There are three words no teacher ever wants to hear. Okay there are seven, if you include “it was the dog”, but we were thinking more of “summer is over”.
Yes, it really has been nearly two months already. Time flies faster than a chalk duster when you’re having fun.
And who could blame you for taking a well-earned opportunity for some extra-curricular R&R, the chance to lounge on a sunny beach or just enjoy putting your feet up in front of Surprise Surprise and not having to mark homework through the tears?
Sad to say, the new term approaches and it’s time to get prepared – not just for work, but for taking that next step in your teaching career.
The first thing to bear in mind, as you’ve so often told your class, is to take preparation seriously. Familiarise yourself with the calendar so that there are no nasty surprises, such as a PTA meeting the night you’re supposed to have booked your anniversary dinner.
Adopt a dress code that reflects how seriously you take your career, not your rock band, and get fully involved with the course materials. Joining a professional teaching organisation is a great way to communicate ideas to fellow teachers and network for future career prospects.
Create a course overview for the year, break it into units of study and decide what resources you’ll need for each – and make a version of this that translates directly to your specific students.
It’s also important to focus your mind. You don’t have to learn Jedi yoga but your mental wellbeing will play the biggest hand on your performance in the term ahead – how you engage with students, how you deliver the materials, the success you have with it and where you go next.
Take time to reflect on the way you work (the positives and negatives), get into the mind frame of working, strike that work-life balance early and build your emotional resilience – kids really do say the harshest things.
It’s also important to keep track of your long-term ambitions and goals – how long before you want to fulfil a personal ambition to move from Secondary School Teacher to College Lecturer?
You’ll need a degree in the appropriate area, but your salary could rise from £22,000 to £33,000. Do you want to progress from Nursery Practitioner to Nursery Head (with a salary bump from £19,000 a year to £29,000)?
Are you still interested in moving up from Early Years Officer to Primary Teacher, where you’ll need an appropriate teaching degree, but can up your salary by £10,000?
Education career routes put a big emphasis on experience, so don’t forget each new term is a new opportunity to grow and improve yourself.
If you want to get that Principal’s position in your primary school, and earn the £42,000 salary that comes with it, or land that £45,000-a-year Curriculum Head position at your secondary school, you’ll need a track record of A+ results to prove you can take things further.
But don’t worry, all this preparation and work can be carried out safe in the knowledge that come next June, you’ll be able to lie back and don the sun shades all over again: and that’s just for Surprise Surprise.