You need a great first line. This advice struck fear into me when I was given it by my history tutor before embarking on my first undergraduate essay. We all know the power and importance of a great first line in a novel or speech. It draws people in, captures interest and if it follows in the same vein as the first line, a reader’s or listener’s attention is retained.
We also know that if we are not hooked in the first few pages, it can be difficult to keep going. For me, the pressure of finding a great first line stifled my ability to put pen to paper at all. However, in seeing great, yet concrete, examples mixed with plenty of practice and feedback, I managed to write not just a good first line, but a whole essay. I don’t think I ever managed a great first line but they certainly got better!
Getting teachers off to a great start
In some ways, there is a similarity with recruitment and retention of teaching staff. People join the profession for many reasons, and increasingly, in the case of Teach First, from many different backgrounds or previous careers. One common theme they often share is to have a positive impact on children’s lives. However, the first year of the job (or the first few) can guarantee a connection with teaching that either has people hooked for the long term or can drive people away, all too early, never to return.
I welcomed the DfE’s recent Recruitment and Retention strategy. They looked at the key issues preventing people joining the profession and the challenges to staying in it. There is a genuine (and funded) attempt to solve complex issues facing education. These include getting the climate right for teachers to thrive, ensuring those early in their career have excellent and continued development, support for those to remain in the profession and succeed when their lives change, and finally, making it easier for people to become teachers in the first place.
Bringing value to the work
I have been lucky enough to have spent a long time working in a number of schools. These schools faced significant challenges and it was certainly not an easy life, but I was always supported and challenged effectively. I felt a great sense of value in the work I was doing with pupils, and colleagues constantly supported me to improve rapidly.
Dan Pink, in his book on motivation called Drive, picks up many of these themes, looking at them far more scientifically than my anecdotal reflections. He suggests that people are motivated by purpose, mastery and autonomy. This goes against many views that money is a prime motivator. He notes that in fact, studies show money is only a motivator up to a certain point and no further. People need to be paid enough so that money can be taken off the table and after that, it has little impact on motivation. In teaching, Pink’s suggestions can be easily applied with regards to mastery, autonomy and purpose.