car parking at school

Sitting in the quiet marking area of the staffroom, I could not help but overhear a senior member of the staff addressing the head of girls’ PE. The topic to which he devoted himself in all seriousness was in which two parking spaces in the car park she should be allowed to park the school mini-buses. The poor woman, to avoid damage to the mini-bus during lunchtime, had dared to park it in one of the hallowed parking spots mysteriously reserved for senior staff and he had been delegated to solve this delicate problem.

Senior staff did not like the mini-bus near their cars for fear of scratches. One member had used that space for 25 years. The fact that there are no markings on the car park is irrelevant.

Maybe I am over-reacting, but it seems to me that, in a school where pupils are currently left every day without teachers – not because of union action, but because we cannot find teachers to fill the posts – to waste time on such trivialities degrades us as a profession.

I am not a radical young teacher who thinks that all members of staff over 50 should take early retirement. I believe that staffrooms are best that contain a wide range of ages and teaching styles. I respect their experience. I think it is fair that they should get slightly easier classes and the better classrooms. Good Luck to them with their new cars. If you can not have a smart car if you want one at 50 it is a raw deal. I do not mind if they always sit in the same seat in the staffroom, but it is not theirs by divine right.

If they introduce teacher assessment, it will be these senior members of staff who assess us. Why should I take criticism from a teacher who sends an entire class to me 15 minutes late without a word of apology because they have misbehaved in her lesson; from another who has face-to-face screaming matches with pupils outside the staffroom; from one who sends pupils out of class four at a time; or another who humiliates heads of year in front of pupils. The list is endless.

I do not applaud our reaction to it. We moan, groan and bitch and when it comes to the crunch say nothing. What head would listen to criticisms of those closest to him? It is depressing and offends integrity, but what can we do? I like my job. I do not want a black mark against me for the rest of my working life. I depend on them for promotion. I want to be able to respect them anyway.

I have my vision of what education is about and I believe in the state system. If assessment comes in and they do sack me because I have not got to grips with the departmental computer, at least I want to be able to respect my executioners.

This was another of my articles published in the Times Educational Supplement in the 80s when I was a teacher in my twenties. I used a pseudonym!

Do I applaud my indignant younger self? I am not sure. I just know I always felt so much more passionate about things whereas now is always tempered with doubt and understanding of shades of grey.