I made a decision this weekend. I'm going to apply for new jobs. Now if you've been following this blog you'll know that I went all through this last year, and started this new job in September. And I know I should give it time - preferably about three or four years to actually settle in! But you'll also have seen how unchallenged and downright bored I've been, let alone the frustration at all the usual school-related stuff.
So I'm going to see how far I can dip my toe into the puddle of management without drowning. My only problem is how I broach this with my current school. Wanting to be challenged is not a sin, but I haven't even made a mark there - aside from the dents in the wall where I bang my head against it frequently. And does it look downright ungrateful to be given a job and then look elsewhere within six months? Why is there so much guilt associated with this profession?!
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Second edition of the book - new content guaranteed!
Available at all good online bookstores.
~Online ramblings since 2003~
Out March 2009
Second edition of the book - new content guaranteed!
Buy the book!
Available at all good online bookstores.
About Me
- Ranting Teacher
- A teacher in a bog-standard secondary school somewhere in the UK. Author of "Everything you need to know to survive teaching". Originally at www.rantingteacher.co.uk
Followers
Blogroll: Teacher Website Links
- Original Ranting Teacher website (back soon)
- Scenes from the Battleground - it's tough out there!
- It shouldn't happen to a teacher...
- Frank Chalk - like the Terry Wogan of teaching
- Being Miss
- Winston Smith - working with the underclass
- Urban School Teacher
- Grumpy Old Teacher: a fed up teacher of ICT
- Diary of a Trainee Teacher
- Learning is delightful...
- Student Teacher
- TES Journo's Ed News Blog
- Teacher in the making
- From student to student teacher
- Bog Standard - UK English Teacher
- Terry Teacher's Blog
- Fresh faced loveliness - PGCE primary blog
- Henry Walpole - UK primary teacher
4 comments:
If you feel that you haven't made any progress in the first few months, it's unlikely that you will feel any different three or four years down the line - and you will feel even more embittered about wasting those years.
Wanting to be challenged is not a sin - wasting your talent most definitely is !
It is certainly not seen as being ungrateful to look for a job after 6 months. If something is wrong, it is wrong. Plain and simple. Yes, there is so much guilt assiciated with teaching...on so many levels. Guilt to leave because of abandonment issues, personal guilt to stay because you are letting yourself down, guilt when you think badly of kids because maybe there are extenuating circumstances and they need extra TLC etc. But for me there is also anger and confusion. Like why are the kids allowed to get away with so much staff abuse, why are we dumbing down standards so kids that do virtually nothing still get through, why is my principal such a d*ckhead etc. Honestly, I'd love to leave teaching but what else can I do??
I've been in ELT for many years (now in the UK on those fractional contracts but that's another issue) and have done many stints abroad. My last contract abroad was for 2 years. I resigned after 8 months. The managers tried to rewrite the resignation process to force me to stay at least until the end of one of the terms but I told them there was nothing wrong with the text and they should contact head office if they couldn't see that I could choose my own notice start date, blah blah blah. Of course I was right and left as I had planned.
When a place isn't working for you, it's time to move on. Nothing will change. You won't regret it.
Thanks for the reassurance! It's not that anything is actually wrong - it's just that it doesn't feel exactly right, if that makes sense!
Post a Comment