Lessons from an Okay Teacher

  The staffroom occupies a special place within any school building, or at least it should do. It should, at its very least be a place of refuge away from the classroom and one of refreshment.   It should contain a fridge, a toaster,   a sink, a decent kettle or water heater, cutlery, a tea towel that no one knows where it came from, some crappy lounge chairs and/or sofas, some plastic chairs, a microwave and a pin board for notices from whichever teaching union are active inside the school. If any school does not have the latter then leave as soon as you can.   It just isn’t a good place to work in. The other objects can be purchased or borrowed or stolen from other locations but the union board is something that just cannot be exchanged for money or favours.   It is a fundamental part of the health of the school because the staffroom is for the staff and not an extension of management meeting areas. And it should be for all of the staff, not just the...

Bosses are an inevitable part of life as a teacher and we must all learn how to deal with them equitably if we are to succeed in our ambitions to be happy at our place of work.  They are, like all creatures, varied and different.  All of them are human. Probably. Just kidding. We all want different   things from our bosses.   Some want a person who is just going to leave them alone to get on with their job.   Some want someone to talk to regularly to ensure that what they are doing is what is expected of them and is the right thing to do.   Others want a boss who will ‘gee them up’ with lots of positivity whilst some teachers just want someone to deal with some of the shittier aspects of school life like discipline issues and parents who are over-demanding. What all of us want is a boss who will not make us feel bad, make us feel angry, make us feel depressed or make us want to quit teaching as a profession.   And what we certainly don’t want i...