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Good ideas for good
teachers who want good jobs
you emotional satisfaction. Is that the right word? I
suppose it is. You feel you’ve done something for society,
and that’s what makes this an enjoyable job.’
Would any current go-getter dare to call Mr Lawrence a
stick-in-the-mud or, worse, any kind of failure? I
sincerely
hope not.
(Sadly, John Lawrence died in 2007, while still working
part-time at Bablake as the school’s archivist. He is
commemorated in a memorial garden in the grounds of
his beloved school, near the science block.)
Here, though, it’s necessary to insert a ‘however’.
HOWEVER … just to cloud the idyll a little, I need to
point out that, of the seven schools in which I taught, four
no longer exist and the remaining three have changed out
of all recognition. In each case
I was gone by the time the
earth tremors really arrived, but some of the colleagues
who stayed to the bitter end found themselves facing
redundancy or forced redeployment to less happy new
pastures. The sober truth is that if you cling on for too
long, the world will always change around you, possibly to
the point where you
may lose control of your job, your
future and, possibly, your health and well-being.
So, a good teacher who has made the positive decision to
stay put will constantly ask, and discuss with others, these
key questions.
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Good teachers know when to stay put
■
Is my stay-put policy positive, or am I just fearful
of change?
■
Have I sound reasons for
believing my job will be
here in five years?
■
Is it possible that my school will significantly
change, or even close?
■
Staying here, will I continue to develop
professionally, through continuing professional
development (CPD) and/or varied opportunities
to contribute to the school?
■
If there are internal changes, are there
identifiable alternative routes for me within the
school?
■
If profound structural
change appears on the
horizon, do I have a viable plan B, kept up to
date?
■
If, in, say, five years, I am forced to move, how
marketable will I be?
Add to that list any factors that are particular to you and
your job and then keep it constantly under review. Adopt
the old sailor’s doctrine, which says, ‘Keep one hand for
yourself and one for the ship.’
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GOOD TEACHERS KNOW HOW
THE JOB MARKET WORKS
You won’t get a job unless you study the market, so you
need to have some basic understanding of how the whole
business works. It can look
mysterious and complicated
from the outside, and in some ways it is. Cut through the
jargon and bureaucracy, though, and you end up with a
series of easy-to-follow steps.
A VACANCY IS IDENTIFIED AND DEFINED
That’s done by the authority or organisation which runs
the school, obviously in close consultation with the school
leadership.
It
may be a new post, in line with the growth of the school,
a replacement for a teacher who’s moved on, or a
combination of both – a new post that includes the duties
of an earlier one. It may be a full- or part-time permanent
post, or a temporary appointment defined by a fixed-term
contract.
Temporary posts in general, and one-year contracts in
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