Inclusive Education for All #11
30 March 2022 by Chris Barnes, Inclusive Education Officer, Down Syndrome International
The role of the teacher is hugely rewarding, challenging, and multi-faceted.
Here are some (but not all) of the parts your average frontline teacher is playing on a weekly basis:
Social worker
Safeguarding children is the number one priority of all education settings; teachers have a daily role in helping to ensure the welfare of the children in their care. This is not about playing detective, but in noticing and communicating concerns to the relevant members of senior staff (or following the correct procedures if they are that person!) All education staff are expected to receive updated training or reminders on their safeguarding duties every 12-months.
Counsellor
Working in a school can mean becoming a trusted role-model for whom certain children may wish to talk to about their lives. Disclosures of a ‘serious’ nature are dealt with carefully, following safeguarding procedures. Daily conversations about friendship issues or general problems are crucial in helping many children get through their day. It’s not unusual for teachers to be spending a great deal of their time each day supporting children in this way – often during their lunch breaks.
First aider / care-giver
While schools have rotas for first-aid staff – it is common for teachers to administer low-level medication and care to the children in their class/form, e.g., assisting with blood sugar checks, calculations, and correction doses for Diabetes, or, witnessing and recording the taking of routine prescription medication. On a teacher’s scheduled first aid day, they may be cleaning grazed knees and sticking on plasters for the best part of their breaktime!
Entertainer
Ask children what makes an effective teacher, and many will describe someone who is engaging, fun, and down-to-earth. Ask the same question to management, and they will mention – among other things – pacey, lively, and interesting lessons that engage the kids. Teaching is, in some ways, an act or performance and the front of the classroom: a stage. A dull, uninteresting, or jaded teacher struggles to inspire. Teachers have to pretend to be happy even when they’re not.
Storyteller
A great deal of the teacher’s day is spent talking, explaining, re-iterating, or endorsing various concepts, ideas, or processes. Staff have to find ways to hook the children in, so they buy into what is being explained, or risk them losing interest or not understanding. Reading The Hungry Caterpillar with expression and actions should be no different to explaining the Cold War in GCSE history – engaging the cohort is essential.
Event planner
Arranging trips, visits, and residentials can be one of the most arduous and time-consuming jobs for teachers these days, with the endless (but necessary) risk-assessments, permissions, and procedures that must be completed & followed. Much of the organisation and planning of trips falls at the feet of the teacher, sadly resulting in many staff being reticent about leaving the school site very often.
Life coach
What’s rarely mentioned is the honoured position a teacher holds: In between all the tuition, academic teaching, and often necessary chastisement, staff have opportunities to bring out the best in a child’s character, celebrate their successes and talents, give them a voice, give them their moment in the spotlight, and get to know them as an individual person. Staff can spend more time with children in a day, than the child’s own parents – this should be treated as a privilege.
Cleaner
Certainly in younger phases (although often in older ones too) teachers are vacuuming carpets, cleaning desks, and wiping down surfaces well after the school gates gave been shut.
Educator
The stuff teaching staff have had some training in! Daily teaching can feel like spinning several dozen plates, flitting backwards and forwards trying to ensure none hit the ground. The process of planning & preparing for a day; resourcing all lessons; interacting with & instructing the children with all their individual needs, questions, and unpredictability; marking and responding to work submitted; and directing support staff throughout can feel hectic at times! This can, of course, be coupled with an enormous sense of satisfaction and much laughter.
It can be easy to criticise our children’s teachers, particularly when it comes to Special Educational Needs & Disabilities.
It may, sometimes, be necessary.
However, let’s spare a thought for teachers before we find fault; notice the good work they are doing, in stressful, under-resourced, and often under-appreciated circumstances. If you’re not happy with the offer for your child, think…
is it the SYSTEM that needs to transform? Is it the SCHOOL? Or is it the STAFF? Perhaps, it’s all three…
Keep following this campaign as we discuss how an Inclusive model of education can more effectively support all learners, and staff.
Next week: ‘How do I choose what’s right for my child?’