Good Ideas For Good Teachers Who Want Good Jobs E-Book

Gerald Haigh

• Herausgeber: Crown House Publishing
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Good Ideas for Good Teachers Who Want Good Jobs by Gerald Haigh contains everything teachers need to know about interviews, jobs and career progression. Packed with advice for all educational professionals, this invaluable guide originated as the Jobs and Interviews Pocketbook (published by Teachers' Pocketbooks) and has been expanded and updated with even more hints, tips and words of wisdom. With specific advice on teaching (both primary and secondary) and leadership roles (including headship, joining the senior leadership team (SLT) and becoming a middle leader), this good guide should be on every good professional's bookshelf.

Leseprobe

PRAISE FORGOOD IDEAS FOR GOOD TEACHERS WHO WANT GOOD JOBS

Full of common-sense advice for the ambitious teacher, at any stage of their career, who wishes to take control of their career path. It is certainly a must-read for those wishing to make healthy career choices. The section on paying attention to your public profile is particularly relevant at the moment. Certainly one I will be recommending to staff at my school. The key points summaries at the end of each chapter are useful little ‘notelets’. The illustrations are perfect, and made me smile, and the thought-provoking questions throughout the text are cleverly written and make you think more carefully about the decisions you make.

Beverley Dandy, Head Teacher, Outwoods Primary School

Imagine the scene. You meet an old and trusted friend in a coffee shop for a catch-up and, as naturally happens, the subject of work comes up. You admit to thinking about moving on but aren’t sure. At this point your old and trusted friend begins to expertly help you unpick and explore your thoughts about a new job. After a long, caffeine-fuelled, discussion you have your eureka moment and your future career is paved in yellow bricks ahead of you. Easy. But for those of us without such a friend, where do we go to get our thinking unpicked? Grab a coffee and get ready to decide whether you’re a ‘gunner’ or a ‘doer’!

Gerald Haigh provides a fully comprehensive toolkit of thoughts, prompts, key ideas and questions to help us consider our current role and potential new roles. Every aspect of the procedure is considered from motivation to move (or stay put), applications, school visits, the interview process and, finally, dealing with the outcome. As a head teacher who has interviewed a decent number (and range) of candidates, this book still gave me tips, tricks and food for thought. One important point to note here is that Gerald never preaches. In fact the book is written in a challenging but supportive way and he maintains a ‘coaching’ feel throughout. His use of humour is great (I love his analogy involving a hearing-aid beige used car) making a relatively serious subject light-hearted and entertaining. I must admit I expected a book about getting a job to be fairly dull, but the writing style and organisation of the information into easily readable chunks meant I read far more than I expected to in one sitting. My only concern is that, with an increased number of good candidates to choose from, this book may make the recruitment process even harder – what a great problem to have!

Just about everyone needs to read this book. Even if you are part of the foundations of your school, and have no intention of moving on, this book will help you evaluate your decisions and aspirations. Oh, and despite the title, I’m sure even the outstanding teachers are allowed to read it!

Paul Bannister, Head Teacher, Jerudong International School

All the things that your supportive boss hoped that you would osmotically pick up! Good teachers will be great if they take these tips on board.

Sir Mark Grundy, Shireland Collegiate Academy

Gerald Haigh is one of the most insightful and experienced education writers. His wisdom has graced the pages of SecEd for several years and the publication is all the stronger for it.

Pete Henshaw, Editor, SecEd Magazine

To all new and aspiring teachers, embarking on what is surely the best and most worthwhile job of all.

CONTENTS

Title PageDedicationIntroductionGood teachers are flexible visionariesGood teachers move to good jobs for good reasonsGood teachers pay attention to their public profileGood teachers know when it’s time to move onGood teachers know when to stay putGood teachers know how the job market worksGood teachers choose prospective jobs wellGood teachers do good groundwork for their applicationsGood teachers make good school visitorsGood teachers make good job applicationsGood teachers understand how interviews workGood teachers prepare well for interviewsGood teachers are ready for interview dayGood teachers are good at interviewsGood teachers teach a good – or better – demonstration lessonGood teachers give good presentations (and do effective in-tray exercises)Good teachers know how to handle the post-interview processRecommendationsAcknowledgementsCopyright

INTRODUCTION

You’re a good teacher. Don’t be modest: you know you are. All the signs are there – your students make progress and behave themselves, colleagues trust and respect you, performance reviews are positive, parents are friendly at open evenings, the head teacher laughs and nods at your staff party karaoke performances, the caretaker did you a favour and got you a cheap car battery, and as for the inspectors … OK, we won’t go there.

Now, because you’re good, you believe it’s time you moved to a position that’s better for you than the one you’re currently in.

Of course you do. What would be the point of moving to something worse? How foolish would that be? Not, as we shall see, foolish enough to prevent lots of people doing it – which is one reason why you should read this book.

But I’m not here just to stop you from making mistakes – although that comes into it. My real aim is to make sure that, as you approach each step on the career ladder, the choices you make and the actions you take are really worthy of your status as a good teacher. That’s to say, they are deeply considered, well researched, honest, self-aware and carried out with confidence and professionalism. Or, to put it a bit more simply, I want you to be able to say, after you’ve applied and been interviewed, as you wait for the decision: ‘That definitely is the right job for me. I want it, and I know I’ve given it my best shot.’

GOOD TEACHERS ARE FLEXIBLE VISIONARIES

What does that mean? Quite simply, good teachers have an eye for where they might be going, and yet are alert and ready to dodge across to another path.

MOBILITY

Very few long-serving teachers are working in the school in which they started. As time’s gone on, they’ve taken advantage of the fact that the great thing about teaching is that it happens everywhere. Find a community of human beings, look around and there’ll be at least one teacher.

A friend of mine, a good teacher, decided to do two years with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas). She was sent to a remote community in the high Himalayas, where she taught wonderful children who were eager to learn.

My friend could do that because she was a good teacher. (VSO has a rigorous and lengthy selection process.) Now, as a result, she’s an even better teacher, back in her home town as a class teacher in a challenging school.

That’s the kind of choice you have. As a good teacher, you can carve out the career that suits you – on a ladder leading to headship and beyond, or on a winding and intriguing path through a series of jobs that broaden your experience of life.

CAREER PLAN

Does that mean you need a career plan?

That’s not an easy question to answer. Here’s what two long-serving teachers think.

I knew straight away what I wanted to do. I was going to be in my first headship by 35, do five years in it then move to a much bigger school, drive its results up and end up with an OBE or better. I worked hard, got promotion at every opportunity, following the jobs wherever they led, and it has all worked really well for me. I retired at 52 and now do quite a lot of lucrative consultancy.

Plan? No fear. I did teacher training to be near my partner, took a job at my placement school and stayed there for two years. Then my partner left me, so I went to China for a while and did some English teaching. When I got back I did supply teaching in some difficult schools. I seemed able to cope, and was offered a permanent job in a unit for kids with behavioural problems. There was a lot of staff movement; I ended up running it, and that’s what I still do. It’s been a roller coaster and I wouldn’t have missed any of it.

Which is correct, then? Make a plan, or go with the flow?

Obviously, it depends on what sort of person you are. That said, most of us have one eye on the immediate future. Maybe you’ve had at least one of these thoughts:

You look at your head teacher and think, ‘That’ll be me before too long.’

You look at your head teacher and think, ‘No thanks. My future’s with kids. I want to stay in the classroom.’

You look at your bank balance and think, ‘I wonder if I could get by on four days a week?’

You look at a country, or a group of children with particular needs, and think, ‘Those kids need me.’

If you have even tentatively pondered any of these (there are others; these are just examples) then you already have some kind of embryo career plan – call it ‘Career Plan Stage 1’. Recognise it, talk about it, think it through. Then at some point you might think it is worth moving to Stage 2.

Stage 2 simply means pinning down what your next step is going to be. So if your aim is a headship, it’s about what you can do right now to help that come about. Start becoming professionally qualified? Look for a step up the ladder? Seek more responsibility in your present job?

And if your aim is to stay in the classroom, what steps can you take to become recognised as an excellent practitioner, a mentor to others and a leader of learning?

But don’t fill in too much detail, because things may change. Experience, relationships, health, absorbing outside interests can all play havoc with plans that are too closely written. So, be prepared to follow the road, to seize the day.

But whatever unfolds, never look back and wallow in regret.

KEY POINTS

Have a career plan, but keep it flexible, and always be prepared to rip it up and write a new one.

Whether you have a long-term strategy or not, always have an eye on your next step.

If you think you see an opportunity, never be afraid to ask about it.