Inconsistency is Key… Right?

“Miss McConvey, we’re going to move you to a different class now”. A sentence I heard most days during my placement. I entered the school thinking I would be focussing on one pupil each day; I couldn’t have been more wrong. 

Using Gibb’s Learning Reflective Cycle, I am going to reflect on this aspect of placement that I found extremely challenging. 

What’s Going On?

From my very first day at Victoria College, I knew that I had my work cut out for me. I entered with a naïve mindset. It’s going to be easy, right? Wrong. As I have said before, not a single day was the same. That was the most challenging part for me. I thrive off of consistency, knowing where to be and when to be there. Yet, in this placement, I didn’t know where I was going to be until the morning I got there, or worse, until I was called upon halfway through the day to move classes. 

Are You Okay?

Yeah. Maybe. Okay, no. This panicked me quite often. How am I meant to be okay when I’m not even sure what I am doing? You’ve been there. Everyone has. That feeling of helplessness because you don’t feel like you’re doing enough. You can see that there’s one hundred and one things needing done, but you haven’t been given the green light to do them. A pupil in year eight needs covered, but you haven’t been asked to cover her, so you can’t. Awareness posters need hung in the staff areas of the school, but you haven’t been given the posters, so you can’t. It’s frustrating, but it’s also life; work around it and find a solution. 

How Did You Approach This Challenge?

This is where I struggled. I trailed and tested different coping mechanisms. I started by focussing on my time management skills, ensuring that I completed any tasks efficiently, whilst also to the best of my ability. I then worked on my organisational skills, after all, what better way to handle a hectic work day than to be as organised as possible. However, this didn’t tackle the initial problem, which was inconsistency. So I changed my tactics. First stop, working as part of a team. I learnt to work with the other classroom assistants, and help them out with their workloads if they had a lot to do. This also meant that I could learn from others in the same job as me, opening my eyes to how other classroom assistants approach certain tasks and jobs. I then looked into how I work independent, and it turns out I’m not perfect after all. When conducting a study into teaching standards and self efficiency, it was found that the teachers with high self-efficiency “were also personally motivated by the intrinsic value of education” and “their past positive experiences with coursework that met their needs.”[1] I didn’t take initiative. I got fed up with the inconsistency, yet never used my common knowledge to find ways of completing my tasks and finding new tasks to do. The posters that need hung up? All I had to do was ask for them. The year eight pupil needing covered? All I had to do was suggest to my supervisor that I could cover them. As Noyer states, “A teacher, therefore, must have a certain quality of leadership which in the minds of some is an inborn quality.” [1] Once I got over my initial fear of uncertainty, my leadership qualities started to take over.

Why Were Your Work Days So Inconsistent?

Honestly, that’s just how the school system works. You can teach the same syllabus year after year, but when you’re working with young people it’s going to be unpredictable.These students are going through a tough time in their lives. It’s scary. It’s unpredictable. So you never know how a school day is going to go, because you don’t know when a pupil is going to cry in class, or fight with another pupil, or make jokes that will have you laughing to your core. You’ve just got to go with it, do what is right for your pupil. 

How Do You Feel About Everything Now?

If there’s anything I have learnt from this experience, it is that challenges are there for a reason. They are called challenges because the challenge you to become a better version of yourself. If I hadn’t have dealt with this inconsistency and panic that I felt during placement, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to build upon my team work skills, how I take initiative, and most importantly how to embrace inconsistency as a blessing. This inconsistency kept my placement exciting, it helped me develop skills, and appreciate the true role of a teacher; someone who takes a challenge, and shows their pupils how to overcome it. “Problem-solving skills are a necessary part of life and we as educators need to make sure students are prepped and ready to take on any issues they may be faced with”. [2]

Teachers should be motivated by their positive outcomes, not scared by the challenge.

Still Want To Be A Teacher?

You bet I do. Sure, I was scared, and panicked but I never doubted my career choice. 

I’ve gotten into the University of Edinburgh, for a PGDE Secondary in Drama! So, all the work placement, the simulated interviews, and the scary challenges; it was all worth it!

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[1] Lyn Ely Swackhamer; Karen Koellner; Carole Basile; Doris Kimbrough, ‘Increasing the Self-Efficacy of Inservice Teachers through Content Knowledge’, Teacher Education Quarterly , 36.2, (2009), 72. 

[2] Ralph Noyer, ‘The Qualities of a Good Teacher’, The American Journal of Nursing, 38.3, (1938), 296. 

[3] Osiris Admin, 5 Ways to Encourage Problem-Solving in your Classroom (2021) <https://osiriseducational.co.uk/blog/2021/08/25/5-ways-to-encourage-problem-solving/> [accessed 13 April 2023].

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Bibliography

Admin, Osiris. 5 Ways to Encourage Problem-Solving in your Classroom (2021) <https://osiriseducational.co.uk/blog/2021/08/25/5-ways-to-encourage-problem-solving/> [accessed 13 April 2023].

Basile, Carole; Kimbrough, Doris; Koellner, Karen; Swackhamer, Lyn Ely. ‘Increasing the Self-Efficacy of Inservice Teachers through Content Knowledge’, Teacher Education Quarterly , 36.2, (2009), 72. 

Noyer, Ralph. ‘The Qualities of a Good Teacher’, The American Journal of Nursing, 38.3, (1938), 296. 

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