I have digressed a number of times on this blog from my central theme of supporting teachers with ideas and resources for the classroom to challenging you to re-think how to re-structure a teaching career.
One of the major reasons that we need to do this for ourselves is for our own sanity, job-satisfaction and financial security in the face of rapid changes in society.
We also have a duty however to truly understand this for the children we teach. We have been educated under an old system rapidly becoming defunct, a system designed at the dawn of the industrial age where only 20% of those educated were expected to progress into the professional and managerial echelons of society, and the remaining 80% were expected to become the worker bees, engaged in industrial and retail labour.
Brought up under this system, it is very hard to shift our mindset from it as we guide and seek to inspire the children we educate.
It is vital for them that we do. Is what we are teaching them truly helping them to find their place in this new economy?
I was sent this email from a guy called Daniel Priestley today. I thought that what he had to say was extremely telling and relevant to this. See what you think. Click on the images to enlarge them.
The thing is I don't believe any of us were taught to be entrepreneurs. We were all taught to be academics otherwise we wouldn't have followed the path we have. It's not a bad thing, it's just that we then think the way to encourage our pupils to be successful in life is to teach them to become academics as well. It's the only path we know. Unfortunately many of them might become, literally, the poorer for it, highly educated but unemployable.
If you are interested and can make it, Daniel Priestley incuded an invite to this event next week. I'm certainly going, it's free!
"If you are interested in the obvious black and white entrepreneurial trends, come to our "Highly Valued, Highly Paid" event next week (27th or 28th April). We will be discussing some the current trends that are shaping the global small business economy. Click here for more details and to book >>"
ps Just a thought - when did you last feel that you were highly valued and highly paid? That thought search didn't take very long I guess!
The thing is I believe all teachers, including you, have the potential to become both of these things. Now that would be fun! Have a look at what he has to say!
