A Meme for Introverts

I made a meme. That's a sentence I didn't think I would ever write. I am currently writing about interviews for introverts for a longer piece, and for some reason, Liam Neeson's speech from Taken came into mind. I am sure there are a million of these 'taken memes,' but I am pretty proud of this one!

The point I am trying to make is that, when being interviewed, introverts should not try to be more 'extro' but celebrate the 'particular sets of skills' they can bring to leadership roles. Obviously, it helps if they are given the chance to shine in an introvert-friendly process, which is the other part of the piece I am writing.

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Things I have learned since leaving the classroom.

I know in my first post I set out a grand plan for what I am going to write about, but I want to slip this one in first. Here are some things I have learned since leaving the classroom. Parents are right when they complain about school traffic. It is as bad as they say it is. I have found that there are times of day that it is wise to stay off the roads if you live within, or want to get to somewhere within a mile of a school. Its not just primary schools, as I have been caught out visiting a supermarket close to a secondary school at home time. It seems that the children (sorry, young people) are too cool to have mum (or dad!) pick them up at the school gate but not too cool that they mind being collected from the Sainsbury's car park next door. The flip side of this is that, if you time it just right, the supermarkets are almost completely deserted if you can find one that is not too close to a secondary school and get there at about 2:55pm. Mums (or dads!) will be otherwise enga...

What is 'teacher mode'?

The inspiration for today's post came recently during a walk around the town in which I live. I have spent the past two decades residing in what could loosely be described as a small but popular resort town, the type that only has a low-cost supermarkets in its centre. I was entering one of these recently when I came across a family who were clearly having an off-season break, probably in one of our many holiday-focused establishments. They didn’t actually say as much, but their 'city ways' certainly screamed this to all the locals present. The parents were obviously keen to pay for their purchases, but the children had not finished looking at sweets, so they did not follow them towards the till. As a result, the clearly annoyed mum turned and yelled to the children to get a move, using that old trick of using first and middle names as an indication of how serious they are about what they are asking. I don’t remember the name of the boy, but the girl was definitely called ‘...

How did I get here?

After 30 years in education, first as a class teacher, then as a deputy head and finally as a head, I am now an ex-head teacher. Why is that? I hear you ask. Well, the answer can be summed up in two words, burn out (or is it one word, 'burnout'). I will have to check that. Having lead a small village primary school for over a decade, through covid and through the proceeding collapse in society, I realised that needed a serious break for my own mental health. Initially I thought it might be a permanent break from the profession, but I soon realised that this was not going to be the case, although I think it will be a permanent break from the classroom. So, over the last few months I have been sat in my home office writing my book (as yet unpublished), currently called 'How to be a Head Teacher', which I hope will become a bible for the modern school leader, one which might just prolong a few careers! I have described it in the introduction as the book I wish I had acces...

Reflections of an ex-head teacher

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