Teaching Matters:Something rather odd happened to me recently. On three different occasions in the course of a week, people I had never met before approached me with a request. Would I please write an article designed to convey to the public the sheer grind and pain of teaching?
At first, I tried to explain what a bad idea it would be. As a profession, we already have a reputation as Grade A whingers. We have long holidays and what appear to be short hours, if you ignore corrections and preparation. Most people, at some stage, have experienced a teacher they did not like, and they seem to stick in the mind more than the inspirational or just hardworking ones. There is little sympathy for teachers.
However, all the people making the request seemed like the kind of people you would be happy to have teaching your own children, and none of them wanted to get out of the profession. As one said: "I teach because I am good at it."
One man spoke of being expected to keep order in a classroom, despite the fact that the young people he teaches experience little order in any other aspect of their lives. He described the level of crudeness in their interaction with each other and with their teachers. It sapped his energy to the extent that he had to be in bed by nine o'clock to be able to cope the following day. He went on to say that he had his best teaching ideas in the middle of July, when he had been, in his own memorable phrase, six weeks out of the pit. By the second day in September, those creative ideas had been abandoned. He teaches in a tough city school, where few of his pupils will sit a Leaving Cert.
One woman, in a very different scenario, found that the pupils' expectations had changed, that they expected to be spoon-fed and actively resisted any other kind of learning. Meanwhile, parents' expectations had increased exponentially. She, too, spoke of the increase in crudeness, and the rise in bullying behaviour by pupils. She felt that the pupils were so points-focused that she had become some kind of teaching automaton.
The last person had a different angle. In her school, there has been a huge influx in the last few years both of newcomer pupils without English, and special needs pupils. After teaching for 20 years, she felt completely unsupported in her attempts to face these challenges.
There are dangers of talking about how difficult a job has become. For one thing, it tends to lead others to try to top the horror stories of teaching with horror stories from their own work. The phenomenon is rather like a scene from Lethal Weapon 3, where actors Mel Gibson and Rene Russo seek to outdo each other in bragging about how they have acquired their battle scars. And it is true that it is no picnic to work, for example, as a nurse in an accident and emergency unit, or to pick mushrooms for a minimum wage. However, there is less public resistance to seeing the difficulties inherent in such work.
From time to time, a story captures the headlines, like the assault on Chris Gavin of Deansrath Community College, and there is a brief flurry of media attention. However, it is important to say that although this incident is appalling, it is also very unusual. The vast majority of students would be as shocked as teachers and parents are by this incident.
Also, none of the three people who spoke to me recently were talking about serious physical assaults, but instead, of feeling ground down by a kind of constant struggle.
It is understandable to want to convey to non-educationalists just what the difficulties of teaching are, but it is not easy to do. However, there is some merit in pointing out that most teachers start off as idealists, and want to stay that way. It is better for all - teachers, pupils and parents - if teachers are not going home so tired that they can barely speak. There are wonderful aspects to teaching, such as the magic moments when a child truly grasps a concept for the first time, and literally lights up. Also, the sheer energy and fun of young people does not get enough attention. However, the best strategy is probably to concentrate on issues that people who are not teachers can readily understand, and enlist their help in securing change.
For example, the INTO are currently running seminars on class size to which they are inviting politicians.
Parents are the secret weapon at these meetings because they can see exactly why class sizes need to be reduced. Smaller classes mean more individual attention and are particularly beneficial for children with learning difficulties. Parents are also great allies when it comes to pressing for psychological services, as they are well aware of the frustrations of being unable to access help for students with special needs, or even to secure an assessment.
Similar momentum could also be built in relation to discipline, because the majority of parents want schools to be places that are safe for all. In the days and weeks ahead, when smiling politicians will crowd our doorsteps, it would be wonderful if these issues were kept to the forefront of their attention.
Breda O'Brien teaches at Dominican College, Muckross Park, Donnybrook, Dublin
