Challenging Negativity in Education
Education, and educators, deal with a lot of significant challenges.? With ever increasing levels of accountability, ever more complex social, mental and economic factors as well as pandemics, international conflict and the general wellbeing of our colleagues, students and ourselves you could understand why the whole thing can, at times, appear to be a little bit negative.? Society appears down on education with “8 out of 10 teachers think[ing] education news is negative and demoralising”[1] and schools can be places that “…make Frankensteins of us all and breed negative thinking and toxicity”[2].
I was the Vice Principal of a Boarding School during the Covid years, serving in post from 2019-2021.? Those two years nearly ended my time as an educator; the work demands, the loss of my nan and an ever-growing need for more family and wellbeing time worked at odds with each other to take me into a very negative place. I know I was lucky… it doesn`t mean I would do it again, but I know I was lucky.? I had a job; we had a tight family, and we pulled through.? However, at the first opportunity, I left the role, realising that, for me, there needed to be a better balance. Rushing my options, I started a job where all I had achieved, all I had built, meant nothing as educational purposes collided.? Luckily, I found myself in my current school, albeit stripped of all titles. I had volunteered to teach refugee students who had been welcomed into Luxembourg following the outbreak of conflict in the Ukraine.? For a teacher brought through the ranks of British education schools, the title had always been important to me, a sort of validation of the time and effort I invested into my job, stripped of those titles, I wasn`t really sure how to view myself.? The students didn`t really care. They were dealing with the loss of their homes, the loss of their family members, the loss of their culture after having already experienced so much during those formative Covid years.
I am, by my very nature, a very positive human being. I really believe in people around me; I really believe in the students I teach, and I really want to make the most of my classroom practice by experimenting, tweaking and innovating.? I have the habit of seeing the best in those around me.? As a senior leader I believe that positive belief in others had an impact; as a teacher I believe it has led to many students believing that by the time they finish my course they are more than a letter grade and I believe that when I step into the staffroom people know that I am someone who genuinely cares.? However, even someone like me needs a reminder that being a teacher, being in the classroom is a challenging, rewarding, exciting, dynamic and wonderful place to be.? But the opposite is also true. The staffroom can be a hostile and negative place. Colleagues and senior leaders can be toxic. The news is often littered with headlines like “Britain's education system is 'failing on every measure`”[3] and it can be difficult to be the positive voice in the room when we are all so pushed, so tired, so… defeated.
It is easy to see how negativity can catch on. Negative news headlines stressed and tired colleagues, examinations, accountability measures, inspections, the list could go on.? I recently delved into the world of Instagram where everyone seems to have it all sorted out whereas I really don`t and this adds a sense of pressure we might not otherwise feel.? Throw into all of that the complexity of the young people we teach and it doesn`t take much before the wheels come off.? But what if there was another way, a way to turn the wheel in a different direction and, instead, challenge the negativity and instead focus on positive ideas?
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Our students are just more than letter grades, the job we do is a wonderful one, we do make a difference. You, the mad fool reading this, make a difference. Education is constantly revisiting itself, developing, evolving and we have the power to give our students lifelong tools so that they can follow their passions, drives and ambitions.? What we do is not perfect, there needs to be balance, we need to see new ideas on how to transform education into the unstoppable force for good that it can be. It needs more teachers being given more time to come together to talk about teaching and learning, that`s really where it all begins. It needs us to focus more on developing a culture of teaching and learning that sees colleagues building each other up, rather than competing for grades in an unfair system. It needs more teachers with the time to advocate for the young minds we teach. We need newspaper headlines, politicians and society as a whole celebrating the innovation of a profession actually allowed to innovate.?
I will never stop believing in the work you teachers do. I won`t stop believing in the power of positive thinking during world pandemics. I won`t stop believing in the power of positive thinking in education during war and conflict. I won`t stop believing in my students or your students. I believe that we have the power to create change, because if not us, then who?