The end of this academic year was a pretty special one for me – it marked my 10 years into teaching and I cannot believe where the time has gone!

When I was new into the profession, I would always read off-putting statistics about teachers quitting within the first 5 years owing to the high demands of the job and mounting stress! I mean my family would validate this and tell you that I have spent the past 10 years of my life living on cortisol but hey, I made it this far and can count myself out of that number!

Teaching – a job where no two days will be the same! A role that presents challenges to you each day but shapes you in every form! You learn to act, you learn the art of patience, you get a flavour of parenting, you manage finances, you learn to work under pressure and above all, you learn spontaneity and perseverance! There’s so much more to it than what meets the eye!

The most common misconceptions that non-educators have of teachers are:

‘You must finish so early and go home when the kids do!’

‘You get so many holidays!’

Our ears literally bleed listening to this! We engage in endless lesson planning, marking and assessment after school, at home, at the weekends and even during most school holidays! We are also part of numerous meetings and training sessions through the week, all of which eat into our working hours and leave us with no choice but to catch up on anything pending in our own time – without being paid overtime! It’s a vicious circle to say the least! Oh, and we are significantly underpaid too – hence the recent uproar and strike action!

Unless you live with a teacher or know one at a personal level, it might be challenging to change people’s minds about this but sometimes it’s good to set the record straight!

All that malarkey aside, this was a perfect time for me to reflect back onto my teaching journey and share my highlights and key learnings with you!

Highlights: 

– Attaining qualifications that would validate my teacher status and leadership capabilities. The more you get under your belt, the more employable you seem, especially abroad!

– Completing 3 years of teaching in a UK school in order to qualify for roles abroad.

– Working in both state schools in the UK and a private school in the Middle-East.

– Progressing onto leadership positions and engaging in a wide range of professional development training.

– Presenting in front of colleagues, governors and even speaking publicly about a particular school scheme at the City Hall, London and being rewarded by Ealing Council for doing so!

– Orchestrating and hosting a large scale debating event with some of the most renowned schools in Dubai, with some wins for my own school of course!

– Surviving many lesson observations and school inspections, with Ofsted being the very latest!

– Making it this far, despite the never ending workload and personal struggles.

Key Learnings:

– Don’t try to do everything yourself – ask for help or support where needed! If your school management is not supportive then you’re in the wrong place – move on!

– Compile frequent to-do lists, in order of priority, because let’s be real, you can’t get everything done in one go!

– Guilty of this but don’t try to be a perfectionist! Half of what we mark and feedback on goes over the children’s heads but costs us hours of our time so keep it short, sweet and constructive!

– Learn to switch off! Whatever doesn’t get done and doesn’t have a deadline can wait!

– Learn to play it by ear! Not everything in the world needs to be planned! Sometimes situations arise where we have to think quickly on our feet and be spontaneous and that’s okay! This really does help your confidence grow as a teacher over time – it’s a problem solving skill really!

– If you’re not seeing progression in your role or any personal development, move onto another school that would nurture you better!

– I know many colleagues, especially in the UK, who have been at a school forever! My advice, for teachers mainly, change, while temporarily unsettling, is important for our professional development and state of mind! Sometimes staying in one place for too long makes you numb and negative. Everything becomes mundane and the excitement wears away! Find new experiences and opportunities to revive your enthusiasm! New settings and places expose us to some key learnings in life.

– Do things to broaden your horizon, such as blogging like this, or whatever sparks your interest! You can use your professional skill set in so many ways beyond just your workplace and so why not?!

– Don’t prioritise work over yourself and your family! So easily said than done, I know! But remember, your family need you more than your workplace and you need to take care of yourself too.

On that last note, I will end with this powerful message that I came across recently. This resonated very well with me and I hope it does with you too, no matter what your profession!

Please feel free to share your highlights and key learnings in the comments section below – it’s great to learn from each other’s experiences and to connect!