Dark Days Return

Posted on | September 6, 2008 | 9 Comments

I left Craigie College (now part of the University of West of Scotland) in July 1980 with my PGCE under my arm, at a time when local government spending was being put under severe pressure by the new Thatcher government. It took me until October that year before I finally managed to clinch a job in Queensferry Primary School – and I was one of the lucky ones. Many who qualified with me spent the next few years scratching the beginnings of a career out of part-time and supply work wherever they could find it.

The sad thing is, we seem to be back to the dark days of the early ’80s again.

John Daly, a newly qualified teacher, recently wrote a post to open his brand new blog – but, as he says, it was not the post he would have preferred to write – Not My Ideal First Post.

“I had hoped that my first post would be of some swell project I had started that would push back the boundaries, and in my own small way, revolutionise the education profession (there’ no point in thinking small!)”

John, like so many others just now, is desperate to get his foot in the door and start the career he seeks in education. As he writes:

“….no jobs, ludicrous numbers of teachers coming through their Initial Teacher Education, and an ageing – but alas, not yet aged – teaching community. What’ going to give? And when?”

Our schools need young, enthusiastic, passionate teachers such as John Daly – I just hope we are not squandering talent once again in the way we were forced to do almost three decades ago. Does the spirit of Thatcher stalk our schools once more…..?

Technorati Tags: john daly, craigie college, pgce, career

Category: education, teaching

Comments

9 Responses to “Dark Days Return”

Lynne Lewis
September 6th, 2008 @ 2:43 pm

It does seem ironic John that I am now part of an ageing profession. In fact at the age of 40 I’m probably seen as one of the younger ones!
Unless money is found for early retirement packages I think we will loose a whole generation of newly qualified teachers.
jaye richards
September 6th, 2008 @ 2:56 pm

I’d echo that – andagree with your comment john, except that I’d remove the ‘young’ from your wish list. I got my PGCE at 39 five years ago, and I’m a grandparent ! so whilst I might not be young (and really struggle at times to think so !) I hope some of use middle-agies can be enthusiastic and passionate about our new-ish careers as well !
Angela Maiers
September 7th, 2008 @ 9:15 pm

John-
Your blog continues to both challenge and inspire me. I am “paying it forward” with a blogging award I just received. Keep the posts coming!
http://www.angelamaiers.com/2008/09/thank-you-thank.html
Joe Nutt
September 8th, 2008 @ 3:30 pm

I’m far less pessimistic about the landscape for young, bright teachers, mostly I admit, because of my work with Teach First. If you haven’t come across them do have a look. Having worked for them in their first year and seen their impact first hand in many schools and classrooms, I cannot sing the praises of their recruits enough.
http://www.teachfirst.org.uk/what_is_teachfirst/latest_news
John Connell
September 8th, 2008 @ 3:38 pm

Thanks, Joe,

I have followed the TeachFirst phenomenon (the right word, I think) with interest. It is certainly something that should be tried in Scotland too. We would no doubt quickly hear anguished cries from those teachers who cherish their ‘professionalism’ and from those who belong to that anti-intellectual streak that marks some parts of Scottish education. And then there’s the GTC too……

John
John Connell
September 8th, 2008 @ 3:44 pm

Lynne/Jay,

Thanks for the comments – I know that the same kind of despondecncy can be felt by any new teacher, whether young or not-so-young. I wonder if, rather than retirement packages, however, what many longer-serving teachers might need and prefer (at least those who are starting to feel the effects of burn-out) is help to re-train for other jobs. A fresh start at any age, I would say, is better than the potentially negative ramifications of early-retirement.

John
David Gilmour
September 9th, 2008 @ 9:10 pm

There’s a view in education that finding ways to enable those who want to go early to retire early isn’t fair on those who remain. I’d heard it expressed, but hadn’t really thought about it until I read Andrew Rawson’s book, The Social Entrepreneur. In that, he highlights how strong the urge in government organisations is to be “fair” to everyone involved, and describes how it can lead to decisions which are very unfair on the recipients of the services involved. It made me think that it’s definitely not fair on our students to have staff in schools who simply don’t want to be there. There is a real opportunity now to take advantage of the excess supply of new teachers, and we should take it.
Lynne Lewis
September 10th, 2008 @ 9:28 pm

John
I guess it depends on your viewpoint on early retirement and whether you see it as a negative?
Lynne
John Connell
September 10th, 2008 @ 9:47 pm

Absolutely, Lynne – couldn’t agree more. But for most teachers at that stage in their careers and lives, when they are intent on getting out of teaching, for whatever reasons, the only options seem to be early retirement, which is difficult to come by, or walk away altogether. Perhaps a middle ground that gave people an option to move towards a different career altogether should also be available – support with re-training, for instance, and some kind of leeway on pension rights etc would be a starting point.