As the job-season approaches, what I'd really like to say (in my job application) is this...
Dear Application Process,
I enjoy teaching. No, in-fact, I love teaching and see this as the most desirable quality in any member of staff. Students inspire me. They make me laugh. They make me want to teach quality lessons.
I work so hard at school and at home, that many of my colleagues and friends do not understand how I do what I do in such a short space of time...over and over again for almost two decades.
Lovely!!! How inspiring! This is how I view my job. Being in the midst of education is an honor and a wonderful responsibility.
I just hope my next employer reads this….and likes it!
What a fabulous post and the idea of an online portfolio is fabulous and something I would definitely do if it was available!
If your next employer does not like it, s/he won’t be your employer. You would not work for him or her. In order to be able to work for what you express in this blog, you must have an employer who sees what you see and views what you view. Good luck!
Great post, Ross – and I hope your next employer reads it and is impressed too. But one thing struck me as I read it – remember ‘Records of Achievement’? You may be too young! I vividly remember the idea early in my teaching career that students would have portfolios giving potential employers or further/higher education providers all the info they needed to form a proper fully rounded impression of the individual – including but not confined to academic qualifications. My memory is that it didn’t work because the Records were so detailed that employers/education providers felt overwhelmed with the detail.
As a former head who has considered many applications over the years, and conducted a significant number of interviews, I know how time-consuming the process can be. At certain points of the year staff recruitment seems to subsume everything else. How can we get the balance between doing this properly, thoroughly and effectively and not spending so much time on the process that other key aspects of leading schools don’t get the attention they need? I don’t know the answer, but it’s a question I’ve often thought about.
I just about remember ‘records of achievement!’
(I thought afterwards that you might actually have been one of those students – but I think you’re too young even for that!)
In part some of your vision for a digital portfolio already exists in the IfL Reflect system. If only it could evolve into a more openly collaborative network!
Brilliant idea. Such a better idea of the teacher you are actually getting. he interview process is the downfall of many a great teacher – too many unknowns.