An open letter to everyone who keeps telling me not to go into the teaching profession.
I know you’re probably fed up of open letters but this is one I have to write.
Dear everyone who keeps telling me not to go into the teaching profession,
Firstly, it’s a bit late to be telling me this. I’ve already got a place on the Teach First Leadership Development Programme, which by the way took a good TWO MONTHS to apply for, and I’m not about to suddenly change my mind just because you’ve spent five minutes telling me how much your cousin’s husband’s sister hates it. Thanks for your uninvited input, but no thanks.
Second of all, and this may come as a surprise, but I am actually aware of the current challenges facing the British education system and teachers in particular. I didn’t just decide to teach on a whim — I actually have a number of career options available to me which I have meticulously considered from every angle (like festival touring henna artist, journalist and potential Blue Peter presenter….alright perhaps not the last one). I would very much like to dedicate my career to teaching and so the state of teaching is something that I have taken upon myself to investigate, in much the same way that a small-business owner might research property values and overhead costs or a software engineer might explore the most useful coding languages. I’m under no illusion that this will be an easy ride or a doss option so you can stop treating me like a child who doesn’t know how much hard work is involved with a pet dog.
Thirdly, to suggest that I am somehow superior to the teaching profesion is downright insulting, both to me and every hardworking teacher out there. I want a job in which I can inspire and encourage; where I can use my particular skills and talents in order to support others in realising their own gifts. I also want every child to receive an education as outstanding as mine has been, and I believe I have something to offer in pursuit of this vision. As Louise Michel argued, the task of teachers is to give people the intellectual means to revolt, and boy is that what I intend to do. I’m going to do it until the cows come home.
I am certainly not defending the way in which successive tory governments have run the teaching profession into the ground, but I am defending my decision to choose to teach. By doing so I am not condoning the destructive policies and undermining treatment of teachers, my decision is far bigger than current education politics. And to those who say I’ll never last, that I’ll have given up within 3 years just like everybody else, have you even met me? I am perhaps the most stubborn person you will ever meet, and the children of the general West Midlands area are going to have the intellectual means to revolt if it kills me.
Yours,
Carrie Ambler
