blackmail; forcing establishments to chase metrics or face closure, restructuring, or conversion into academies, possibly to rest the existing or established culture.
Most teachers are dedicated regardless of the politics, to begin with, however; over time their personal outlook narrows and becomes a little like a closed box in regards to what is happening outside in the open world of politics, industry; their views can become distorted. We have seen this concerning the bureaucratic extremes within institutions, such as those delusional individual causes; we will touch on later. Even though teachers are dealing with pupils, students, many streetwise, teachers from my experience can be describes as a little naïve; with the one or two exceptions, that have actually moved around, off one site and have become aware of what life is all about in the real world. As a supply teacher, I was fortunately one of many, trying to get a my 'feet under the table', however; the system made this difficult, one could describe it using a term from the union days of the 60s and 70s; institutions act as a 'pack', it was like a 'closed shop', your face either fits or it doesn't, mine rarely did.
Nigel is an independent thinker, ceremonial archivist, poetic custodian and educator rooted with training and development and recently, sliding into early retirement, he transforms lived experience and systemic critique into ritual texts, mythic cycles and archival offerings. His work honours the quiet art of communal repair and the enduring value of, some will describe; as lived wisdom. Here are some of his thoughts and observations:
Over the span of more than twenty-five years, I’ve worked across a wide spectrum of educational settings: inner-city secondary schools (both full-time and supply), further education colleges, universities, private training providers and community initiatives. I’ve taught general curriculum subjects, delivered NVQ programmes, supported the long-term unemployed and managed open learning and IT departments. Each role brought its own challenges, its own systems and its own version of what “education” was supposed to be.
In the private sector, I’ve coordinated business start-ups, overseen training centres and developed resources within human resources, teacher training and professional development. Much of this work was shaped by necessity, mainly responding to gaps in provision, adapting to shifting policy landscapes or goal-posts and creating materials that could survive inspection, funding audits and the ever-changing language of compliance.
This is not a romanticised account. It is one person’s living testimony of the everyday realities of teaching; the compromises, the contradictions and the quiet acts of resistance. What you see in education is not always what you get. Especially when inspectors are due, the surface is polished, the data is curated, and the truth is often obscured. Based on years of observation, I can say with confidence: the performance rarely matches the lived experience.
League tables, in particular, have become a form of institutional coercion. They pressure schools to conform, to compete and to present a version of success that may not reflect the actual learning taking place. In some cases, they act as a kind of
