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From the Teacher Support Network, www.teachersupport.info.
THANK YOU TO TEACHERS
Dedicated teachers have helped prepare my children to face the challenges that will undoubtedly come their way.
by Jullian Stanley for SecEd : 25 May 2010
All across the country parents, and I include myself in this, have been saying thank you to teachers who have helped their offspring make the sometimes perilous journey from childhood at year 7 to young adulthood at year 11.
As I witnessed my children celebrating this milestone with the teachers who first welcomed them to the school, and who skilfully guided through calm and tempestuous times, I was struck by the just how complex and important the job of a secondary school teacher really is.
Teachers across the nation who have embarked on this hugely important five year journey with a group of children now have to watch as their young charges embark on the next phase of their lives. They have to hope that the work they did to prepare our children to face the world of work, vocational training or adult education, was what was needed, and that’s a heavy responsibility to shoulder.
It seems to me that in the scramble to climb league tables or adhere to this or that directive we are in danger of forgetting to celebrate the achievement of this amazingly important profession and the people within it.
Without the commitment and dedication of teachers the journey my children went on could have been an efficient but soulless experience. But thankfully teachers really care. It matters to them that children they have known for five years succeed. It matters to them that they are well-prepared to deal with the challenges that will undoubtedly come their way. It matters to them that after five years together their pupils grow emotionally and intellectually, because teachers have the best interests of our children at heart and there is no table or chart that can map that.
At Teacher Support Network we are committed to supporting and strengthening the triangular teacher, parent, pupil relationship. This triangle is crucial to the smooth running not just of schools but of communities. We understand and celebrate the role teachers play in nurturing all our children, and at this time of year, when they are saying goodbye to pupils, with tears and smiles and best wishes, it really drives home the unique position teachers occupy in the lives of our children, in out lives and in the community.
As parents we must spare the time to think about what it is we expect of our teachers and then marvel at the fact that they deliver.
What I found, as I watched my children being congratulated by their teachers, was that I, and I suspect most parents, expect teachers to be the best of them. We expect them to have all our strengths and none of our weaknesses. We expect them to show patience when we, as parents, might be inclined to be brusque. We expect them to be lively and inspiring, when under certain circumstances we can be consumed by our own issues, to the exclusion of our children; we expect them to smoothly ride the wave of our children’s transition from children to young adults when we know that at home it can sometimes be a bumpy ride. In short, we expect an awful lot from our teachers.
Being a teacher is challenging at the best of times, but as the sword of Damocles swings precariously above their heads, and those of other public servants, their success in helping our children successfully navigate the various pitfalls of secondary education is even more remarkable. What they have achieved in the midst of arguments and debates about the future, present and past of secondary education, should to be applauded.
So as teachers and pupils the length and breadth of the country say their fond farewells after five years together, and they really are fond, it is important that we recognise the contribution teachers have made and continue to make to all our lives.
With that in mind I would like to take this opportunity to thank the teachers at Commerton Village College for helping my kids make it through their secondary education and emerge better, brighter more rounded people. Thank you.
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