This blog is based on my teaching experience alone.
Now, I do not mean to be inflammatory here, as I am fully aware that we need to celebrate teaching and this type of blogpost does nothing to raise morale or status. So, apologies for that in the first instance. We all do what we can to intrinsically celebrate teachers and all-things-teaching. In my blog, I have previously blogged about; The visual anatomy of a Great teacher;
This blog is based on my teaching experience alone.
Now, I do not mean to be inflammatory here, as I am fully aware that we need to celebrate teaching and this type of blogpost does nothing to raise morale or status. So, apologies for that in the first instance. We all do what we can to intrinsically celebrate teachers and all-things-teaching. In my blog, I have previously blogged about; The visual anatomy of a Great teacher;
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I think that a lot of the issues with this blog are why teachers become ‘lousy’ or ‘sloths’. Though I am sure we have all encountered people like this within the profession you have to consider whether it is a ‘choice’ for them to be this way or whether it is a case of being ground down over time. I am a PGCE student but worked in schools for 5 or so years before training. Although I have met many teachers who’s standards are questionable I think I may only be able to name one or two who were intentionally obstructive. I love this blog and support it wbholeheartedly but can u derstand why this particular entry might get an adverse reaction. But thanks all the same for allowing us to debate important issues-this is another great example of the importance of morale within the profession.
Ava. Thank you for your comment which sums up the purpose of the blog fittingly. I appreciate the references to lazy and/or sloth can stir a debate and perhaps appear impolite. This was not my reason for doing so. I talk about a VERY small minority, so I hope that all readers will understand this and accept the reason for posting. I can also sympathise, that we are all run down into the ground and every minute of the day (inc. at home) is squeezed out of us. This does impact on our work… but I want to make a clear distinction between workload (not this blog) and capability and those who do not meet the Teacher Standards (this blog).
As one of the ‘feedback team’ highlighted above, I would like to place a marker on this discussion. In view of the vibrant response on Twitter I am a bit surprised to find myself the first to comment on the blog itself (at least I was when I started writing) and I would respectfully suggest that this is the best forum for debate. I don’t know Ross personally and his text reached me for comment only shortly before publication. So in that sense I am a critical reader same as anyone else. I didn’t know what to expect when the link pinged into my mail box and yes, I was a bit taken back by both content and direction. It’s clearly a subject Ross feels very strongly about and his post reflects that. Would I have tackled the subject quite so combatively had I been starting from scratch? I’m not sure. Probably not. With all the checks and balances in place in the system today I am quite surprised, I suppose, at the force of it.
And yet …. I have been teaching since 1984. In that time I’ve worked for extended periods in five schools and advised/supported/coached in about 50 overall. If readers’ personal experience means that they sincerely don’t recognise Ross’ ‘sloth’ in any of their colleagues past or present then I salute you and the institutions you have been lucky enough to work in. I do. Thirty years ago, ‘door knob teaching’ (I walk in, I look at the door knob, I decide what to teach) for example was not uncommon and those that did it were pretty proud of it. It was always a minority of course but a running sore which as as a profession we paid dearly for not challenging at the time ‘in house’. Kids did suffer – I have several examples in my own family from a generation who were sold down the river by low expectations. I don’t meet that kind of thing very often any more but nevertheless I do still recognise Ross’ description of a small but obstructive ‘awkward squad’. Vividly, in several contexts, within the last year. And while the existence of such individuals is of course a failure of leadership, the unprofessional behaviours described challenge and undermine leaders at every turn, so, if allowed to continue, a collegiate, distributive leadership style becomes nigh on impossible. We are all screwed over by this .. apologies if anyone is offended by the vernacular here.
Where I might temper the post is, as others have commented, in terms of using ‘lousiness’ as opposed to ‘slothiness’ as a label. I prefer the latter and I would also keep inverted commas firmly in place to identify ‘slothiness’ as a label for undesireable behaviours and characteristics rather than a description of a fixed negative identity for any one teacher. I firmly believe that most unprofessional behaviours can be unpicked and contextualised and as a result most people can change. The difficulty with many existing management structures I have observed is that they are not transparent. Individuals are more likely to prevaricate and hide underlying difficulties, including childcare, problems at home, illness etc because the ‘support’ that will be offered is in fact a thinly veiled trap to construct a case for capacity proceedings. Support needs to be genuine, optimistic and humane but I don’t think it always is. Also, the expectations of the institution need to be generally accepted as reasonable .. Saturday School every week when you have a young family at home? Or even if you don’t! That’s not a reasonable demand. But I don’t think that’s what Ross is describing.
I work hard with my own kids to make sure they recognise when a teacher they have previously been fed up with is trying something new, developing and moving on. I don’t expect perfection from their teachers (well, I try not to!) and I make sure my kids step up to the reciprocal responsibility for their learning. It’s the best I can do for my colleagues. But I also know that I’ve occasionally worked with individuals I wouldn’t let near my own kids if I had any way of avoiding it. . It’s no good having a double standard. I suppose my biggest question for Ross remains whether the numbers of ‘sloths’ he has encountered and the range of contexts he has encountered them in warrants the tone of the post … to an extent I suspect the ongoing feedback will bring us some insight on that.