All that you have is your soul (Tracy Chapman).

Monday 17 April 2006

The Decision

You probably won’t be surprised to read that as I’m writing this, an email is winging its way over to another school, bearing a very important attachment – my newly completed application form.

I guess the straw that broke the camel’s back was on the last day of term, when a very nice female teacher had to leave school early. She’d received a stone in the face as a goodbye “present” from a Year 10 student.

In her “farewell and have a nice rest” speech, a pretty fiery assistant head teacher chose to avoid mention of the incident and instead remind us all of how we were working in the “best school in the UK”. To say I wasn’t impressed is an understatement.

That morning, I had been witness to a child going ballistic and almost trashing a computer room; I had endured a Year 10 kid that I teach three times a week, under the cover of darkness (I’d put a DVD in for them to look at, as a special treat) printing out paper which bore the legend “shut up Mr ***** ” (the stars are blanking out my surname) added to the young teacher being hit. These three incidents came on the same day when an notice appeared in the local newspaper advertising a job for a “Teacher of Information and Communication Technology” in a school which had received a pretty hot OFSTED report.

How could I not even try to go for it?

I don’t know if I’ll get this job, but that’s not really the issue here. The main point is that I’ve decided that enough is enough. I also know that I’m in a win-win position. Whatever happens, I will still have a job at the end of the day, even if this application goes nowhere. The worse that can happen is that I stay in the school for the time being and look out for other posts. The one thing that I do know is that I will not start in a school mid-year, because it’s just too hard a job and if need be, I’ll stick it out for another year in my current school, until a suitable vacancy calls out to me.

I did something important today; I made the first move to try for a better school. Suddenly, I feel a whole lot better.

2 comments:

The Scribbler said...

Thank you...I need all the help I can get.

Just said...

I can only agree on your decision and the reasoning behind it. Unbelievable such things can happen and moreover - if I understand well - are simply being tolerated.

Good luck finding a better workplace. I am confident good schools exist and it will be a matter of time for you.