Diary of an NQT The journey begins...


“THIRTEEN WEEKS off a year!” the gruff, paint- covered man in the pub snarls loudly, “and they still whinge about their pensions. Bloody teachers...” As I cower behind a conspicuously middle-


class broadsheet, trying casually to sip my pint while surreptitiously removing my elbow-patched jacket a thought occurs to me: a sudden and terrifying realisation of the enormity of the year ahead. Oh, to be becoming a


new teacher after the summer of 2011. To be embarking on a career that certain papers would tell you now receives the same sympathy as traffic wardens, amid a swirling hurricane of blame that puts the “failures of the education system” as the chief cause of the spontaneous riots that will linger as the memory of this sultry summer, and while a new(ish) government swings the mace of reforms wildly and quickly through the country’s schools. No pressure then my NQT


brethren. Just a total transformation of society, unadulterated examination success and complete, unrelenting classroom control required. For a fraction of the cost please. Oh and if you could do it quietly and compliantly until you are 68 with a weaker pension, that would be wonderful. For any new teachers starting their first


week, or for those of you who remember that gut-wrenching, nerve-jangling horrific moment of a first introduction to a new class, I am sure you will agree the state of the nation and the introduction of sweeping reforms to education are the least of your worries. Instead your summer’s sleep has been disturbed


by the ominous (and possible) threat of mutiny, the terrifying prospect of the glare of 30 unimpressed


Teach it like Torno! Picking up the pieces


“A riot is the language of the unheard.” Martin Luther King Jr.


After a long and somewhat troubled summer, welcome back. The riots that took place in August must have left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. The damage and hurt that took place within communities is deep and will take time to heal. Hopefully you have had a rest and


feel reinvigorated and ready to meet the challenges that this year will bring. Sadly, what many in society fail to recognise is that schools will bear the brunt of the frustration that many of these youths in the inner cities may display. While I had little sympathy


with the rioters, I could not help thinking that 15 years hence, when opportunities for the young (particularly the disadvantaged) really will be limited, the frustrations of the next generation will be high, and much of the responsibility for offering hope will fall on the shoulders of the teaching profession. One of the reasons I get angry


when I hear the profession being lambasted is because we are the ones that have to pick up the pieces when government policy has taken its toll. Let’s look at some of this policy.


First, this year has witnessed more students scrambling to get a university place before fees rise to £9,000 next September. Knowing exactly what it is like to come from a low-income family myself, I am sure that I wouldn’t have attended university with fees this high. The sad reality seems that university


will revert to being the preserve of the middle and upper classes once again. Britain already lags behind in terms of social mobility and this can only serve to heighten the problem. The second story that caught my attention recently


was a proposal by the government to add a new measure by which schools will be judged. I found this a most bizarre move. Schools are officially to be ranked in league tables according to the proportion of students they get into Oxford or Cambridge universities. The Department for Education has


defended the decision by stating that there was no reason why the percentage of pupils getting into these universities should not be included. I see a reason – the idea is crazy. Michael Gove and co seem fixated on this concept


of elitism. What is the point of this new measure anyway? It will continually make depressing reading for state schools in that the usual suspects such as Eton, Harrow and Charterhouse will continually top the league. Surely this is common sense and will do little to improve the chances of those in the most deprived areas. Moreover, the removal


of the Educational Maintenance Allowance will make it increasingly difficult for many to stay on in further education, never mind university. However, as teachers


we have to remain the agents of optimism and it is with a positive tone that I look


forward to the year ahead. Think about those students


starting afresh in year 7 – worried about moving on and scared they will get lost and not be able to find their classes. Doesn’t sound like much of a big


deal to us, but to them it will be huge. Or consider those starting GCSEs and A levels. For them this is where life really begins to get serious and they are looking to the teachers to support them by providing


encouragement and, dare I say it, inspiration. Your role as a teacher is, as ever, vital to the success of society as a whole. Whether students


come from privileged or deprived backgrounds you are the role models they will look up to in


the coming years and months. So with this in mind, good luck with the first few


days and remember that while you can’t put an end to the frustration and pessimism that many of our youngsters face, you can be the voice of reason and the harbinger of hope. Have a great week!


• David Torn is a professional tutor at St Edward’s School in Essex. He is a former Teacher of the Year for London and co-author of Brilliant Secondary School Teacher. He is passionate that the purpose of education is to change lives. He returns in two weeks.


eyes, the monotonous climb up the mountain of marking – and once you have sorted that out you still have to maintain a work/life balance, get along with colleagues, and possibly even enjoy yourself a little.


PGCEs and GTPs have all been completed and signed-off and hopefully most of you will have found a permanent position and now it is time to make your mark, strive to be a good teacher, and pass on some knowledge and wisdom. I fear for most of us it will


not be all Dead Poets’ Society and getting carried out of the classroom. For some it may


even be getting chased out of the classroom, but the best we can do is stick together, put the hours in and give it our best shot. This year, alongside you, I


will be chronicling the trials and tribulations of my first year in teaching in this weekly column – detailing my embarrassing mistakes (knowing me, they will be numerous) and recording the


events of my NQT year. I have no illusions, I predict it to be tough and expect all the obvious emotional swings, answering back, petulance and laziness – and the kids may even be the same! But most of all I expect a sense of achievement that I am


not sure any other career provides. So, to the man in the pub I say: yes I did have a lovely summer thank you, I am proud to be becoming a teacher, and if the


hooded, traffic-cone-wielding youth of today do need sorting out, I guess we – the new batch of NQTs – are as good an option as any other.


• Tomas Duckling is a history NQT at Queens’ School in Hertfordshire. He returns next week.


FILM EDUCATION The cinem


The 16th annual National Schools Film Week takes place soon, and


organiser Film Education has launched the first regional hubs to maximise the use of movies in the classroom and the curriculum. Jerome Monahan explains


in August which suggests the average Brit consumes 81 movies a year, but only makes three trips annually to the cinema. Many factors are at play but Nick Walker of the


W


charity Film Education is clear that increasingly it cannot be taken for granted that people will get into the big screen habit early on in life; and as the director of the world’s most significant film festival for young people it is unsurprising that he views the trend “as a significant challenge”. Part of Film Education’s response to this trend is


National Schools Film Week (NSFW) which in 2010 – the 15th anniversary year – took 470,000 children to movies for free. NSFW 2011 kicks off on October 13 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and runs from October 27 in Scotland. Mr Walker told SecEd: “As the 2011 Festival


approaches and booking opens for schools across the UK, the message remains the same: films deserve to be appreciated in the best circumstances. And that’s in an environment free as much as possible from distraction: projected large; in the dark; with superior sound and as part of a collective experience. “The year-on-year growth in NSFW attendance


figures – up six-fold since 2003 – is a key part of the story we tell. It remains, of course, the most immediate indicator of our success, especially in the face of all the other pressures on teachers and forces militating against school outings. However, even as we look set to break records again, the message is also about enrichment and legacy.” This year has seen the launch of the first 11 in what


will be a 30-strong network of regional “hubs”: each focused on a particular cinema and drawing on the


E MAY be a nation of avid film-watchers but increasingly we are not film-goers. That’s the stark conclusion to be drawn from the latest British Film Institute yearbook published


expertise of local film education officers, teachers and Film Education. Mr Walker continued: “Hub partners will have


access to regional ‘extranet’ – an online forum which in combination with occasional meetings will enable all involved to share best practice.” It is an approach that is welcomed by Matt Beer,


film education officer at the Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff. He told SecEd: “The plan is the hub here will maintain on-going conversations enabling Film Education to spread news of its latest projects and in turn ensuring teachers have direct in-put when it comes to our own local initiatives and sharing ideas among themselves about preparing their students to see a film. “Starting such conversations is the best way to


ensure we fill our 188 seats when we host school screenings. We need to fit the films we choose to their needs and the curriculum and provide exciting ‘surrounding experiences’ involving the rest of the arts centre: everything from post-screening salsa lessons to foreign language practice opportunities in our café.” In Norwich, the hub has been well received by Guy


Martin, the education manager of Cinema Plus, which works closely with the town’s art house venue Cinema City. He explained: “It makes absolute sense and will


enrich our already well developed communication with schools across the region. Not only is it a chance to hear what schools want but also to encourage them to make more adventurous choices: expanding their students’ horizons by bringing them to independent and foreign language films that they might otherwise not consider. “We have packed the cinema for screenings of the


French thriller La Haine on that basis and our showing of Truffaut’s The 400 Blows with a pre-screening talk


8


SecEd • September 8 2011


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