is not actually from the start to the end of the given dates with nothing in between!
Teaching is a career unlike any other – not only does it occupy the hours from 8.00 – 5.00 and often more but it requires a substantial workload that is outside of these hours. It is not possible to teach effectively and to challenge the children in your class (whatever their ability and level) without substantial thought, planning and assessment and to be quite frank about it – if you try to circumvent the process you end up not only shortchanging your pupils but actually just going through the motions of “being a teacher.”
It is against this background that we approach the new year – hopefully with excitement and optimism but for those of us who have “seen it all before” with the realisation that the substantial workload is just around the corner and will in fact be hitting us directly in the face for approximately the last 2 weeks of the holiday. (ok I used to budget for about a week!)
Everyone moans about workload!
It’s a fact – yes everyone complains about the workload in teaching and I have to say that I am more than happy to see that OFSTED are now looking at the efforts made by schools to reduce and control teacher workload. There are 2 factors here that can work either in our favour or directly against us.
- It is the school that is directly causing the workload for staff by its unrealistic (and let’s be honest) and unnecessary requirements
- Is it your own fault!…yep that’s what I am saying. When was it that you last REALLY looked at how you do things?
As regards the 1st I have written an article about school created workload which can be accessed here….have a read and see if you can identify any aspects in what you have to do at your own school. (there are 2 parts to the full article – the 2nd can be accessed through the search bar)
The 2nd point made looks directly at how you are approaching your planning, teaching and assessment and asks the question “when was the last time YOU looked at how effective your own approaches really are?”
Are you in a rut?
Well if you’re an NQT then obviously not – the workload for NQTs is high and from all the comments I get it is apparent that many have had a huge shock as to the realities of the job! Teaching is an experienced based occupation and you grow into the profession. It is not something that you can do straight away nor should you expect to do so….yes there seem to be so many things to think about and implement, but as we advise NQTs – concentrate on the basics of effective planning and teaching and the rest are of secondary importance (well at least at this stage in the first term)
For the rest of us, and that applies right across all levels including Heads and Deputies; we have to be constantly reviewing what we do and how we do it.
I remember in one school I was at there were a couple of young teachers – one of whom had been a pupil at the school years previously. She commented to me that she had done the same lessons in Y2 as were being done by that teacher currently!
Perhaps this is an extreme example of “getting into a rut”…but the principle applies – perhaps if we took the time to look at how we approach our teaching we could reinvigorate both our enthusiasm and also our classroom practice?
But what about Curriculum pressure?
I hear a lot about the pressures of the curriculum and timetabling nightmares – I agree there seems to be a mass of information that needs to be taught to children at every age group and there are tranches of this that are totally irrelevant and unnecessary….take note OFSTED!
However it is against this background that we have to professionally pick our way and present to our new classes their learning material and environment for the new year.
It is at times challenging, but what are the alternatives – in simple terms there aren’t any….the changes therefore must come from us. How do we approach our teaching, how do we organise the children’s learning and how do we ensure the effectiveness of the environments we create?
Everyone feels differently as a new academic year approaches – I hope that you had a great summer break and that the first few weeks of the Autumn term have gone well and your class is starting to settle.
Have fun and enjoy your teaching.
Charles