Wednesday lunchtime (Scotland):
Sitting attempting to finish an email that has been saved to drafts 8 times since 8.30am, whilst on the phone to the ladies in the office – getting bus quotes for a school netball game, at the same time being shown a new app on the iPad by colleague, also gesturing to a pupil at the department door that you will be along in 2 minutes for a lunchtime club that started 5 minutes ago and failing at attempt number 45 of trying to eat your lunch…. A scene that many of the teachers out there will be all too familiar with!
We all know that the teaching profession is judged on the time spent teaching or contact time and we get brilliant holidays and work 9am to 3pm – easy ! If you don’t have a teacher in your family or live with one, please re-read the paragraph above and multiply by 24 then add 20+ hours teaching time you have a typical week…Little secret it’s more than 35 hours a week! If you do know a teacher you will also probably know that, they are driven by a huge amount of passion and care for young people and their development. This is not a job for the faint hearted and I can say spending more time; planning, preparing, researching, collaborating, reading, discussing, marking, chasing, collecting, recording, negotiating, reporting, analysing, designing, counselling, listening and reviewing on a daily basis than teaching is worth it. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t look forward to the bell on a Friday, but I also love the satisfaction of getting to Friday having had an amazing week!
Wednesday lunchtime (Australia) :
Sitting reading the Australian Educator, underlining and annotating the article which asks; ” What skills will make our students future proof ? “ I am also sitting down to eat my lunch, and will be able to finish it and do not need to organise trips or chase pupils for homework or lead extra curricular activities. This scene compared to my Scottish lunchtime would be the dream.
The dream if I was not passionate about my job… I am extremely passionate and do not feel the same way about my current role. I work as a Cover Relief Teacher (CRT) for Health, PE and Sport. I choose to take a secondment to teach in Australia and observe the Australian curriculum. I thought that I didn’t get much time to teach back home, well here I initiate very little learning (more on why later). I quickly realised all that what I love about teaching is everything that comes with the job, all that happens away from the spotlight of contact time all of the extra roles we play as a department that the public, parents and critics don’t see. The idea of having a quiet lunchtime to all you teachers out there seems like bliss but believe me, taking a step out of full-time teaching has cemented the reason I teach and the fact that I know that not everyone could do it, and I love that I can!
What’s the difference?
This is a question that I have been asked a lot recently by friends and colleagues and the reason you have clicked on my blog again. Thank you and I hope that I can engage you for the next 10 minutes.
The first thing that I noted down on day 1 of teaching in an Australian secondary school;
” *** MOBILE PHONE POLICY??!! *** “
My observation sparked something in me, which led to the first Travelling Teacher blog. Now here I am another month down the line, having taught in over 21 schools across Melbourne! 21 schools! Before, I couldn’t have named 21 schools never mind compare their policy and practice to our Scottish curriculum back home.
Because we now live in an instant world where adverts are shorter, people can be liked in an instant and if we don’t like something we have such a variety of choice that you will switch off or over if I don’t get to the point. As of 3 minutes ago I started competing with these alternatives so here’s the differences – from daily school policy to classroom practice.
Key alternatives :
– Music is played over a tannoy system in the morning to signify the start of the school day and played again at end of break and lunchtime usually in place of a bell. Some schools don’t have any bells or music and pupils and teachers have to keep track of the time.
– ALL teachers do at least one yard duty (20 mins) per week, ensuring pupils are safe and setting good examples during break and lunchtime.
– Uniforms are bought by parents and strictly enforced across the school. PE Uniform is also purchased at the start of the year for all pupils to wear matching kit with the school logo on it. In winter rugby tops as well as tracksuit bottoms are available for PE participation. Junior pupils wear PE kit to school (and stay in kit) on days they have PE and Sport.
– Staff dress code is much more casual than home. On day 1 I could not decide which staff were the PE teachers as not many staff were wearing smart clothes.
– PE is one subject and Sport is another. All pupils receive core PE and play 1-2 hours of their selected sport in year groups. The PE teachers do not deliver all sport, staff from across subjects teach the classes based on personal interest.
– Excursions, camps and competitions are the norm. Pupils go on school camps most years, play inter school sport on a monthly basis and travel across the country on educational trips (paid for by parents).
– 1 in 5 teachers in the state are cover teachers. The main reason I get work as a cover teacher is because of the amount of staff who run and attend school trips. The budget for cover teachers and availability of cover is much higher than back home.
– Technology and phones have a prominent place in the classroom. Today my class were studying for a test with their phones, tablets and laptops are out on the table and I have been given a school iPad, you can picture the scene. The biggest challenge for me is the use of mobile phones. Teachers texting during lessons, pupils taking calls during class and the general overuse (in my opinion) of casual technology E.g. social media, texts, games and scrolling during lessons.
– Learning intentions, co-operative learning and wider life skills integrated in learning seems to be a very new concept. I thought coming to Australia that they would be ahead of us for learning and teaching but they do not engage in as many learning activities.
– There is a much higher reliance on redemption, if pupils do not engage in the lesson and complete work they will be the ones to suffer. The onus is not just on the teacher to ensure work is completed, the pupils get given space to take on responsibility.
– Skills for life, work and learning are unheard of here, although pupils can be trained in trades during school hours. We have life skills maths as a subject back home and here academic grades are a priority and retaining propositional knowledge rather than core skills still remains a key indicator of the good student.
– Do you want me to phone your mum? Classroom teachers will quite often pick up the phone to their students’ parents. I know that in Scotland we refer concerns on to pastoral staff. Here the teachers have direct relationships with parents for incomplete homework or behaviour issues and parents can hold their kids accountable for actions.
– Finally; “beep!” I have never heard the ‘F bomb’ being dropped from kids more than I have in the past 4 months! The amount of swearing that I hear on a daily basis is quite unbelievable. The amount of swearing and casual use of cursing during conversation is astonishing. Pupils will be telling teachers stories and make use of a number of swear words, without a second thought.
Things I miss (Fundamentals) :
– PUT YOUR PHONE AWAY! I have accepted that technology is here stay and for as long as politicians are best palls with the leaders of this multi billion pound industry it will be pushed into education without many hitches. We simply cannot have pupils texting and even speaking on the phone during a lesson! If it’s not life or death, do not disturb is my view and if it is schools have phones! Nothing is more important than learning to be present and compete a task. We are much more structured in our schools back home – games and mobile phones are a privilege and that privilege can be taken away if abused.
– Sit still, listen and don’t touch anyone or anything (insert
fidget spinner!) If you have been in the classroom in the past 12 months you will know exactly what this craze is and how distracting it is to learning. For something that was invented for those with learning or behavioural needs it has been counter productive in promoting focus and attention.
– Expect more instead of accepting less! We do not need to see young people have more choice especially if they are avoiding the completion of tasks. Young people are paralysed by choice and this has created unnecessary anxiety and fear of being judged on their choices. If they say; “I don’t want to do it”, that’s their opinion but it’s not always right for them.
– We blame technology at a time when human support is most important. Speaking to some pupils today they said that everyone gets bullied at one point in their life either face to face or online. They said that we need to remain resilient and resourceful in dealing with problems instead of trying to fix problems through a screen.
– Building relationships based on mutual respect and trust will set an excellent example for their future connections to others. Pupils said that the most important thing to them was knowing they had support and where to get it.
– I miss teaching core skills. PE in Scotland has had a huge shift in priorities and focus, especially in the underpinning principles that develop all
4 domains in (mental, emotional, social and physical) wellbeing. There is little difference between PE and Sport here and the pupils are not challenged or taught about management of emotions or attitudes.
– A phrase we all know well; “I forgot my kit/ I’ve got a note”. We have done a lot of work back home to make sure that pupils are included and contributing in lessons. Here pupils sit out playing on iPads, phones and sometimes sleeping! There is little recognition of forgotten kit and fake notes being a front to mask pupils’ PE phobia. There are limited alternatives for pupils who are not traditionally sporty.
Back to basics
In order to achieve meaningful success in child development, educational settings need to apply some tough love (mum and dad you have been right all along) ! Pupils have too many excuses, instead of the tools to articulate and process their emotions in order to finish tasks. I keep repeating the same point about ‘completing tasks’ and even as adults we need to swap multi-tasking to mono-tasking and get better at ‘doing’ rather than saying.
I was lucky growing up and remain to be in such a position that, there is never a smart phone between me and my parents when I am in their company! Setting an excellent example starts at home, and parents who are on phones or tablets instead of socialising with their kids are encouraging poor lifelong habits. Eating at the table, family chats and quality time should be a device free and an emotionally open environment. Promoting discussion, disagreements and even arguments is important so that children know how they feel and how to express those feelings. Children will try to avoid confrontation in order to reduce the chance of hurting another person (usually an adult) or falling out with them. The skill of communicating how you feel is very important, and carries on into adulthood as we manage or destroy relationships with the reactions we choose and how we approach reconciliation.
Relationships have been at the forefront of my thinking over the past month. Strong relationships begin with advanced skills in communication and inter-personal skills. No matter how much technology advances, we will still require deep meaningful relationships to thrive and build emotional and mental health. It’s no fluke that Finland (click for worthwhile video) have topped the world educational league tables with their approach of student and teacher well-being and happiness as a driving force.
The ability to teach these skills back home as part of Higher Leadership is such a pleasure as a teacher, and I can tailor my lessons for the pupils in front of me and their needs. Investing time and energy in all aspects of health and well-being will bring payback as young people gather skills to work as part of a team and individually. Working with young people to help them grow by teaching transferable skills will enable them to grow as individuals to succeed into adulthood.
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