I said to my teacher coach on her last visit last year that every year feels like I’m a Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) because every year, I feel like I’m forever faced with something new. I generally wonder, how long do I qualify to call myself an NQT. It’s like a student discount for teachers. You lowkey get a discount on some of the positive chaos and disruption that you bring to school. Under the banner of “still learning” and “experimenting.”
As a teacher, of course, being a lifelong learner is a prerequisite and experimenting, keeps the spark alive. I just don’t know about paying the full price, though. I like being the young one that has to prove herself at times because that first-time challenge and achieving it gives me a high. Now I’m the one who is expected to do and that is no longer a thrill for me.
Make your impact and succession, and then move on
My experience in the broader school has taught me that I’m an initiator, I find something to initiate, I find my role players, execute and then I want to pass on to someone else so that I can find the next best thing. During an online community meeting with the Jakes Gerwel Fellowship, a school principal (from multiple schools) visited us. She shared her story as a teacher and educational leader, which was beautiful, by the way. What I took from it was that she would go to a place where she felt she was needed, and then she’d make the necessary impact and succession and then move on. Of course, I asked, “How do you know when it is time to move on? Apparently, that’s one of those, “You’ll know when the time is right.”
I don’t know how long I’m destined to be in the classroom. I’m forever in awe of teachers in service of 15 years and above, not to say that I want to be them in that sense. However, I feel like I’m in a phase of creating succession, whatever my version of that will be. Not everything should just be my “baby” because what would happen if I weren’t around? Does everything just stop?
I thoroughly enjoy teaching my kiddos on most days, but teacher guilt sometimes prevents one from moving on to different opportunities and we can’t allow that to happen. The plan is to figure out how not to do that. And see what the future brings us.
As an experienced teacher, I feel better equipped in a way, I can handle some curveballs. However, I don’t wish for many to be thrown my way too often. I realise that my colleagues (in my school and other schools) are the ones who add to my cup from time to time, and I hope I do the same for them.
This year will be a particularly interesting type of challenge. I will be a part-time student again. It’s time for me to up my NQF level, if you know what I mean. Because I have decided to tackle an honours in education given that I’ve been in the classroom for 2 year, I hope that the experience lends itself to my studies and vice versa. So, if anyone has advice on how to do the work-study-life balance thing, hit me up, I’m all ears.
Let me leave my thoughts here for now.
My final word: Welcome to 2024, let’s not only survive, but also thrive, and then we soar! #bars
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