“That which does not kill us, makes us stronger” –
attributed to Nietzsche. Really? I would argue that whatever it is that may not
kill us may end up shattering our self-esteem, destroying our hopes and dreams,
ruining our careers and changing our lives forever. I would like to suggest:
that which does not kill us can leave us suffering a living hell. The unnamed
event which we survive may have a raft of effects and very much depends on the
individual and I would suggest that at the heart of this is an individual’s
resilience.
I am writing this having had a chat with Jo Higgins-Cezza
who runs a consultancy business specialising in resilience training (www.resiliencematters.eu). I spent
the afternoon thinking about resilience and teachers and reflecting on my own
experience. Some of what I write here may be nonsense as it reflects only my
experience, some of you may think that I’m being ageist whilst others may completely
reject what I say.
It is worth saying that stress is the product of the way in
which an individual handles pressure. Two individuals may be exposed to
identical pressures, one may breeze through whilst the other may experience
stress. I must emphasise that stress is a product of an individual and that it
is personalised and real. Just because dealing with irate parents causes you no
problem does not mean that the same is true of a colleague. Now going back to
my chat, I believe that a key element in all of this is personal resilience,
having a mindset which aids an individual to deal with pressure. Being less
resilient is not a failing, in just the same way as being wheat-intolerant is
not a failing, it is what it is. Unlike wheat-intolereance I do believe that
lack of resilience can be worked upon.
This bit may annoy some of you and I may be wrong regarding
the population of younger teachers but I am simply writing from experience.
Over the last 10 or 15 years I have noticed that the least experienced teachers
and trainee teachers appear to be less resilience than those before them. I remember
being thrown into the maelstrom of an inner-city comp along with a bunch of
other novices and we all floated. As a school leader I have encountered younger
teachers over the last 10 years struggling to cope with pressures that my
contemporaries had taken in their stride. Here’s my theory (which may be
rubbish). Since the birth of the National Curriculum, SATs, OFSTED and league
towers the pressures on schools have grown to the extent that teachers place
less pressure on children to succeed as a result of their own actions. What I
mean is that 25 years ago if I messed up my A-levels it was my fault, plain and
simply. Now however the pendulum has swung to a point where the fault is seen
to lie with teachers and schools. Teachers have worked hard to insulate their
children from failure, they constantly reinforce positives and have done their
best to make sure children succeed. The responsibility for success has shifted
from pupil to teacher since results have become such a high stakes game. The
result is that young people have not experienced enough failure, they lack
resilience, they have become porcelain tea-cups that if tapped, they crack.
This generation have now reached an age where they are
themselves teachers and I routinely see them struggle coping with pressures
that their predecessors handled more effectively. This is not the fault of
these teachers and so must not be seen as a negative character trait, I believe
that those entering teaching now are simply a product of an over-protective
education system (and generation of parents) that discourage resilience.
We must protect these teachers. We must develop these
teachers. Just because they may not possess the resilience that others do does
not mean they are poor teachers or that they do not have the potential to be
future school leaders. This is not a Darwinian nightmare in which only the
fittest should be allowed to survive. But we can’t simply put sticking plasters
over the problem. We can’t simply make every experience for them positive. As
teachers they (we) need to fail, they need to struggle but they also need to
learn how to cope. In short we must make our teachers more resilient.
So what should we do? We must start by recognising the
issue. We must articulate the problem and recognise that doing nothing is not
an option if we want to retain teachers, maintain standards and develop future
leaders. There needs to be a change in mindset of teachers of my generation;
just because I coped with rioting Year 10s 20-odd years ago (as a new teacher) doesn’t
mean that my new teachers should be able to; their educational experience has
failed them and they simply may not be resilient enough at the moment. We need
to care for each other and act as mentors and counsellors for our colleagues.
It is in the interest of all teachers to retain good teachers and not just
school leadership so we should all help out. However those vulnerable teachers
need to do something themselves. They must share their worries, they must
reflect on their practice, they must be willing to learn. I have found that
through adopting a reflective-practice approach throughout my career has
allowed me to cope with lots of difficulties and ensure that they have been learning
experiences.
Schools would be wise to recognise that resilience is a key
issue in the emotional well-being of their staff. Maybe then Nietzsche has a
chance of being right.
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