Back to school

In December 2013 I left the classroom for a life of swashbuckling and adventure. There were as many push factors as there were pull and I was very nervous about whether I’d be able to make a living – after all, I’m just a teacher with a big gob. I needn’t have worried. It’s been the most marvellous adventure. I’ve been able to travel the length and breadth of the country (and even get in a few visits overseas) visiting schools, talking to teachers and casting my pearls of wisdom before all comers.

I’ve also had the luxury of time to read and think and write. The fruits of all this time will be available for you to read in June.

Every now and then someone asks, But don’t you miss teaching? Don’t you miss the kids? Well, yes and no. I’m usually asked these questions after if they’re two sides of the same coin, but I really don’t think they are. I miss working with children, but I don’t really miss teaching them. Or rather I should say, I don’t miss everything contained in the reality of being a teacher. I don’t miss marking. I don’t miss report writing. I don’t miss sacrificing every evening and most weekends on the altar of teaching. And I certainly don’t miss being treated as a technician whose job it is to implement directives from on high. I love the freedom, the unpredictability and the variety of what I do now. But, yes, I do miss the kids. And I miss the challenge of making good ideas fit with the often surprising reality of the classroom.

So I’m proud and excited to announce that from September, for two days a week, I’ll be back in school. Swindon Academy have offered me an amazing opportunity to work with them over the coming year to support their young, enthusiastic and wonderfully talented English department, and to continue the hard work of embedding literacy across the curriculum. And on that note, we’re looking for an assistant English curriculum leader to join the team. If you fancy working in a school which is trying to shape its curriculum and structures to fit with the way children really learn (rather than how we wish they did) then this could be the job for you. Add to that the fact that Principal Ruth Robinson has the dubious privilege of being the only headteacher irascible edublogger Old Andrew has ever worked for and respected.

See here for details of the job and here to have a look at Vice Principal, Nick Wells’ blog for a taste of the work we’re doing at Swindon Academy.

As far as I’m concerned, this really is having your cake and eating it. I looking forward to sharing what we come up with.