5 Things I Wish I Had Known Before I Went Back To School
‘Sir, is your name Connor?’
Spend a day in any of the UK’s oversubscribed and underfunded comprehensive schools and you’ll realise that teaching can be a fool’s game. The statistics are on my side, with 20% of Initial Teacher Training places for 2017/18 left unfilled at the end of the recruitment cycle, and roughly 35% of teachers who joined the profession in 2010 have already jumped ship. With this in mind, it makes sense why most training providers expect applicants to pluck up the courage to spend a few weeks in a school before they apply to train. This is for the benefit of the applicant — after all, you need to know what you’re getting yourself into.
If everything goes to plan, I’ll be starting a career in teaching this September. To get a head start, I did what any clingy ex-pupil would do and went back to my old school on work experience. It’s a large, all-boys school in Kent and like most comprehensives, it’s only in the news when something goes wrong. I remember being petrified in year 6 about the almighty leap I would have to make from my small and safe primary school, to a terrifying place making headlines as the ‘most violent school’. This dwarfs in the shadow of a previous scandal, where a staff note book that called students names like ‘wally’ and one boy’s mum ‘a bit rough’ was found on the pavement outside Tesco. Hilariously, this featured on Have I Got News for You, but I haven’t been able to find the clip.
Back on topic, it goes without saying that it’s a lot different at the front of the classroom than it is sitting in the rows of student desks. You are now the lone performer — not part of the bustling audience. That being said, these are the 5 things that I wish I’d known before I started my work placement:
- Know what you want to achieve
Make a plan before you go. The aim of your placement is to really get a feel for what it’s like being a teacher and the only way to do this is to really get involved and do as much as possible. Do you want to teach a lesson, or just observe? You could volunteer on break duty, or stay for an after-school club?
2. It’s OK to be nervous
One of my first interactions with a member of staff was the following: ‘Connor, children are like animals. They are wild and can smell fear’. It goes without saying that this terrified me. Moreover, the principle where animals are usually as scared of you as you are of them is not applicable to teenage boys, though they do have a pack mentality. It won’t be long before you find your confidence and patience is key with this. It’s even more worth it when the class line up in silence or sit in their normal seats when their teacher isn’t in just because they know you’re there.
3. Keep learning
Being the teacher is not an excuse to stop learning. Like your students do with their own work, you need to keep track of what has worked well and what could have been better with your performance. Fortunately, I had the benefit of working with my former teachers who are well aware of my competitive and perfectionist nature. Your colleagues should be there to remind you that whilst it’s fine to aim for perfection, you shouldn’t beat yourself up when you don’t reach it.
4. Teaching really is rewarding
Teaching should be enjoyable. The most enjoyable part of my work experience was when a class I had taught went home and read further into the topic. I always found reading boring at school, so you can imagine how proud of myself (and the students!) I was when groups of year 7s reported back to me that they had gone home and watched ‘Of Mice and Men’, and asked for copies of it to read over the Christmas break.
5. Leave a good impression
You have been the visitor in a school and they have been kind enough to host you. Make sure you thank them for the opportunity and appreciate the connections you have built.
