Let me begin by telling you about Megan, my younger sister. Among other things, she recently completed sixth year. Not that she needed to - of the five courses over three unis that she applied to, she got unconditional entry to all five. The one she elected to go to was the PE teaching course at Stirling University.
Now, I know what you're thinking. She's seventeen, how does she know what she wants to do already? Well, she's a lot more mature at that age than I was. She now drives, she earns a hell of a lot more money than I did at a job that provides her with more experience, and she's amazing at sports. She helped out with the PE primary classes during her free time in 6th year, as well as taking swimming classes at her job (she's a pool lifeguard if you hadn't guessed) and the kids she's worked with think she's wonderful. She's also extremely popular and has a big crowd of friends, and knows how to stand up for herself - a real people person. Basically she's great teacher material.
She's not the only one in my life like that. I know lots of people who want to be teachers, most of them from my course at uni. Good for them. Many of them have experience of working with children which they are keen to put to good use. They have knowledge which they are keen to share with others, and I think that's wonderful.
The problem, though, is that I know so many people who write off teaching as a career which one takes up when they can find no other use for their degree. I get that all the time. "An English degree, you say? You should go into teaching."
Excuse me? Who are you to judge what I should do with my degree? I don't want to be a teacher, I'd be fucking awful at it. I'm very introverted (less so than I used to be, but still), I have no patience with people who don't pay attention, I can't deal with the thought of trying to force a kid to learn about something they're not even remotely interested in...I'd just be horrible at it. I'd be up for teaching at a university for sure, since by that point folk are more interested, keener to listen and actually want to learn, but not unruly teenagers legally obliged to be there.
Teaching takes a special person. The people I know who are doing teaching are all awesome and enthusiastic about what they are specialising in. Good for them. You have to want to be a teacher, like you would want to be a doctor, lawyer, journalist, engineer, or any other professional. I'm sad to say that a number of the teachers who taught me at secondary school level really should not have become teachers. They struggled to control classes, they didn't stick particularly firmly to the syllabus, they sometimes just outright ignored us and left us to our own devices. Generally they were as much use as a chocolate fireguard when it came to helping us mould our futures. It still frustrates me to think folk like that were responsible for parts of my education. They weren't all like that of course. A few did their job well and actually cared whether or not we made something of our lives.
So why is teaching so easily written off as a career? It's not like the pay isn't good - beginners can start on £20,000 a year. It can be challenging and rewarding, and the holidays aren't bad either. It takes a special sort of person to do, it's not just a Mickey Mouse career. So don't knock teachers, past, present or future, because many of them are awesome.
Rant over. PS Sorry for the prolonged radio silence.
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