On the other side of the desk

My Head (principal) goes on and on about how we teachers are first and foremost academics, and that therefore we need to be continually seeking to learn new stuff. He's right, in many respects, although I disagree that we are all academics - many teachers get into teaching because they enjoy teaching, not because they're of an academic mind-set. But I know why he says that. I understand why he encourages us to keep learning.

Firstly, once you're in the classroom as the teacher, it's easy to forget what hard work learning can be, or how boring it can get if you're going over something you already know for the umpteenth time. If we do lose touch with the reality of learning, the pace of our lessons will be wrong.

Secondly, continuing to learn things stops you from getting bored, and as everyone knows - a bored teacher is a boring teacher, and boring teachers give rise to behaviour problems. If you want to avoid poor behaviour in the classroom, don't teach a boring lesson.

Thirdly, it's important to model what you want the kids to become - life-long learners. OBE is supposed to be teaching the kids that learning isn't limited to the classroom, that learning continues beyond the classroom, and equip them to make the most of that. So we need to model that on-going process of learning. That's a principle of good leadership.

When I took on my current post, I realised that I'm one of the least qualified members of my department. Most of the others have at least an Hons degree, if not their Masters, or their Doctorates! It's a little intimidating, actually, but they're great people, and I have a wealth of other experience which helps.

But I decided that I ought to do something about that. I don't want to be studying full time - for one thing, it's too expensive, for another it's too time-consuming and I have other priorities. So, I started hunting around for other part-time, cheap or free courses I could do. Nothing in the education field really. (No surprises there.)

I've started my own company on the side (teachers aren't paid a lot and I've got to be thinking of my retirement one day), but I also have plans to climb the educational leadership/ management ladder. Eventually I managed to find a course that has applications for both jobs. It's a certificate course in business management, run jointly by the Louis Group and the University of Stellenbosch's Graduate School of Business (USB-ED), and us also accredited by Cambridge University in the UK.

This course is pretty unique in that the Louis Group are overtly Christian and the course is run on overtly Christian principles, but more amazingly, the course is entirely free. The Louis Group foot the bill (which is about R25,000 per student), and the only catch is that you pay forward the skills you gain from the course. You can find out more about them and the course here

Last night was the first night of the course. While it was an exciting night, and I'm looking forward to the things we're going to be learning, I found it very odd being on the other side of the desk. While I've been involved in learning environments as a student since leaving university, this will be the first time I've been assessed on my learning in a very long time. I was amazed at how nerve-wracking I find the thought of being assessed. It's given me a fresh compassion for my students, for how nerve-wracking they find being assessed. While I have time pressures that my kids don't have (in that I have a day job, and a family to raise, plus my business to run), there are no real consequences for me if I don't pass the course, whereas for them, they may fail the year and have to repeat the year. (This is not to say that I'm not going to take the assessments as seriously as I can and aim to pass with the highest mark I can!)

I think being on the other side of the desk is going to be a very good experience for me as a teacher. I really hope it improves my teaching techniques, and that it continues to increase my compassion for my kids. I'm also looking forward to having to use my brain in a new way, to grapple with new information, to form new links and synapses. I'd forgotten how much FUN learning can be!