Showing posts with label career. Show all posts
Showing posts with label career. Show all posts

Monday 13 September 2021

15 Years In Teaching

Sometimes it's a useful exercise just to think back and take stock. I did that recently as I was preparing to give a talk to some trainee secondary teachers. The talk was about what primary school is like, and how year 6 children feel about transition, but as part of the presentation I was asked to give an overview of my career in education. Here's what I shared with them:

After completing a 4 year course in teaching and art, focusing after the first year on KS1, I graduated and took a job at a primary school.

First school

At this school, although I applied for a job in year 2, I worked for three years in year 3 and for two years in year 5. I became the school's art leader from the second year onwards. In terms of teaching, my improvement was very gradual – I learned from strong, more experienced teachers and worked alongside them to develop both my classroom practice and my organisational and planning skills – I most certainly wasn’t ‘outstanding’ to begin with!

During my time at this school I applied for other leadership roles internally but the jobs went to other internal applicants. I was given small extra responsibilities such as School Council and Displays coordinator. Thankfully, I made the most of any responsibilities that I was given even though it wasn't exactly what I wanted to do; it's worth doing this as the experience can be called upon later, and you can show yourself to be a hard worker. It became clear there were not opportunities for progression and I felt like I was being overlooked and felt that the leadership was not what it could have been.

Second school

After feeling devalued by my first school, I was offered a teaching job with an incentive payment and the promise of progression opportunities. I discovered that sometimes moving school makes all the difference – in this case, the leaders saw potential in me where previous leaders hadn’t.

Here, I taught in year 4 for a year, then requested a move to year 6 where I taught for 2 years. The move to year 6 gave me the SATs experience – the pressure was on to maintain very high SATs scores. The first year saw some disappointments with regards to outcomes (partially to do with changes in expectations in the tests that year) but lessons were learnt and things improved the following year.

Whilst at this school I had the opportunity to lead on Communication (which involved Reading) and then on the implementation of the 2014 National Curriculum, as well as the roll out specifically of the new Computing curriculum. In fact, these roles were ones that I proposed to the leaders of school – in my proposal I showed why these roles would be necessary and how I would be suitable for the role. These roles gave me my first real taste of leadership.

It was at that point where I began to look at things happening across the school and thinking that I could do a good job of leading. At the same time, my observations from school leaders, school improvement partner and Ofsted inspectors were fairly consistently showing that I had made lots improvements in my practice since my first few years of teaching. This gave me the confidence to start to look for leadership roles – I never wanted to become a leader without having first become secure in my teaching as I wanted to be ready to lead by example in the classroom.

Third school

As I sat and read through the Ofsted report before applying, I was literally gasping out loud at some of what had been observed. Further internet searches turned up even more concerning things. There was no doubt, this was the school for me - a place where I could truly make a difference! Deep into Special Measures and about to become an academy, this city centre school appealed to me as a chance to really challenge myself. 

I became on of the year 6 teachers alongside my assistant vice principal role which saw me in charge of improving maths across the school and leading the UKS2 phase, amongst the other more general responsibilities of being part of a school's SLT. Here I taught in year 6 for three years navigating further sea changes in SATs, including the notorious 2016 SATs.

During this time I completed the Teaching Leaders course which was a game changer in terms of my leadership ability and enthusiasm.

PLP

After three years I became primary lead practitioner for the Dixons Trust which saw me working part time in all the Trust's primaries on various projects including developing coaching, curriculum, teaching as well as working with the brand new research school, presenting at CPD events and developing the research school's offer. This role came about partially due to my asking for further experiences and responsibilities - I knew that this was my career and that I needed to ask for the opportunities I wanted as well as working to prove that I deserved them.

During my time as PLP, one of the schools was left without a headteacher due to staffing changes. My role became focused on working at this school for two days per week, increasing the leadership capacity as the deputy head had taken on the acting head role. The other three days of my week were spent continuing to work at the third school, this time leading in LKS2 – a phase which hadn’t seen as much positive development as UKS2 had. 

It was during this year, just before Christmas, that I was called back from one of the other primary schools as my own school had had 'the call'. After a positive couple of days (which saw me praised by a cricket-loving inspector on my teaching of cricket skills during a lesson I covered for the head) we were given the verdict: 'Good'! I felt that my goal had been achieved and I was ready to move on.

Fourth school

My role as PLP led to me becoming the deputy head of primary in an all-through school. I had already begun developing the curriculum for year 5 – it was a growing school, the oldest children being in year 4 at the time – and I was excited at the prospect of setting up a brand new UKS2 phase. I was also interested in the opportunities that an all-through school brought, particularly in terms of year 6 to 7 transition.

In my second year I began working with secondary subject leaders to develop a year 7 and 8 curriculum that would support transition. This was done by looking at aspects of the primary curriculum and bringing them into the secondary curriculum. As well as rolling out this curriculum, I worked on ensuring that children from our primary, and the other primary schools in the area, had a successful transition, despite the fact that the last two years had been affected by Covid restrictions.

Extra Curricular Activity

Whilst working at my third school I began blogging about teaching and education. I also joined Twitter, first of all to get my writing out there, but also to learn more from others. Being part of a national – and international – learning network has taught me so much and exposed me to so much CPD. I’ve been able to have my writing published in magazines and books as well as various online outlets. Education became an interest of mine, and more than just a job, through doing this  I’ve found that writing about my experiences, and writing about the new things I learn, has really helped me as I reflect, process and clarify my thinking and understanding.

What's Next?

I will be working as deputy head in my current school until December. I am currently in the process of setting up my own educational consultancy and in January I will begin work as an educational consultant, using my knowledge and experience to work with schools on improving their offer, with a particular focus on the curriculum and on teaching and learning. Watch this space as well as the following for more information:

www.twitter.com/aidansevers

www.facebook.com/aidansevers

www.aidansevers.com

If you would like Aidan to work with you on developing curriculum, pedagogy or teacher and leader development at your school, please visit his website at https://www.aidansevers.com/services and get in touch via the contact details that can be found there.

Wednesday 4 July 2018

On Taking A Career Detour

Recently I've been cycling to work quite a bit - it's a great way to get exercise into the daily routine and has allowed us to be a one-car family again after we scrapped my MOT-failed runaround. But, because I've been working at my current school for nearly four years now, I've sought out a few detours to make the journey a little more interesting; a little more scenic.

One such detour took me off road, through woodland and around the side of a reservoir. As the already-risen sun reflected off the water and the quietness of my surroundings stilled my mind, I was caused to think on the nature of detours.

Detours are what makes life interesting. That I would stand by, and I was sure that some other greater mind must have summarised this thought in better words. Upon arrival I did a quick search for quotations about detours - there were plenty. Here's one of the most succinct:

"See any detour as an opportunity to experience new things." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Many other quotations spoke of detours as a metaphor for events in life - something which, as I pedalled on my way, I too had contemplated. My morning ride round the reservoir was a picture of my career moves this year.

After three years as an Assistant Vice Principal (that's the academy speak for Assistant Head) I was presented with a new challenge: I applied for the role of Primary Lead Practitioner within the MAT my primary school is a part of. I was successful and I was excited to take on my new role supporting the handful of primary schools in the group. I was to work two days for the MAT and three days as AVP at my school. The decision was made that I wouldn't have a regular teaching commitment due to my reduced time in school - my 12th year in the job has been the first year I haven't had my own class. The end of August rolled around and thus began what I recognise now to have been my career detour.

I've always taken a one step at a time approach to my career, seeing my journey not as on a road but as one might cross a river on stepping stones. I've not waited for opportunities to be handed to me, but have sought them out when I've felt ready: I'm still skeptical about 5-year and 10-year plans. But what has happened is, as I've progressed, I've always found myself at a point where I do want to pursue management and leadership. Whilst I acknowledge this isn't the only progression path to take in education, it's the one I've found myself to be on, and I've enjoyed the ride so far.

I had begun to assume that my next move would be to Deputy Head and had concluded that this would mean a change of school. Indeed, I had applied for a Deputy Headship, but despite getting through a rather grueling two-day process with an oncoming case of my yearly laryngitis, I was unsuccessful, coming second to a more suitable candidate. It was, as they say, all good experience. That straightforward road from Assistant to Deputy was not meant to be for me - I was meant to take a detour.
Early on in my year of being Lead Primary Practitioner it became apparent that one of the schools I was working in needed more support than the others due to a reduced leadership team. I began spending more of my time there. This was to become a detour from my detour - my role changed significantly as I effectively became a two-day-a-week Deputy whilst the actual Deputy became Acting Head.

During this time I also took on an active role with the research school attending planning meetings, speaking at events, preparing and running a three-day course and writing material for the blog. Through the research school I also got involved briefly with the Opportunity Area work. My role as PLP also saw me being involved in the MAT's NQT and RQT network programme of events. My online activity was also of a significant quantity as I wrote for TES, Teach Primary, Third Space and Innovate My School, as well as for my own blog. All of this weighed heavily, not to mention my 'normal' job of leading maths, leading LKS2, mentoring three NQTs, two students and carrying out general SLT duties, became quite burdensome.

The fact that I spent a reduced amount of time in my own school (and had begun working with a brand new team there with none of my previous colleagues), and limited amounts of time in other schools, meant that I began to miss the relationships I had formed. I began to feel like I didn't belong anywhere in particular.

Then, in December, Ofsted called. I rushed back into school from elsewhere to spend the afternoon in the usual preparation. It was a rigorous couple of days but when we eventually received the verdict I discovered that I had had a previously unrecognised, hidden goal: the job advert I answered called me to join the school on their journey to Good and this is what, deep down, I had been hoping to achieve with my colleagues. And, from the school's previous inspection judgement of Inadequate, that was the journey our inspection report deemed us to have made. On receiving that news I realised I had achieved a goal, and that almost immediately I wanted a new challenge.

Without going into too much more detail this cocktail of responsibilities suddenly felt like a lot and I began to struggle quite significantly, questioning my purpose and my impact. I began to renege on speaking and writing commitments I'd made and also asked to have some of my more extraneous work responsibilities removed. Whilst I still have moments of difficulty these actions have been largely successful in preserving my sanity.

Don't get me wrong, there have been some excellent moments this year - the very fact that the school where I began spending two days a week employed me as their Deputy Head (starting at the end of August) is enough to make my detour all worthwhile. But the best part is that I have learned more about what I want in my career by experiencing things that I think, in the long run, I don't want to be particular features of my work.

Career-wise, I have learned that (at least for the time being):
  • I want to have a regular teaching commitment
  • I want to commit the majority of my time to working with and for one school rather than across several school 
  • I don't want to make a habit of public speaking
  • I want to continue to prioritise doing things that have a visible impact in classrooms that I frequent
  • I want to ensure that I don't deprioritise my own health or my family

More generally I have learned that detours, welcome or or otherwise, are great and worthy learning opportunities and that they certainly do make life interesting. Despite some bumpiness in the off-road nature of my career detour this year I have experienced new things, all of which have taught me, one way or another, a little more about myself and what I want from my career.

If you have made it through my personal ramblings, and are reading this final paragraph, I'd urge you, if opportunities arise, to take a detour. Whether it's a change in route on your actual journey to work or a step in a new, unexpected direction in your career, it will certainly keep life interesting and will probably teach you a thing or two along the way.

Saturday 27 January 2018

On The @TES Blog: Job Hunting: How Do You Know If You're Ready To Move Schools?

https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-views/job-hunting-how-do-you-know-if-youre-ready-move-schools

Scouring job adverts, visiting prospective schools, completing application forms and enduring rounds of interviews is enough to put anyone off leaving the comfort of their current job. But there comes a time for most teachers when they consider moving to another school.

And if you are considering moving, then this is the point in the year when you will be weighing up your options and deciding if you are ready to make a leap before next September.

In an age of five-year plans, teachers can often feel the pressure to move on, but this way of thinking can lead you to make decisions for arbitrary reasons. Job hunting is a stressful process, so you want to wait until the time is "right" before throwing yourself into it. So, what are the signs that you really might be ready for a move?

Click here to read the 6 ways to tell you're ready for a move: https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-views/job-hunting-how-do-you-know-if-youre-ready-move-schools

Monday 15 January 2018

The Pearl

It crept towards her, out of the pages of her diary. Those empty rectangles of nothing. And from where there were entries and to-do lists it swaggered out across the pages, parading past her, jeering. When she did manage to shut out the noise, it whispered derisively instead. Not into her ear, but directly from the centre of her head, engulfing all else, like backwash on a beach rattling her logic, dragging all order away and into the deep.

It wasn’t as if she had nothing to do, and it definitely wasn’t because she wanted to do nothing. It was just that what she did have to do felt like nothing. The sense of urgency and fear that she relished did not make residence in the items on her schedule. It didn’t even really feel like her schedule, and definitely not her agenda. Someone else’s, perhaps. Maybe no one’s in particular. Just a schedule.

Things to do, things to do. Busy, busy. No time. The familiar phrases taunted her. She had once felt that way; she felt that absence keenly. It left a vacuum, now perforated and being slowly inhabited by the swirling grey of a winter North Sea, carrying sand and seaweed, grating and tangling with her thoughts.

When had she last been on the beach? Too long ago. The stretching sands and undulating water reminded her that, despite how she felt, the tumult in her head was only… not imaginary, but… something that could be controlled more easily than she could control the heaving mass of water rushing to meet her feet.

King Cnut. He had been demonstrating that he couldn’t stop the tide coming in. So misrepresented these days. He knew he didn’t have divine powers, and that only God did. She pondered this. Then she pondered her train of thought, wondering why she was now sitting at her desk with her organiser open in front of her thinking about God.

She flipped it shut, decisively. Although, she knew not what she’d decided. Only that she would shut it and that somehow, perhaps, that would change the course of her thoughts. Then she realised actually, that in imagining the events going on inside of her head as something more tangible, she had spent a blissful few untouched minutes – she had fought back, stemmed the tide.

She got up. She knew she should do it more often. She should get out there. The nothing must become something. And it would only become something if she made it so. If she found the purpose in it all.

Feeling the sand between her toes she headed to the shoreline, the retreating surf beckoning. The tide was turning taking with it that which had filled the void. The emptiness returned, but it was welcome – it could be filled. And this time she would curate its contents. The sea was back where it belonged and the pages of her diary remained closed.

Something winked up at her, its lustrous shell reflecting the moonlight. The world had its order – tides would come and go. She didn’t have divine powers, but she knew someone who did. Nothing is nothing, everything is something, she realised. The last sounds of the sea washed away, the corridor seemed a brighter place and a pearl began to form around the last remaining grain of sand.