Beginning Teachers - at the mercy of 'the system'

It was with wide eyes and high expectations that I first sat in the Great Hall at the University of Newcastle. My daydreams of walking across the stage to accept my degree were only punctuated by the enthusiastic call to arms of the academic perched behind the lectern.

As a mature aged student, I was swollen with pride. I left school at the beginning of Year 11, to enter into full time employment. Despite vague aspirations in my early 20s to become a lawyer, I did not ever really believe that my attendance at (or graduations from) university would become a reality. After marrying and having two children, I finally decided what I wanted to be when I grew up! I wanted to be a primary school teacher, and I promised myself that I would become the very best teacher I could be. I diligently poured over the prescribed text books, summarising their contents. I eagerly awaited assignments so I could get started on them ASAP. I cringed when my peers declared, "p's get degrees" as I was determined to graduate with honours. I would not accept anything less of myself.

I sat there, lecture after lecture, believing the academics when they said that within the next 5 years, over 60% of the current teaching workforce would retire. That we were the prime candidates to fill these positions as we would be equipped with the latest pedagogies, and an entrenched understanding of the Quality Teaching Model. I believed that my commitment to achieving excellent grades, being a team player (read: taking on tasks in group work assignments that had not been completed by the person responsible) and living, breathing, eating, sleeping, all practical teaching experiences, would see me being a successful candidate to fill one of these many vacant positions.

Following the completion of my internship, I attended the all important graduate interview with the NSW Department of Education. I had not sought employment with any other schooling system, as I strongly believed that quality education (the type which I was going to provide) should be available to all students, regardless of socioeconomic status. This all important interview, to seal my fate as a teacher with the NSW Department of Education, took place in a small, Dilbert-esqu cubical. The consultant with which I met had obviously had a long and tiresome day, of listening to a plethora of perky new graduates peddle their wares, and so she could only just muster enough spark to ask me the appropriate questions. Within a week of this interview, I received notification from the NSW DET that I was deemed suitable to teach. This was the last time I heard from the DET. Like an all masterful Wizard of Oz, they had delivered their decree and I was left, in Oz, to find my own way.

Since this interview, I have formally applied for 14 permanent positions with the DET. I have also hand delivered my CV to over 36 schools from North Sydney, to the top of the Central Coast. Seldom do you meet with a Principal or Assistant Principal, and it is the office staff who ultimately yield the power when it comes to your CV being passed on to the appropriate person. A sage lecturer at university once cautioned us, stating that the office staff have the power to make you or break you, and so go out of your way to be nice to them. To this day, I heed his advice. When it comes to applying for teaching positions, I still recall a conversation I had with a school Principal when I rang to enquire about an advertised position. I was seeking additional information to support my application, as we were taught to do at university. He told me, in no uncertain terms, that I was wasting my time with an application, as I was clearly inexperienced, and I should leave it to the experienced teachers to apply. He then proceeded to advise me, that there was a teacher who had been in the role for the past four years and so it was more than likely she would be the one to secure the position. My bright-eyed ideals and overly optimistic hopes of securing teaching work had been dealt their first forehead slap.

As a casual teacher, I would diligently set my alarm at 6am each morning. I got up, showered quickly with the phone within arms reach (just in case someone called when I was in there) packed my bag and sat. Waiting for that all important phone call. I liken it to being stood up for a date. You get yourself all done up. Anticipation builds. The time comes....and passes. You kid yourself into believing that they are just running late. Then you eventually get that heavy feeling in your stomach as the realisation sets in that they are not coming. If you have not had a call by 8:30am, you are not going to get a call. But I am lucky, because I have been able to secure blocks of work, which allows me to plan my life more than one day in advance. I know many dedicated, hard working teachers, who continue on the casual teacher merry-go-round. I know of teachers who had once seen teaching as their life's purpose, who now seek employment elsewhere. Slowly, but surely, their passion for teaching has been eroded.

Teaching is often painted as an easy option, for people who cannot actually 'do' anything else ("Those who can, do, those who can't, teach"). And while there are some teachers within the system, who are not always acting in the best interests of the students, there are a huge amount of teachers who fight to teach each day. They fight the declining public value of education. The lack of respect and personal responsibility which students bring to school. They fight for student achievement to be measured by more than standardised testing of literacy and numeracy. They fight a system which has a higher regard for codes and procedures, than for individuals. A system which ensures it is not what you know (or what you are capable of) but indeed who you know, and who you are related to.  

It remains to be seen if the changes to how 'the system' operates will improve under the proposed Local Schools, Local Decisions and if teachers will finally be acknowledged and rewarded for their talents and hard work. There is a danger that the pendulum could swing unfairly in the favour of new graduates, who will be cheaper to employ than their experienced counterparts. However, with the measurable accountabilities schools face, such as through NAPLAN testing, it would be unwise for schools to stock up on cheap, green staff. Experienced teachers, who are willing to share their knowledge and experience, are certainly worth their weight in gold. But sooner or later, someone has to take a chance on an inexperienced teacher, to bridge this ever increasing gap.