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Diary of an NQT Tearful farewells for year 11


THE FINAL year 11 day of school eventually arrived last Friday, meaning that the revision-packed, manic lessons were over at last. We’d covered and recovered all of the topics, had intensive revision sessions before and after school, printed out reams of past papers, revision notes and exam technique advice. The details of year 11’s final


day were kept a closely guarded secret, known only to the leadership team. It was only on Thursday afternoon that the rest of the staff found out that Friday would be a non- uniform day for all year 11s. We were told that it would be lessons as normal until period five, when the students needed to be registered and then taken to the hall for a final farewell assembly. They would be let out before school officially finished, in an attempt to manage them. I must admit, I was fairly


pleased with these arrangements, when they were finally confirmed, because I had my favourite year 11 class first period and last period on Friday. Earlier in the week it was looking


like the English department was going to make a last-ditch attempt to “steal” the entire class from me. For the last few weeks, the English team has become increasingly manic in its revision preparation. As I mentioned before, there were class loads of


kids in over Easter revising English, and since then, students have been mysteriously disappearing to the English department, hauled out of lessons at short notice to attend bespoke revision sessions. There have been evening, morning and lunchtime sessions


Take a load off Moral support


LAST SEPTEMBER, I told you how we were inundated with responses to our various discussion forums, when we asked: “What do you say to people who argue teachers ‘get summers off’ and shouldn’t complain about the hours?” At the time, one teacher suggested: “Tell them


teaching is a lifestyle not a job. I don’t clock on at 8am and clock off at 5pm.” Another said: “Can’t remember the last time I had a weekend to myself EXCEPT in the holidays.” At the time, I argued that teachers must be


fully supported and developed throughout their careers, but not overworked, so that they, and by extension our children, can reach their full potentials. Eight months later and it


seems little has changed. Over the Easter holidays, we asked our e-newsletter readers if they believed that their workload had had a negative impact on their health and wellbeing. The results were unambiguous


– 96 per cent of the teachers, school leaders and lecturers who responded to the poll agreed that their workload had impacted negatively on their health and wellbeing. The symptoms they described


included increased alcohol consumption, lack of sleep, relationship problems, over-eating, under-eating, stress, anxiety, exhaustion, low self-esteem, mental health issues, and in some cases thoughts of suicide. One man who completed the poll told


us: “I was feeling totally overwhelmed by the workload and working 60-plus hours a week just to hang on by fingernails. I have actually contemplated suicide as a way out because the situation is making me so miserable.” A woman who responded said: “Due to stress I


have to take anti-depressants, I grind my teeth every night and have been diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome – if not something more serious.” One teacher said she was diagnosed with a


permanent condition brought on by the stress of becoming a deputy head. She will have to take drugs for the rest of her life. The problems are not just health related. Many


say that their personal relationships are also affected. “I have seen my family grow up without me,” said one respondent. “It has had a serious impact on


the personal relationship I have with my wife and family,” another man added. Particularly shocking were the respondents, who


told us how their personalities had changed as a result of the work they were doing. Most of whom were men. “There was a time when the prospect of a day


spent teaching would lift my spirits,” said one. “Today, I look in the mirror and I am disgusted at what I see.”


Another told us: “Tearful, moody, over two stone weight gain from comfort eating, always tired, apathetic, fearful for the future with the realisation that I have potentially 30 more years of this.” “I was always the go-to girl,”


explained one woman. “I rarely talk now. I cry a lot, and hug my children a lot, which to two teenage boys is not ‘cool’.” Now, I know that the stories I have mentioned above are not the experience of every teacher in every school. Two per cent of


those who took the poll said that their workload had not affected their health and wellbeing, while a further two per cent were not sure. Yet, these responses do highlight


the seriousness of an increased workload. Teachers who work to excess, run the risk of health


problems, relationship troubles and perhaps most significantly mental health issues.


We know that it is not as simple as saying do not work over the weekend or try to keep your evenings free, but maintaining your wellbeing also takes work. If you are struggling to keep on top of your workload,


our website is filled with useful tips, information and advice. In the meantime, next week is Mental Health


Awareness Week. So when you think you are just going to finish the marking before going home or just going to start those reports over the weekend, just be aware of the impact that a little extra work could be having on you and your wellbeing.


• Julian Stanley is chief executive of the Teacher Support Network. Visit www.teachersupport.info or call 08000 562 561 (England), 08000 855088 (Wales). Moral support returns in June.


almost daily and the entire department seems to be fuelled solely by a diet of coffee and cakes. Still that was all over, and I was able to have a


fun final lesson with my favourite class. Next year, a class like this won’t exist as the system has changed. This class loves biology. They really only had a few topics to be taught as they’d all sat their modules and passed well, and all the content could have been taught in a term. But we had a whole year, so were able to do challenges, long-term experiments, in-depth research and have some fun. When they need to settle


down and work, they do, when it comes to revision and exams, they work hard. In short they are a really well behaved, well trained class, full of characters who


I’ll be sad to see leave. Everyone had brought in their school shirts to be signed, so I allowed them a few minutes for this. I was really surprised to be asked to sign almost everyone’s shirts. We did 15 minutes of targeted revision and then relaxed. Some students took some class photos others continued signing shirts and then we


chatted about what they’ll do next year. Sadly, many of the best and brightest will be leaving, and not attending the 6th form here. The sudden realisation of this began to sink


in for one or two, and there were some really sweet, heartfelt messages being written on shirts and more than a few tears.


• Our NQT diarist this year writes anonymously and is a teacher of science from a secondary school in the East of England. He returns In June.


BULLYING Tips for ta


Teacher and child psychologist Michele


Elliott has just published a book offering advice on tackling bullying. We asked her to offer some practical tips to SecEd readers


B


ULLYING IS always bad, but pupils in secondary school may find it harder to deal with than pupils in primary. As one pupil said: “I am older and


know exactly what they are trying to do and so bullying hurts more now


than when I was younger. Bullies have more experience and know how to hide what they are doing and they have lots of great excuses when they get caught. They are really good at finding ways to blame me for being bullied.” Every school has bullying. Some schools manage


it better than others. The key is how the teachers deal with it and how supported they are in their efforts. Of course we all know that some year groups have more problematic pupils that will cause angst for you and their classmates, but there are practical things that can be done which make life easier for all. After over 40 years in education, I do not profess to have the answers, but I have drawn on brilliant colleagues for my new book and share a few of their ideas here.


Why not try this?


This exercise is fun and informative, gets pupils talking and might give you suggestions about possible changes. It could also tell you where bullying is happening. Ask your pupils to design the perfect hypothetical


school that encourages bullying. You might want to divide the class into smaller groups. Give each group a piece of A3 paper and tell them to draw the school including lunchroom, PE areas, playground, corridors, classrooms, computer rooms, etc. They can add things like staff and pupils and their attitudes, and also bystanders who see bullying but do not intervene, etc. They can put speech bubbles above the people. After they do that, ask them to put an X where


bullying might happen. Be sure they include some reference to cyber-bullying. This is also a good exercise for staff and, if you have


people with a sense of humour within your staff, it can become hilarious. A little hilarity is a good thing, given the many tensions during a normal school day. Alternatively, and perhaps more relevant, ask pupils


to draw your own school with all of the above. Or they can also use their computer skills and put together something online. You cannot change your building, but you can


change how it is used and patrolled. One clever headteacher, having used this exercise, discovered that the real trouble spot was a part of the playground. The school could not afford a CCTV camera, but they could afford one of the excellent fakes. This was set up overlooking the playground and the pupils “got to hear about it” being there. Bullying incidents dropped overnight and the pupils never did find out that it wasn’t real. I think it is still there deterring bullies.


Bullying is subversive


One of the biggest headaches for teachers is not that bullying goes on, it is that pupils are often so good at covering it up. That can be especially true for the victims, who will even go to great lengths to hide it from you and their parents – out of fear. Aged 14, Erin waited until the last week of term to


tell her mother, a primary teacher, about the bullying which had gone on for most of the year. For some reason which Erin could not figure out, she had been the target of a group of 16-year-old girls. These girls had followed her home after school, emailed her, set up a website and downloaded doctored photos, made her friends stop talking to her, and generally made her life absolutely miserable. Erin spent her lunchtime in the library and avoided


going out during breaks. When one of her teachers asked her if she was alright, she brightly said yes and that she was studying to get top marks.


8 Erin was a pretty girl, intelligent and hard-working.


She had never encountered bullying before and was shocked that she was the target of so much hatred. It is not surprising that the bullies were marginal pupils, but they were popular girls. The ringleader announced that Erin “needed sorting out” and the others did her bidding. The only reason Erin finally told was because she


felt safe – these girls were leaving school at the end of term. What puzzled Erin’s mother was that it seemed no-one at school realised that these girls were bullying her daughter. To be fair to the school, the bullies were cunning and


pulled their stunts when no-one was around. Erin told no-one, including the teacher who tried to talk to her. When Erin’s mother said she would go to school,


Erin cried and pleaded with her not to go. Bullied pupils often try to hide what is happening. If parents do find out, the young person often begs them not to tell. Consequently by the time that parents approach the school, bullying may be severe and more difficult to deal with than if the teacher had known earlier.


Some suggestions


In your first communication to parents about your school policy on bullying, put in a sentence asking them to contact you if they find out their child is being bullied. Suggest they ask their child who would be the best person to deal with bullying at school. In discussions about bullying with your pupils,


make it plain that you want them to tell you if they are being bullied or are aware of bullying. Give them the case of Erin above and ask them what they think Erin’s mother should do. This will give you some insight into how your pupils think about the co-operation between school and home. One young person said he would never want his parents to come into school because it would seem like he was not capable of handling it. The bullies used email to target Erin. Pupils should


be made aware that, no matter how careful they are, computers leave a digital record that tells their service provider who they are. Most social networking sites tell people when they sign up that their site can be read and monitored. That means they can be tracked down, if necessary through their Internet Protocol (IP). Ask pupils to write a story about someone who


SecEd • May 19 2011


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