Teacher Spotlight #5

The education system in the UK at the moment is far from perfect, and a dialogue is needed in order to make sure that we approach improving it in the right way. This requires collaboration from policy makers and educators alike. We must consider the experiences of teachers working on the frontline if we are to design an education system that works for everyone.

This week, we caught up with James, based in South London, to hear his thoughts on where the system needs improvement, and how we can better support teachers in their early years.

Name: James Whelan

School: Harris Federation, Morden.

How did you get into teaching?

My original degree was in Economics from Sheffield. I had originally planned to go into finance, but to be honest, I didn’t really feel a strong desire to follow this path. I liked Maths and this seemed like the logical choice, similar to everyone else on my course.

However, I went to a lecture in my second year about teaching as a career choice, and it gave me a lot of insight into what it would be like to be a teacher. I was sold almost immediately, and I decided to become a teacher pretty much from that day. The lecture pushed the point that teaching is primarily about communication and relationship building, and it is the connection with students that is the most important thing. I felt that this suited my skills, and I wanted the opportunity to put them into practice in the school environment. It also gave me a reason not to pursue accountancy, which was a huge plus! I was able to put myself forward in the future and think, if I was looking back at my life, would I have lived a more meaningful life as a teacher or as an accountant?

After the experience that was presented to you in that lecture at university, has teaching in the real world lived up to your expectations?

I began my teaching career at an inner city school in Sheffield. I have always favoured working in more deprived areas, as I felt I could have more of an impact. The first couple of years, particularly in this environment, were really tough, and, for a long time, I really wasn’t sure whether teaching was right for me. I really questioned myself as to whether I was making things better or worse in the classroom. Having spoken to many others, this experience seems to be shared among many teachers, and I think this puts a lot of people off of teaching in the early stages.

In my opinion, more needs to be done to support teachers in the early years, as teachers are thrust into an environment where they are immediately put under a lot of pressure, and are stretched by the workload. Though you spend time learning in theory during your PGCE, teaching for real is a much more intense experience. This is a large part of the reason for the shortage in teachers at the moment, in my opinion, as climbing the initial learning curve is incredibly difficult.

However, once I came through this initial period, things got better very quickly for me. I noticed, while working in more deprived areas, that you need to establish more of a connection with students. They are not necessarily the type of students who will be motivated to learn without direction, and once I realised this, I was able to use the communication skills I had developed to build relationships with students. This was the key for me, so in that sense, going back to what I discovered in the original lecture on careers in teaching, the real experience was strongly connected to what I had expected. It was the intensity, at first, that I wasn’t expecting, and it took me a while to adjust to this.

I was ambitious, and looking for career progression into school leadership. Schools, in my experience, have always been very good at pushing career progression, and I believe that the opportunity is there for everyone if they are willing to work at it.

What were some of the challenges in the early days, and what strategies have you developed to overcome these over the last few years?

Initially, the biggest challenge was in dealing with behavioural problems. There aren’t many things which prepare you for this, and the first few experiences of difficult behaviour can be really tough to manage. I have since become competent at dealing with behaviour, but it has taken work on my part.

I’ve worked in schools where the leadership wasn’t so strong on behaviour, and this gives individual teachers no chance. Conversely, I have also worked in schools where the behaviour policy was really tight. This is a much better environment for teachers to come into, particularly in the early stages. Behaviour is one less challenge new teachers need to deal with, and it is the responsibility of the school to provide this environment for teachers. As a result of this, and as I have moved into leadership, having the right behavioural policy is something I am really keen to pursue.

How do you tend to use technology today, and where do you think it has the greatest potential for impact in education?

I think there are huge benefits to be had from using technology. From a leadership point of view, it’s great for tracking students and enabling us to have a rounded view of what is going on with each student, and look at trends across groups of students. We can then use this to inform our strategy, and technology has enabled the intervention processes in school to be more acute and more efficient.

I do still feel that it is difficult for students to learn without teachers, and many online platforms out there at the moment don’t quite provide the service that they promise. Having said this, I am very interested in technology which can help students to learn more independently, particularly when support from a teacher is not available. This works both ways, and has the potential to help teachers have more of an understanding of where students are struggling, without the administrative overhead of marking papers.

What would you change about the education system if you had the chance?

I think the most important thing to change is the external perception of teaching. Over the past few years, we, as a society, have developed a stigma around teaching. When I speak to people about it, often inside and out of the industry, stress, overwork and low pay are topics that always come up. This negative stigma is preventing people from wanting to become teachers, and the media serves as an amplifier of this narrative. It is not surprising that we are facing a teacher shortage, when you consider how negative the public perception is of the teaching profession.

The thing is, this hasn’t been my experience from the inside. There is an administrative burden, and the first few years are really tough. However, my feelings towards teaching are overwhelmingly positive, and I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. I don’t feel as though I have ever been overworked, or underpaid, and I believe that the government has a duty to allow all teaches to have this experience— I think it’s so important in the development of our education system.

It’s interesting when comparing this perception to other countries. There are a few places in particular: Asia, Scandinavia and Canada, where the profession has much greater respect from political powers, and from society in general. It proves that it is possible to achieve a better balance, and I think there is a great deal that our system can learn from these examples.

However, I don’t believe that this narrative can change until we deal with the fundamental issues around administrative workload. The message simply won’t translate until these are resolved. In my opinion, schools themselves should take responsibility for this, while there must also be change at the governmental level. This is an area where technology has the potential for huge impact, while serving the greater purpose of nurturing perceptions and improving the pipeline of teachers coming into the industry.

Teaching, and the public sector in general, is going through a minor crisis on a number of levels. There are many public sector employees I know who are dissatisfied with the system, and there needs to be significant change in order to make it a better deal for those working within it. The teaching agenda must be a part of this. We can’t look to solve our everyday issues without first solving the more fundamental problems, which the government must take a part in.

Got a story you would like to share? Get in touch by email or in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you!