We are all successful as teachers in our own unique ways.
Success in the classroom presents us with two different characters for adoption and emulation. The first of satisfied pride and evident yet quiet display. The second of humble modesty and self-reassurance. Two different models beckon to us according to which we fashion our behaviour not only as a teacher but also an individual. The one brighter in its colouring the other one more beautiful in its shape.
As success arrives, like it does for a football team that have just won a title or a cup, ego begins to toy with our minds, whispering seductive words that ultimately weaken that which made us successful in the first place; our will, the joy taken in our effort. We know that football teams fall from grace so we must think about why and why they always seem to become weaker from within rather than the competition becoming stronger.
The worst curse which can afflict any professional is not as we might imagine stress (and indeed, we teachers suffer from this affliction more than most) or workload (once again find a profession that does more out of hours than a teacher!) but egoism. In this mad, mad era of corporate and standardised education, insecurity, fear and the exhaustion of permanent change and increasing demands are the roots for egoism – egoism as displayed by a focus on one’s own achievements and a disregard for those of others, egoism as demonstrated by a comfort in one’s own abilities and skills at the expense of seeking out more, egoism as seen in the training room where those attending seem reluctant to record and take away meaningful and useful memories.
Whether you are a manager of teachers, a teacher of 20 years’ experience or a novice in the profession, our successes and achievements can blind us to the changing realities around us and may lead us along a path to a classroom of our own imagination where we sincerely believe we can do no wrong and if we ever fall into this seductive addictive state, we become a menace to those we work with and most importantly those we teach.
Teachers are pushed by drives but pulled by values. Without the right values, we are not teachers or our success as teachers is brief. If we wish to last in this profession, then we must battle with this new form of ego: the ego of success breeding satisfaction.
Success and satisfaction in our own small worlds can be intoxicating yet to sustain it requires sobriety. We can’t keep learning if we think we already know everything. We cannot buy into the myths that we tell ourselves that we know better for our classrooms. We must understand that our own personal excellence is a small part of an interconnected teaching universe.
To be clear, in writing this, I have not intended to question the well-deserved achievements of each and every one of us but raise a simple question: can we handle our own success?
