I have asked myself for a few days whether I have reason to feel discriminated or whether there is something that I have not yet fully understood which prevents me from seeing the bigger picture. I have concluded that I do have good reason: in this country we must be suffering from a strange case of reverse snobbery.
I generally take blows on the chin. I dust myself off and carry on. On two occasions this year, however, I have felt that my working in a private school has unfairly counted against me in terms of professional development.
Earlier this year, there was a call for applicants to fill the role of Regional Subject Adviser at the Association of Language Learning (ALL), a body of which I am a member and for which I write occasionally on the use of ICT in Education.
This particular association is very strong in other parts of the country (with an excellent network in the London area) but not so where I live and work: the East Midlands. A number of people suggested I should apply for this role and I agreed: I thought that this would be an excellent opportunity to get stuck in and establish a strong network of modern languages teachers around Nottingham.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. After a short email exchange with ALL, it was pointed out to me that only teachers in the maintained state sector need apply. Had I been allowed to apply and subsequently fail, it wouldn’t have been so bad. Dust myself off and the rest… But this time it was harder to stomach, this particular avenue had been closed to me solely on the grounds of who my employer was, not on my ability (or lack of) to do the job.
More recently, Teachers.tv, who also manage the eponymous website, sent out a call for volunteers for a series of case studies on the effective use of ICT in education to be filmed and broadcast later on this year. Again, it was suggested to me that the work I had been doing using social networks and micro-blogging with my secondary students would be of interest to them and that I should get in touch.
Buoyed by such comments, I put myself forward and, to my surprise, the production company in charge of filming the programmes phoned me back. They were very enthusiastic and it was decided that they would come for a preliminary filming visit in the second half of June. How exciting! I was going to be on the tv!
Then I got the phone call. Unfortunately, when the production company passed on my details to Teachers.tv, they decided not to film me after all, because… you’ve guessed it: I work in a private school.
ALL were very happy to accept me and my school as members, so long as we sent along our cheques. Teachers.tv benefited in other ways: it was happy to have me as an associate who was willing to distribute and promote their advertisement-laden magazines and website among my colleagues.
We all know that sharing practice across the sectors is a good idea, we do it already at conferences and unconferences around the country. And I know that these bodies may be under pressure to represent the public sector because of government funding or other such factors, but I too am a tax payer and so are my students’ parents.
The irony of all this, of course, is that the government recognises the strengths and innovation which often go on in the independent sector. That’s why it has set up the much trumpeted academies all over the country, which are, in effect, a strange mixture of independent and state education.
However, when it comes to overtly sharing resources across the sectors this very strange reverse snobbery becomes apparent: organisations that may depend on public funding must demonstrate their allegiance by ostensibly rejecting the independent sector.
It doesn’t stop there, sometimes some (I emphasise some) teachers in the state sector view themselves as real teachers who have somehow earned the stripes and are superior to us in the independent sector, who, apparently, have an easy life. As if teaching challenging kid with behaviour problems is the only teaching there is.
This means, therefore, that we could not possibly have anything to offer the state sector, as we don’t understand its specific needs… (I hope this sounds as ludicrous to you as it does to me).
So, there you have it: a very bizarre case of reverse snobbery.
Photo from Flickr – foxypar4
This post is tagged ALL, teachers.tv, views and opinions
