Learning is delightful and delicious …

I’ve been meaning to post something about this for ages – but I either forget or I’ve been too tired.

Very soon, the GTC will introduce a new Code of Conduct for teachers, about which there has been a fair amount of debate.

Anyone who can be bothered to read the thing might just shrug and think, “well, that makes sense” – and most of it does – but the sentence that’s causing the debate is one right at the end of the list of eight “principles” that the code enshrines. The one that says (on page 14) that teachers should -

Maintain reasonable standards in their own behaviour that enable them to maintain an effective learning environment and also to uphold public trust and confidence in the profession.

Again, that sounds sort of okay – until you start to think about it.  What exactly does that mean? If, for example, I decided to go out for a night on the town on a Saturday night, get plastered and am seen by the parents of one of my pupils whilst I’m a bit worse for wear – and they report me for some reason – would that mean I’ve brought the profession into disrepute?

I’m not saying in any way that teachers shouldn’t maintain reasonable standards in their behaviour – but surely that should apply to everyone? We should all aim to behave in such a fashion, but if a teacher wants to go out at the weekend and blow off a bit of steam, shouldn’t they be able to do that without fear of losing their job?  And why should we be held to a higher standard of behaviour than everyone else? Because let’s face it, chances are that a lot of our pupils are far more likely to get drunk or stoned than we are, yet they don’t have a professional body breathing down their necks!

Why the hell do the-powers-that-be do this to teachers? Well, I suppose that’s a rhetorical question, because I know why.

Kids today are generally not so well educated as they used to be, although I’d argue that teachers are better trained than ever. Yet it’s easier to blame poor teaching than it is to blame poor parenting, or a lack of stability in kids’ lives, or a hundred other things over which we, as teachers can have no control – than it is to try to find solutions to those, more serious and deep-rooted problems. It’s easier to blame a teacher for not being able to control a class than it is to do anything about the poorly behaved kids who cause the problem, because they know – as so many of them proudly proclaim – “you can’t doo nuffink to me; you touch me, and it’s child abuse, innit?” (And don’t even get me started on just how infuriated that statement makes me – that these little toe-rags whose problems stem mostly from the fact that they’ve never been made to understand the word “NO” can dare to talk about real abuse in such a casual manner).

This recent post on the Times School Gate blog contains a paragraph in particular about something that always bugs me when I read comments there and on other, similar blogs from people who aren’t teachers –

Teachers often get a raw deal, as some of those who read this blog will testify. I like to think that School Gate visitors are sane and sensible, but one teacher recently contacted me to say that she has found the torrent of abuse on here difficult to take (unfortunately she’s taken it personally, which is all to easy to do in the scary world of anonymity and cyberspace). When I look back at the comments, there certainly are a huge number critical of teachers, along with an assumption that teachers are not clever, not hard working, unable to spell properly, and only doing the job because they didn’t know what else to do. Some of this is obviously my fault – after all I ask the questions – but I still think that teachers get a very hard deal, probably harder than many other professionals. It’s not an easy job, and yet people are always ready to jump in with criticisms.

I’ve veered from my point (as usual!) but these are some of the things that have been on my mind lately.

On the plus side though – I had a new TA in a class today. Well, I say new, she’s been in that lesson since the start of term, and today, she told me how much she enjoyed coming into my lesson because the kids always enjoyed it, I made it interesting for them, and that she was impressed with the ways I found to explain things to them. It’s things like that that bring things into focus sometimes, and remind me that I’m bloody good at my job.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 6:54 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.