Things a teacher won't miss from the profession...

[Marylou]

A teacher about to retire after 40 years has written a charming little Gilbert and Sullivanesque ditty which I'm sure will be appreciated by others in the profession!

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-netw ... ittle+List" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[MamaBear]

thats good! I left the teaching profession when ds1 was born and two more kiddies later I have not gone back and do not intend to!

[sbarnes]

still managed to get a living out of it for 40 years; may have been better to right a poem on what is right about the profession I suppose after all that time; just my opinion

[Marylou]

still managed to get a living out of it for 40 years; may have been better to right a poem on what is right about the profession I suppose after all that time; just my opinion

I suspect there are a lot of long-serving, dedicated teachers who simply want to be allowed to get on with their jobs, but are frustrated by the constant and ever-increasing number of changes and initiatives imposed from on high, most with their own acronym or buzzword. This is merely a light-hearted account of that aspect of the job.

[Amber]

may have been better to right a poem on what is right about the profession I suppose after all that time; just my opinion

Haiku the perfect form, methinks. In fact even fewer syllables would do it for me, sadly. Too disillusioned now to consider ever returning to mainstream teaching, let alone write a poem about it.

I suspect there are a lot of long-serving, dedicated teachers who simply want to be allowed to get on with their jobs, but are frustrated by the constant and ever-increasing number of changes and initiatives imposed from on high, most with their own acronym or buzzword.

I suspect you are dead right, Marylou.

[KS10]

Yes. It's learning support for me again. Teaching isn't for me anymore either.

[moved]

I work within education but have no desire to go back to atrocious pay, high stress, long hours, short weekends and the thanklessness (government, not children/parents) that constitutes the life of a classroom teacher.

The school holidays don't make up for the term time. Once my children have finished school, I will be able to go on holiday whenever I wish.

I do, however, miss the contact with the children and I miss the sociability of the classroom.

[yoyo123]

I teach, I love it

[sbarnes]

I realise that after 20 years in my current profession I wish I had gone into the teaching profession. I think there maybe some merit in taking professionals from the private sector after several years and asking them to teach children such as engineers, accountants, alchemists etc. They can use practical examples with their teaching and liven up the classes a bit more. Also with the contacts gained in the industry, there may be a chance to visit more well defined places of interest with the school children rather than those tried and tested visits year in year out, you know the ones I mean, city based farms, outdoor woodlands and the famous sewer works. They have their uses, but after a while get a bit boring.

[Amber]

I realise that after 20 years in my current profession I wish I had gone into the teaching profession. I think there maybe some merit in taking professionals from the private sector after several years and asking them to teach children such as engineers, accountants, alchemists etc. They can use practical examples with their teaching and liven up the classes a bit more. Also with the contacts gained in the industry, there may be a chance to visit more well defined places of interest with the school children rather than those tried and tested visits year in year out, you know the ones I mean, city based farms, outdoor woodlands and the famous sewer works. They have their uses, but after a while get a bit boring.

It all sounds lovely and was one reason I so enjoyed my early years in teaching, pre national curriculum. As time progressed I felt any opportunity for creativity by either teacher or child was gradually being squeezed from the curriculum and the 'divergent thinking' I was trained to encourage became frowned upon. One of my teacher trainers told me I was a 'creative irritant' - you know, like in an oyster, stirring up the child to make it produce something beautiful. I genuinely don't think there is seen to be any value in that now - teachers are supposed to produce measurable 'outcomes' and efficient little machines who can all do what they have been programmed to do. Much of a teacher's time is spent writing - planning, assessing, reporting. The days when I could spend a day cooking with infant children, or take them outside because the weather was nice and we could go bug hunting, or an oral story telling session was going so well that we just carried on with it, are, I fear, gone. School trips now are carefully choreographed and must be tightly fitted to the curriculum, as well as being 'risk assessed' and anyone the children might come into contact with police checked.

OK I am cynical - good job I don't have chance to pass this view onto impressionable youngsters eh?