Do You Want to Share That with the Class?
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Do You Want to Share That with the Class? Hilarious Anecdotes and Honest Advice for Primary ECTs
James Pearce
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BLOOMSBURY EDUCATION Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY EDUCATION and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain, 2023 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc This edition published in Great Britain, 2023 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc This electronic edition published in 2023 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Text copyright © James Pearce, 2023 Illustrations copyright © Javier Joaquín, 2023 James Pearce and Javier Joaquín have asserted their rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Authors and Illustrators of this work Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers Material from Department for Education documents used in this publication are approved under an Open Government Licence: www. nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: PB: 978-1-8019-9356-2; ePDF: 978-1-8019-9355-5; ePub: 978-1-8019-9357-9
Cover illustration by Javier Joaquín Typeset by Newgen KnowledgeWorks Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, India
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Acknowledgements This book has been a passion project that wouldn’t have been possible without some incredible people. I dedicate this book to all of them. To Charlotte, for your unfaltering love and encouragement over what can only be described as an early midlife crisis of writing a book. To my family, for being as excited as I have been and always supporting me through life. To those friends that have helped me with this process, for putting up with my constant questions and requests for feedback! To all of my lecturers and friends at Kingston University, for three amazing years preparing me for the classroom and giving me the best start in my career. To Stanners, a true friend and a rock during my career. I’m still so sad that you aren’t here anymore, but you’re never forgotten, especially when drinking a cuppa. To Rachel, for being my mentor since I was a trainee teacher and mentoring me through a decade of my teaching career… so far. To every pupil, colleague and parent that I have worked with during my teaching career, for your inspiration and for providing (without realising it) plenty of great material! To my teachers, who helped make me the person I am today and inspired me to step into the classroom myself (especially Mrs Sellers, Mrs de Ferrer and Mrs Bailey). To Joanna, Chloe and the team at Bloomsbury Education, as well as illustrator Javier Joaquín, for making my dream a reality and helping me get my ideas on to paper and into a book.
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Contents 1
Introduction 1
2
The night before 5
3
Inset days 11
4
The first day with a new class 19
5
Marking 25
6
Questions 31
7
Staff meetings 39
8
Course days 45
9
Guess who? 53
10
The first observation 61
11
Break duty 69
12
School trips 75
13
Assemblies 83
14
Parents’ evenings 91
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Contents
15
Non-school uniform days 99
16
Performances 105
17
Staff nights out 113
18
The work–life balance 119
19
Running a club 125
20
Cake sales 131
21
Half terms 135
22
Exams 141
23
Residential trips 149
24
Class assemblies 157
25
Strike day 163
26
Ofsted 167
27
Governors 175
28
Bank holidays 181
29
Wet playtimes 187
30
The summer fair 193
viii
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31
Behaviour 199
32
Complaints 207
33
Sports day 213
34
The little things 219
35
Countdowns to everything 225
36
The final day of the year 231
37
Young versus old 237
38
Outside perceptions 241
39
Desk-chair days 243
40
Funny moments 247
Glossary 251 References 255 Index of Teachers’ Standards 259
Contents ix
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1 Introduction
After a rushed morning filled with anxiety and stress, I had made it. In front of me stood the main door, and behind that was my very first school. My feet shifted as I took in the sight and waited for the moment to land; the uncomfortable feeling of new shoes rubbing against the backs of my ankles was already beginning to plague me. Despite that, for the first time that morning, a smile reached my face. I’d always had new shoes to celebrate a new year at school, but this time, they were adult size 13. I had just turned 22, and I wasn’t a pupil any more. This time, I was the teacher. As I stepped through the door that had started each day of my final training placement – as well as that fateful June day when I’d earned my first teaching job – the surroundings had never felt
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Do You Want to Share That with the Class?
so unfamiliar. Yes, the beeps from the keypad sounded the same, the sign-in sheet was identical and the office area was already etched in my memory, but it just felt odd somehow. However, today was a new chapter, and that was never a bad thing. My silent reflection was interrupted by a familiar voice. ‘Morning! How are you feeling?’ The deputy cheerfully smiled at me as she came out of her office. ‘Hey! Everything OK?’ my head of year asked as I saw him in the corridor. I answered with a semi-genuine smile and a committed nod, as I tried to hide my shaky hands and calm the feeling of nausea. I couldn’t tell if the cause was nerves or my very real excitement. I just knew that I was keen to get going. I reached my classroom a few minutes after 7.00 am, opened the door, switched on the light and walked (still plagued by the rubbing of the new shoes) across to my desk. Sitting down, I surveyed the scene like Mufasa and Simba looking at their kingdom from Pride Rock in The Lion King. Two thoughts sprung to mind as I took in the sight before me: 1. Everything that the light touched was mine – a new role, a new space to call my own and a new challenge to make the most of. 2. The room would never be this tidy, organised or quiet again! I grinned a second time and took a deep breath as I turned on my computer. ‘You’ve got this,’ I reassured myself.
It has long been my ambition to write this book for two main reasons: 1) to share a realistic reflection of life on the front line
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Introduction
in schools (including the funny highs and soul-searching lows) with those who are starting off in a primary classroom or are planning to join the ranks soon, and 2) to reminisce about how my decision to become a teacher got me to where I am today. Some years have now passed since my first day, and despite trying to start writing this book a few times (on a family summer holiday in a mountain chalet, on the first night of a week-long residential and after leaving my other job as a weekend radio presenter), it was only after the COVID-19 lockdowns happened and I took some time to refocus my life that my passion project became my first priority. While the pandemic era was tough on teachers, I remain incredibly grateful that something positive has come from that time, and that it has meant that you get to read this book today. Why a book for new teachers though? Well, truth be told, I have been passionate about supporting new teachers ever since becoming one. Since I left my alma mater, Kingston University, I’ve aimed to help those who’ve come after me, regardless of their training route, to be prepared for the profession that they have chosen to work in, and to work with Early Career Teachers (ECTs) as they face the reality of our job for the first time. My annual guest lecture to Kingston students is part serious pedagogical review and part stand-up act, which I am proud to deliver on their final day of university. I have also reached out and chatted to new teachers on social media and blogs, all to reassure people that we are a community and to provide them with the genuine ear and voice of someone living the teacher lifestyle along with them. All of that fed into this project and into the book that you are reading right now. My hope is that this book will provide you with something that no other teacher’s book or educational text does: a mixture
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Do You Want to Share That with the Class?
of anecdotes, humour, research, facts, useful tips, honest experiences and thought-provoking questions to help you with whichever stage of the teaching journey you are on. Teaching isn’t just an easy nine-to-three job where you get to play games all day (although there was a moment when I wondered why I was paying £3,500 a year for a degree in making maths treasure hunts and using puppets to explore a text). It is as tough as any other career path and just as rewarding. If you come away from reading this book feeling excited to get into the classroom and prepared to face the tough times, knowing that a good day will surely follow soon after, then I have done my bit. When working out how to get the 195 days of an academic year into words, I thought that the best way was to focus on the moments that meant the most to me over my first year. Each chapter is about an experience or an event that you might come up against, and my own experiences of it. As a new teacher, I thought that no other teacher in the world must have gone through what I was going through, but I later found solace and satisfaction in discovering that those colleagues I looked up to and the lecturers I had learned from had all been through the same. I have added in some tips, tricks and general points that could help prepare you for what is to come and help you see the positive and fun side of what is truly an amazing job. I hope you enjoy reading what happened to me from the minute I took my first Bambi-esque steps in the classroom to that movie-like moment when the car park barrier lifted and I drove off into the sunset for my first summer holiday, as ‘School’s Out’ blasted from the car speakers. More than that, I hope it boosts your confidence to be the brilliant Early Career Teacher (ECT) that you are.
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