Educating Essex and Yorkshire shattered the myth that teachers don"t work hard

Young individuals are wonderful, interesting and interesting, says headteacher Stephen Drew. Photograph: Cleverbox

Stephen Drew is headteacher of Brentwood County High School and grew to become a household title soon after appearing in Channel 4′s Educating Essex series

I was not one of people individuals who grew up wanting to be a instructor. It was not one thing that was in my mind all the time as I was expanding up. I did my A-amounts, went to school, did my degree, but I got to the third year of my background politics degree and did not have a excellent wish for 1 issue or one more. I had pals who had gone into educating and, soon after speaking to them, it became quite clear that it definitely was anything that appealed to me. But I nevertheless was not ready so I deliberately made a decision at the finish of my degree not to immediately do my teacher coaching. I extremely much wanted to do anything else initial so I invested the nine months before my PGCE managing a pub in Alexandra Palace, north London.

If I want to do anything, I place my thoughts to it and do it. There is a really fine line among arrogance and self-belief, but I was in no way frightened to be in the classroom. I keep in mind in my really initial PGCE lecture, the lecturer stood at the front and mentioned: “These children get one particular possibility at schooling.” You as a instructor can go back and do it once more the following day or subsequent 12 months. But they get a single chance. That is their only day. They can’t have it again. It truly convinced me that teaching was one thing I needed to do.

Youngsters are by no means, ever dull. Youthful people by their quite definition are amazing, fascinating and thrilling. They are never ever going to bore you in any way, they are constantly going to be demanding. The quite nature of being a teenager is that you are finding out who you are. You are defining your personality and qualities. That means that you, as a teacher, have to challenge them. It means you have to justify what you do and make confident that you are undertaking the right point, that you are guaranteeing the youngsters are on the proper path.

I function for the kids. They are my bosses and employers. I will not perform for the governors, I do not operate for the mother and father, I will not work for the Division for Schooling or Ofsted, I operate for the students. For me, the young children come first in every single factor that I do. Everything I do is for their benefit. Consequently, you should act in a way that will only give the ideal feasible final result for the kids. That defines what I do as a teacher.

My purpose comes from knowing that I can make children’s lives much better. I am open minded adequate to recognise that I don’t constantly get it proper and if I get it wrong, then I need to find a way to make it greater. To be a excellent teacher, you have to recognise that you are understanding all the time as properly. A little one will constantly come along and burst your bubble, just when you feel you know every little thing. It is that moral purpose which drives me as a teacher. This is why we’re here. Even with the pressures from Ofsted, parents, governors and the community, it really is that commitment and passion to make factors the ideal they can potentially be for the youngsters.

I wasn’t the world’s best behaved child at college. I typically say that if I had to educate and handle myself I would find myself really irritating. The teachers who make you better are the ones who have constantly treated you pretty although. I enjoyed college and I got as a lot as I could out of it, but I know I could have got a lot more. When I see a youthful person who I know could accomplish, possibly they are not operating difficult adequate or behaving badly, I strive to inspire them to do far better.

Educating Essex and Educating Yorkshire have shattered the myth that teachers will not work challenging. It is a lot harder now for politicians or journalists or anybody else to trot out the myth that teachers just arrive at 8.30am and depart at 3.30pm, do not care about the children, just want the income and are only there for the holidays. The most significant point it has completed is given men and women, from mothers and fathers to politicians, a much far better comprehending of what teaching in fact is and what teachers do.

Individuals inquire me about it and I inform them there are thousands of other colleges which are exactly the same. For people who do not like that kind of inclusive, tolerant atmosphere in colleges, it has reinforced their prejudices that colleges should be about exclusions and sitting in rows in silence. But for me, all individuals folks have accomplished is show their lack of open mindedness to educating kids.

Educating Essex and Yorkshire shattered the myth that teachers don"t work hard