I wrote this early in 2016, however it might contain something of use to someone out there. I've also added a final paragraph with some crucial data.
I recently attended a conference for heads and listened to many great talks from experienced and dedicated heads. They were very good talks, largely inspiring and offering vast amounts of wisdom, in fact they would have been truly excellent had it not been for a couple of throw-away remarks which I believe could have had a very negative effect. In two of the talks the speakers said roughly the same thing, that this is the greatest job in the world. Now of course we could all point out that being a rock star would clearly be better (and I believe that this would be the best job in the world) and laugh this comment off as simply a bit of throwaway bravado but actually there is a danger with statements like this.
I've heard similar things throughout my teaching career, how teaching is the best job in the world, how being a head of department is the best job in the world, how being a head is the best job in the world (spot the obvious failure of simple logic?), but do we actually believe this? Now when I heard this I was feeling relatively upbeat and simply dismissed the assertion as nonsense, but I could have had two other reactions. The first is that I could believe it and think that I had the best job in the world and wasn't I lucky. The other interpretation is the one that worries me. Imagine being sat in a room of 100 peers and being told that you have the best job in the world and seeing the smug smiles and self-satisfied nodding of all those around you. Now inside you are feeling oppressed and stressed, the job's a nightmare and nothing is going your way. In fact it is a disaster, you're not coping and feel you should have stuck with your original career plans of becoming an accountant! How does the throw-away comment make you feel? Like a failure? Whilst those around you are living the dream you are simply surviving the nightmare.
At any level of the teaching profession and with any amount of experience we can constantly find ourselves daunted. We need to know that others share our own sense of inadequacy and that this is a challenge. We need to know that there are times when we hate our jobs and those for whom we work. That the world isn't rosy and that we are not saving mankind from itself.
So please think before you make a comment about whatever you do being brilliant. It may be brilliant for you, you may honestly believe you have the best job in the world but for someone else this may well be reinforcing a feeling of failure.
Just to wrap this up, and to add some flesh to the bones of this piece originally written 3 or so years ago, I would like to recommend the excellent work from Education Support, and their annual Teacher Wellbeing Index, the most recent edition having been published in November 2019. Please take a look, realise you may not be alone, and that there are people out there able to help.
https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/resources/research-reports/teacher-wellbeing-index-2019
I recently attended a conference for heads and listened to many great talks from experienced and dedicated heads. They were very good talks, largely inspiring and offering vast amounts of wisdom, in fact they would have been truly excellent had it not been for a couple of throw-away remarks which I believe could have had a very negative effect. In two of the talks the speakers said roughly the same thing, that this is the greatest job in the world. Now of course we could all point out that being a rock star would clearly be better (and I believe that this would be the best job in the world) and laugh this comment off as simply a bit of throwaway bravado but actually there is a danger with statements like this.
I've heard similar things throughout my teaching career, how teaching is the best job in the world, how being a head of department is the best job in the world, how being a head is the best job in the world (spot the obvious failure of simple logic?), but do we actually believe this? Now when I heard this I was feeling relatively upbeat and simply dismissed the assertion as nonsense, but I could have had two other reactions. The first is that I could believe it and think that I had the best job in the world and wasn't I lucky. The other interpretation is the one that worries me. Imagine being sat in a room of 100 peers and being told that you have the best job in the world and seeing the smug smiles and self-satisfied nodding of all those around you. Now inside you are feeling oppressed and stressed, the job's a nightmare and nothing is going your way. In fact it is a disaster, you're not coping and feel you should have stuck with your original career plans of becoming an accountant! How does the throw-away comment make you feel? Like a failure? Whilst those around you are living the dream you are simply surviving the nightmare.
At any level of the teaching profession and with any amount of experience we can constantly find ourselves daunted. We need to know that others share our own sense of inadequacy and that this is a challenge. We need to know that there are times when we hate our jobs and those for whom we work. That the world isn't rosy and that we are not saving mankind from itself.
So please think before you make a comment about whatever you do being brilliant. It may be brilliant for you, you may honestly believe you have the best job in the world but for someone else this may well be reinforcing a feeling of failure.
Just to wrap this up, and to add some flesh to the bones of this piece originally written 3 or so years ago, I would like to recommend the excellent work from Education Support, and their annual Teacher Wellbeing Index, the most recent edition having been published in November 2019. Please take a look, realise you may not be alone, and that there are people out there able to help.
https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/resources/research-reports/teacher-wellbeing-index-2019
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