Being a teacher is a rewarding job but it’s also very challenging, which leads a lot of people to leave the profession early. There are certain things that teachers do when they stay in the profession for a long time – ways of working and dealing with the admin side of the job as well, that will help teachers to be more resilient and stay in the job. Here are some of the things successful teachers do – if you do them, or can, then you’re more likely to last in the teaching profession:
- Be highly organised. Half the battle with teaching is knowing what’s going on and how you can manage your workload. Make sure you’ve accounted for this.
- Love what you do. Teach a subject that interests you and that will help keep your passion alive.
- Adapt. Work with pupils in the way that helps them, recognising their strengths and weaknesses to help them excel.
Cambridge is a thriving, affluent area of the UK, meaning it has a community of young professionals and people moving into the area for a better way of life. This means that there are lots of children in the area that need to be catered for with good schools – and those schools need to be fully staffed with teachers who are based locally in Cambridge. Many teachers choose to move into the area because of the job prospects there, and teaching jobs in Cambridge are both readily available and highly sought after. If a school has a particularly good reputation, this can make it more competitive to get a job at this kind of institution. When people have got a teaching job in a prestigious Cambridge school, it is often the kind of position that they aren’t going to leave in a hurry.
There are ways that you can find an excellent teaching job in
the Cambridge area, but it might require some patience and some commitment.
Even the most experienced, dedicated teachers might have to wait to land their
dream teaching position in this area. With a world renowned university in the
area as well, Cambridge is known for its educational prestige. For many
families, it is important to start their children off in excellent schools so
that they can go on to achieve big things in their future professional lives.
The demand for good education means that if you are a good teacher, you will be
able to find work in a top school, if you have some patience and are willing to
keep looking to find the right position for you.
If you are a teaching professional and you want to work in a
Cambridge school, there are some ways you can secure a good position in an
excellent school. These are some of the options:
- Work as a supply teacher. This will get you
access to some of the best schools in the area and you can start making
connections. Often it is all about who you know – they can alert you to any new
positions that come up and that might be of interest, and they will already
know that you are a capable teacher so may be able to put in a good word.
- Talk to teaching recruitment agencies. They can
give you access to positions you wouldn’t otherwise have been able to secure,
often supply work, but this will give you plenty of options to begin making the
right connections for your future teaching career in Cambridge.
- Be patient. Don’t expect to land your dream
teaching job straight away. It will take time for the right position to come
up, and that is out of your control. Whilst this is difficult, it also means
that there is nothing you can do and you shouldn’t put too much pressure on
yourself. Keep honing your skills as a teacher, keep making connections and
keep up to date with the teaching job market. Your ideal position will come
along.
Just because you’ve got the skills to do your current job, doesn’t mean that there isn’t room to improve. Once you enter a company, you will be expected to grow and develop within your position. Usually, this means learning new skills and undergoing some form of education so that you can become even better at what you do.
It’s important to work with your employer in your own education. It’s a two way street. They should be responsible for your development and arranging your training, but you need to take responsibility for your own learning as well. If you have ideas about training you would like or courses you want to take, ask for a one to one. Just bear in mind that they will need to be relevant to your role – if you are undertaking vocational training because you want a different position, this should probably be done outside of work.