Articles on Teaching though Southern Alps Recruitment
Teaching In Essex (near London)
by Madeline Falconer - Canada
I accepted a teaching position in Essex, England for the 2002/03 school without knowing much about the place I was going to. I had asked a few questions during my phone interview and felt like I was heading into a friendly environment.
Don't get me wrong, the school staff, for the most part, treated me really well, especially my teaching assistants, but as the year progressed I realized there were a lot of things I should have asked in the beginning that may have made my decision a more informed one.
When I first entered into my classroom I was under the impression that there were "a few pickles" within the group of children but that the school had a strict discipline procedure and then any problems would be handled accordingly. Unfortunately, this was not the case. The head teacher, in my opinion, found it very hard to come down on the children and they had a very easy time when sent to her office. The end result...I had a very difficult time controlling many of the children in my classroom.
Make sure the Head Teacher knows your views on discipline and stands behind them or make sure you know hers and can work with them.
Throughout my year I also discovered that the British system allows very little room for individuality. Our grade level planned together and had to do exactly the same activities. The help I received by planning with the other Grade One teacher's was wonderful, especially since I was unfamiliar with the British Curriculum but I found it very hard to have to do exactly what everyone else was doing all the time. Just like individual students learn differently, teachers teach better in different ways. Not being able to change things up once in awhile can make work very monotonous.
In many schools, the children in your class are levelled into more able, able and less able. What this means is that each subject has to be prepared for each level of children. Catering to the individual needs of students is nothing new but making the different levels work independently or with very little supervision takes a lot of trial and error. Throw in a few "pickles" and it can soon become a very stressful situation.
Depending on where you teach you need to be prepared for a lot of initial lessons on social behaviour and you need to have a strict discipline procedure ready that the Head teacher has approved of. These things may need to be changed and repeated many times throughout the entire year.
Overall I was surprised by the behaviour problems the children had at such a young age. I know I was a new teachers in a new school but I was reassured over and over by other teachers that the bahviour is quite typical for a lot of British schools.
Looking back over my experiences my number one piece of advice would be to ask as many questions as you can possibly think of, no matter how silly you think you might sound. The questions are necessary for you emotional well being. Even better if you are in England and have the chance, go to the school for a few days and observe how well thing run. Below are a list of questions that I think everyone should ask.
- How big is the student population?
- How many teachers are there?
- Do the teacher's socialize together?
- Where is the school located?
- What are the demographics of the school/surrounding area?
- Do you (the Head Teacher) support teacher decisions?
- What is the discipline policy of the school?
- What is the behaviour of the children like at this point in time?
- How would your staff describe you?
- What type of paperwork is expected of the teachers? (daily/weekly lesson plans, etc.)
- What does the surrounding area have to offer?
- Are there other foreign teachers nearby?
I would not discourage anyone from teaching overseas in England or anywhere around the world. I have being doing so for the past 5 years and have no intentions of stopping. Just remember, if something's not working.... fix it. Don't be afraid to try something new in the classroom or in your life. It will make things a lot easier in the end! Good Luck!
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