Often in teaching things are not done the way you would like. Things were done differently in the past and now you are being asked to change. The changes appear to be worse than what was done before.
You can do a few things, some that are positive, will help you adjust and develop a positive mindest:
- seek to understand the change
- look for the positive in the change
- identify where you can learn new skills
- assist in the analysis of the changes
- discuss the changes openly in a constructive manner
- examine ways to make the change work for you
- be willing to give the change a chance
- understand it is not always the implementer that has instigated the change
- you may not be able to be told all of the reasons for the change
There are things that you can do that can cause you distress and potentially affect your career:
- lose perspective (make it out to be bigger than it is)
- whiteant the person making the change (be positive to the person but negative out of earshot)
- actively seek allies to create groundswell to undermine the change (seek to change the opinions of others to oppose the change)
- encourage others to speak up against the change (this is especially poor when senior members encourage younger members but do not speak up themselves for fear of being seen as overly negative)
- passively resist the change (say that you will but not do it)
- be overly negative about the change (discuss it as a failure before it has had a chance to succeed)
- personalise attacks and be adversarial (attack the person rather than consider the change)
- be the squeaky wheel (that is known for complaining)
- be the rebel (that is known for obstructing change)
It is tempting to fall into negative habits. It's hard when changes make your job harder (and easier for others) and it can taint your whole outlook on teaching if you are not careful.
Ultimately it is not possible to provide an optimal environment with the perfect amount of personel available, optimal class sizes and all of the resources required to do the job all of the time. It is a compromise between available resources, wants and needs. Things that work may not be sustainable in the holistic balance that is the delivery of education in a school.
Where a school has a bloated upper school offering, small class sizes and is well resourced, it indicates that there are some hard times ahead. Unfortunately with increased scrutiny on schools, this cannot be sustained any more under the one-line budget.
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