World Teachers Day — 5th October
Young Teachers: The future of the Profession.
Well-being, resilience and the ability to reflect are key skills for young teachers today to have, explains Helen Tiplady, Senior Lecturer in Education.
“Teaching is the best job in the world.”
I said this statement out loud many times during my teaching career, and I still do — it really is true. But, boy, is it sometimes tough! As a young teacher, your well-being is crucial to the profession, your class and, more importantly, yourself. How do you balance the demands of family and personal life with your ‘school family’? I often relayed stories when I was a teacher to friends about class pupils’ achievements with so much excitement and passion that they often thought I was actually talking about my own children, so I would call my class ‘my school family’ with no hesitation.
However, a family of 30 pupils is a slightly daunting concept — you are responsible for their learning, progress, happiness while at a school and their general well-being (even when they leave you at 3.30pm at the end of the day). For some children, you may be their only ‘constant’; their only consistent adult in their life and this can be a huge responsibility. However, you must never feel that it is a burden to carry alone — teaching is no place for martyrs! Use your colleagues’ knowledge, advice and shoulders to lean on — take time to reflect on what worked well and what you would change next time. Strive to make that next lesson, the next day, the next week better than this one.
If there was one word that children and staff need to be in the educational world today it would be ‘resilient’. I recently went to my sons’ school information evening about the new curriculum the teachers were launching and the Headteacher re-iterated the importance of resilience across all subjects. Lots of nods of agreement were seen around the packed school hall. Across all the professions represented by the range of parents and carers there — from IT consultants, engineers, architects, nurses and doctors — we all agreed that modern day living requires the ability to get back up from a knock back, to brush yourself off, work out what happened and to try again. And again. These skills are so important not only for you as young teachers but also for you to impart to your pupils.
When I first read the date for this year’s National Teacher Day — 5th October — I thought there must be a mistake as it falls on a Saturday. However, as many of you reading this will know, Saturdays can often be a work day even if you are not physically teaching in front of the pupils. So, for this year’s National Teacher Day in honour of our young teachers across the globe; I urge you to take the day off. Stop. Do something you love. Reflect on the Autumn Term you’ve had so far. Book a treat to look forward to in the October Half Term and…..I hesitate to write this next part…..start planning the school Christmas show!
