Some jobs may be better paid and some may simply be easier, but teaching has its own advantages, says Matthew Godfrey
This article appeared in The Daily Telegraph on 4
December 2004
Recently, I was talking to a
friend who is bored with his job. He was complaining about the long hours he has
to work and how he was looking forward to going on holiday. "I might even
get to read a novel," he said. "That's something I haven't done in a
long time."
Like him, I was once in a job that
I disliked and thought a waste of time. When I became a teacher, many of my
friends rightly assumed that, like the Robin Williams character in the film
Dead Poets Society, I was motivated at least in part by altruistic urges to
"make a difference" and "put something back". In practice,
I find the intellectual demands of teaching to be the most satisfying aspect of
the job.
As an example, I told my friend
that I had been re-reading Othello over half term. I had vague memories of
studying the play as a teenager, but had forgotten how gripping and moving its
tale of passion and betrayal is. I loved reading it again, but only opened it
because I am going to teach it to one of my A-level classes next term. Had I
not become a teacher, it would have remained unopened, gathering dust for many
more years.
Furthermore, reading Othello – or
any play, poem or novel – with a view to teaching it forces you to be a far
more incisive reader.
Before becoming a teacher, I might
have briefly touched on questions such as "what does the play reveal about
the nature of jealousy?" and "what drives Iago to be so evil and
manipulative?" over a drink in the interval of some production. Now, I
have to consider them carefully and think how to make them accessible to my
pupils.
Also, classroom discussions – even
with younger pupils – always produce fresh perspectives, questions and ideas
that do not occur to me when reading something on my own. Of course, lessons
are not always successful, but when pupils are engaged and enthusiastic, their
capacity to absorb ideas and information is astonishing and infectious.
I find the buzz, rhythm and sounds
of school life – corridor chatter, orchestra and choir practices, team banter
on the sports fields – to be a refreshing, stimulating alternative to office
life. A normal day at Latymer Upper in west London, where I teach English,
might include: discussing Shakespeare or Tennessee Williams with A-level
classes in the morning; popping into a topical debate at lunchtime; watching a
game of football in the afternoon; and listening to a music recital after school.
I have also found myself directing
a play and giving talks to the sixth form on areas of special interest to me.
Not many other jobs offer such variety and sense of community.
If teaching is to become a
fashionable career choice again – and I am sure it will – it will be because it
offers this kind of varied and stimulating working environment, one that cannot
be matched by the commercial sector.
In short, if they are to recruit
and retain good teachers, schools must do everything they can to maintain and
protect – in some cases, restore – three core, distinctive and very appealing
perks: intellectual stimulation; financial security; and a large dose of fun.
It is often said that the
intellectual challenge and fun of teaching have disappeared under a flood of
bureaucracy, bad behaviour, assessment, limited extra-curricular activities, a
narrow curriculum, low expectations and so on.
People will not want to become
teachers if they think they are joining a stressful examinations treadmill. Unfortunately,
this image is backed up by the media's tendency to focus on the failings of
some schools.
My own experience as a teacher in
two contrasting schools is that these problems become serious only if the
senior management allows them to do so. My time at Latymer, and my contacts
with teachers in other well-run schools – both state and independent – have
shown me that teaching can still provide a wholesome and enjoyable way to earn
a living.
Teaching is not especially well
paid, and for some people that is sufficient reason not to choose it as a
career. But teachers are envied during recessions because our jobs are securer
than most.
In addition, ours is one of the
few remaining professions to offer a good, reliable final-salary pension scheme.
These benefits lack the allure of the high starting salaries and bonuses
offered by some employers, but they are significant advantages, none the less.
Most of the time, I agree with
friends who tell me that I get to "make a difference" as a teacher. I
have found that an educational environment is a more fulfilling place to work
than one focused chiefly on profit. Nowadays, hardly anyone chooses a career
for purely altruistic reasons, but there are many other reasons why teaching is
a terrific job.
Published in The Daily Telegraph on 4 December 2004
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