Surviving in primary school as a side entry student

Tekst Mandy Pijl - Redactie Onderwijsblad - 26 februari 2018 - 5 Minuten om te lezen

Picture: Type tank

Until two years ago I was also a teacher. The official account of why I quit: I couldn't stop writing, and the combination of writing and teaching was hugely troublesome. But is that completely true? As a side entrant, am I not a bit cut off on education?

The vacancy of a public primary school that is immediately looking for a teacher comes at the right time. It seems like my chance. The school - it no longer exists - a teacher, I a job. I don't make my choice completely without thinking. Teaching seems like more meaningful work to me than the solo, freelance writing I do. I apply and a week later I have my own group 6/7. I share it with an experienced teacher and another lateral entrant. She later drops out.

Disappointment

Lateral entrants can get started quickly, because they bring work experience with them. Former P&O employee and career trainer Agnes Wijma has discovered that not only she, but also her new colleagues can benefit from her work experience. "When a colleague heard that I had given communication training, she wanted to know what she could do to make parent meetings even better."

To her disappointment, few other teachers at her next school are interested in her know-how. "My background was so different, my colleagues simply couldn't form an image of the work I had done. That's why I thought education was an island," she says.

One-sided

"I noticed that the career path of the average teacher was quite one-sided. People had no idea of ​​career development. Drawing up a personal development plan, which is normal in business, was seen by some as threatening. They thought it was strange that after two wanted another group for years and that I became a care coordinator."

While Agnes develops ideas about how things can be done differently in education, I am mainly concerned with surviving. I have a group of about twenty students, including twelve special needs students. I have to deal with language delays, adhd, autism and aggression. Only after nine months can I start my studies at the Hogeschool Utrecht. Enrollment in the current academic year appears to be impossible.

I noticed that the career path of the average teacher was quite one-sided

A motivated team wants to help me, but my colleagues are also overloaded. There are many changes in the workforce and there has been no permanent director for a long time. Only the vague contours of policy and structure remain.

Survival succeeds thanks to coaching conversations that spontaneously arise with my colleague from group 5/6. He emphasizes what is going well and what qualities he sees in me. Until the summer holidays, I will pay tribute to those compliments.

In the new school year he will be my regular coach and especially thanks to his guidance I can manage to run group 7/8: to give the children the best possible care they need and to help the elders prepare for the Cito. test and the transition to secondary education.

But it all happens to me. I discover that things can be done differently when I apply for another job and end up at Wormerwieken primary school in Wormer. Just like later side entrant Hedi Schuite, one of my fellow students. She is originally a rural development sociologist and then works as a kindergarten teacher.

Appointments

"At my previous schools I was used to gradually getting the classroom management done. At Wormerweken I discovered that this was not necessary. There were agreements about everything, and everything was structured in such a way that the group organization was clear from the start. Only then did I discover what I lacked in skills," she says.

"For the first time, people looked at me critically, and that is precisely why I grew as a teacher. Because of my university background, I often thought at policy level. Because of my work as a sociologist, I often looked at how people react to each other. education is about more basic things. I could already be busy with level groups in my mind, while I didn't have my electoral cabinet in order yet."

Because of my university background, I often thought at policy level

She continues: “I am also growing here. The video interaction guidance I receive teaches me to look at myself and I gradually become more confident in front of the group. But the structure of the school also makes me feel like a beginner. it will take me at least a year and a half to get an idea of ​​what is expected of me, in addition to the lesson-related tasks, including administrative matters."

Old job

Just like me, Agnes Wijma has also picked up her old profession again. She now works as an independent career coach. "If I'm honest, I think the workload in education wasn't that bad afterwards. As an entrepreneur I also work a lot of hours. It was especially difficult that there were many complaints about that workload, that little was done to change it. it was sometimes used as an excuse not to keep to your agreements, while things could be done differently, with fewer meetings, for example."

Were they wasted years in education? Certainly not for me. When I think about my school years, I always think of that old slogan: nowhere else you learn as much as in education. There I grew from a solo worker to someone who can work well together.

I have learned a lot about group processes and my own role in them. I've come to realize that I, too, a loner type of person, need to collaborate with others to stay inspired.

Agnes does not regret her teaching adventure either. "Education has held up a mirror to me. I now see that I sometimes set very high standards for myself, and sometimes for others. And that changes in organizations happen slowly. But above all I have discovered how important it is to work do what really suits you."

This is an edited article from the Education magazine: Surviving at primary school.