I’m growing increasingly frustrated in the teaching profession. I can’t teach the way that I want to, and I find it extraordinarily difficult to teach in the ‘traditional’ manner which is assumed and seemingly expected by all around me. This means I fall between two stools of conceptions of teaching. Allow me to elaborate and explain… :s

1. I can’t teach properly because I can’t educate students in a way that agrees with my pedagogical stance.

I want to teach students in a way that inspires and motivates them, in a way where they collaborate and discover links between ‘subjects’ and their own instincts and interests are rewarded. I want to use technology unhindered so that they can represent their thinking in a way my students want to, not necessarily in a ways with which I feel comfortable.

The problem is that a lot of this depends on trusting students and teachers. And this is something that school administrators just don’t do. At the end of the day, teachers respond to being monitored by ‘going through the motions’ and students respond by rebelling in whatever way they can.

2. I can’t teach properly because I can’t bring myself to fit in the ‘traditional teacher’ pigeon-hole.

The role of a traditional teacher is basically one of learning administrator. Standardization, not creativity, is the key. So long as books look neat and are filled with ‘information’ and students do reasonably well on tests, everything is OK. Even if the students basically take the answers for the test to memorize the week before the test. And even if reports contain National Curriculum levels that are basically made-up.

It’s also pretty much impossible to keep up with the amount of marking one needs to undertake for traditional book-work. I have 10 History classes, so that’s around 300 students. If I spent 5 minutes, as I would have to in order to do a good job, on their books, that would be 300 x 5 = 1500 minutes (25 hours) per week. Even 1 minute on each book would be 5 hours. And then there’s planning lessons and all the rest of the administration of teaching… :o

The reason that teachers don’t rebel against the whole system is because they don’t have time. Teachers, instead of being learning facilitators, are standardization enforcers, something that is anaethema to me. Right at this moment in time, I can see why so many teachers leave teaching before completing 5 years of service. Apparently there’s more qualified teachers in the UK not teaching than there are qualified teachers in schools!

So what needs to change? We need to think about learning outcomes, what’s important in the 21st century, and what schools are currently actually educating students for. I’ve read a couple of things that have informed my thinking this week. The first was John Taylor Gatto’s speech from 1990 when accepting his New York City Teacher of the Year award, in which he said:

Now here is a curious idea to ponder. Senator Ted Kennedy’s office released a paper not too long ago that prior to compulsory education the state literacy rate was ninety-eight percent, and after it the figure never exceeded ninety-one percent, where it stands in 1990.

And the same is true across Western education. Yes, test results may differ, but they’re subject to manipulation and political spin. What’s really being taught is conformity and obeying authority. And even that’s not being done very well. Those that do well at school are the ones that keep their heads down and unquestioningly do what teachers tell them to do. Not – as surely must be desirable – those who ask questions, raise problems, and become engrossed in particular issues.

The second thing I’ve come across this week is an article in the Guardian that reports on Professor John White’s call for the government should offer financial incentives to schools who develop imaginative ways of teaching and learning. He says something that is fairly close to my thinking at the moment:

There is no reason why the best curriculum units should always be traditional academic subjects… The idea that a good schooling revolves around traditional subjects has been around for some three hundred years and may now be due for retirement.

My Head of Department asked me today when I showed him something new today how much History was involved in it. And, although he said it half in jest, he had a point. But aren’t we educating the whole person? Why are we clinging to outdated policies and procedures? Just why does it take the education system so long to change when huge multi-national companies can effect changes so quickly?

So I’m feeling a bit disillusioned at the moment, unfortunately. I’m in one of the best schools in the state system and I’m still frustrated. Does anyone know of a school where I can teach students properly please?