My career in teaching - 06
posted by sooyup
on
Mr Chips
My first and only teaching post was at a boys’ secondary school affectionately known as The Rock. There had been a mass exodus of teachers when, under the Government’s reorganisation of education, the school changed from a Grammar School to a Comprehensive. Many of these teachers had only ever taught academically gifted children and simply couldn’t cope with the new intake of less able pupils, mostly from working-class homes. New to the job, and proud of my own working-class origins, I knew no better and volunteered to word exclusively with less able and disaffected students in the so-called Remedial Department (of which I would later become Head). It was certainly a challenge, but there was never a dull moment. I had been a rebellious pupil, and was considered something of a maverick as a teacher. I’m sure Management only put up with me because no-one else was willing (or foolhardy enough) to do the job. And when I went home after a hard day at the chalk-face, this is what awaited me.
My first and only teaching post was at a boys’ secondary school affectionately known as The Rock. There had been a mass exodus of teachers when, under the Government’s reorganisation of education, the school changed from a Grammar School to a Comprehensive. Many of these teachers had only ever taught academically gifted children and simply couldn’t cope with the new intake of less able pupils, mostly from working-class homes. New to the job, and proud of my own working-class origins, I knew no better and volunteered to word exclusively with less able and disaffected students in the so-called Remedial Department (of which I would later become Head). It was certainly a challenge, but there was never a dull moment. I had been a rebellious pupil, and was considered something of a maverick as a teacher. I’m sure Management only put up with me because no-one else was willing (or foolhardy enough) to do the job. And when I went home after a hard day at the chalk-face, this is what awaited me. 
