Turning my back on Education...?

..... Alas! My Blog-ginity is broken as I type my first blog post.

I've considered starting a blog for some time now, as a means of expressing my uncertified opinions, thoughts and feelings despite knowing readers may not be interested but lets face it, if you want to rant the internet is the best place to do so (I find that ranting in public only leads to warnings from the authorities and distasteful reactions from the public..)

So here goes!

Today I'm going to rant about *deep breath* Education. I've wanted to teach for a long time now, and I've followed all the right steps to get into teaching. I've studied a subject that I am passionate about -Literature. I've volunteered to gain experience in schools and in out-of school study centres. I've completed various training in Mentoring and Academic Coaching. I get on with teens and am passionate about helping them, and guiding them in their academic life. I have even been accepted on a competitive teacher training course and completed about 3 months of training before I threw the towel in.

Why did I throw away this dream? Teaching was not what I expected it to be, and I continued on the course despite knowing this, and having a nagging feeling inside that I may not want to teach in a secondary school (students aged 11-16 years). So as I stood there in front of my year 10 class (a bunch of 15 year olds who could just about read long words like 'curtain') teaching them Robert Browning's 'My Last Duchess', I realised I could not and did not want to continue down this career path.

First of all teaching is no longer about teaching. What I mean is, it's no longer about developing well-rounded individuals, or equipping pupils with the skills they'll need when they leave school and enter the adult world. The Government and Department of Education have made it impossible for teachers to focus solely on teaching; there are forms to fill, targets to achieve, data and statistics to record, league tables to compete in. Schools are run like businesses, and kids are expected to absorb all the information spouted out to them and are then made to sit exams to be assessed against a national standardised test.

Now I am not criticizing the examination system, however I fail to see how this process will ever benefit those 15 year olds with an attention span equivalent to that of a 5 year old. The government, the school, local authorities do not account for these pupils; how is sitting a GCSE examination beneficial for their future? All this does is stunt their learning and make them feel stupid so they find other ways to keep themselves occupied. They should be doing a different course like a level 1, 2, or 3 in literacy. Surely that is a better qualification than a F or G in GCSE English!? They may come out of school at a lower level, but at least they won't feel like complete failures. But no, the Govt don't care. Neither does the school. Its all about league tables.

The sad thing is that teachers can do little to change this. Now, I know you're going to say we can make a change if we really care but the truth is there is just not enough time. Teachers are put under constant pressure by their school to generate results and data. We may have many outstanding teachers that are able inspire kids, but they're so bloody bogged down by paperwork that it becomes impossible for them to deliver valuable lessons. We just moves kids along from one class to the next, hoping they've learnt something, and then they're someone else's problem. Now I'm not saying teachers I know are like this, or all teachers are like this, but its definitely the way the profession is headed.

So yeah. I quit. But I'm not completely turning my back on education (as my tutors implied). I am still passionate about education, and hope to help those poor little buggers when they come to me in college to resit their GCSE's. I think any type of teaching has its own pressures, but secondary is just beyond my capacity, and I wish my fellow ex-classmates all the best- here's to the future of teaching!