The Everyday Metaphors of Teaching: ‘Guide on the Side’

In my last post, building on Maxwell’s (2015) work, I outlined the inevitability of metaphor in our discourse as teachers and how understanding this in our profession can help us shed light on what our metaphors exaggerate but also hide. I posed two questions: With what metaphors in mind are we to teach? What evidence…

The Everyday Metaphors of Teaching: Problems and Solutions

It's an elephant guys - come on. Metaphor is so deeply embedded into the language of teaching that Greene (1973) argues that it would be possible to organise a history of educational ideas around recurring metaphors. As early as 1553, the classical humanist view of educators was as ‘gardeners’ (Rabelias, 1991). Rousseau (1979) saw the…

3 things I wish I knew about behaviour as an NQT.

I arrived as a male in a primary school context naturally assuming I would have a handle on my pupils' behaviour. After the first ten minutes, I realised I was completely and utterly wrong. I could write here all the little tips and tricks that you might have picked up from other more experienced teachers.…

5 things I wish I knew about wellbeing as an NQT.

I thought i'd begin my blog by reflecting on my NQT year. Instead of revelling in what went wrong and telling you how arduous it was, I thought it would be good to consider some practical things that I wish I knew when I started. Let's begin with wellbeing. Illness will happen. Snotty noses, grubby…