Who broke the system?

The system I’m talking about is the Education system. It's certainly not the teachers who broke it, although many I speak to feel broken by the education system.

Teachers say this. One I interviewed said she was having to relearn a lot of stuff she teaches every time she taught it, because it's not used in everyday life. Her question was “Why are we teaching children this?”  Or as one ex-teacher said on TikTok recently, “the system was broken, it became an exam factory”.

Students say it's not giving them what they need. Go and have a look at this well-articulated argument from a Year 10 student who was my guest blogger: https://www.davecordle.co.uk/blog/studentinsights. 

I say this: 

Our system is antiquated. Fit for a time that no longer exists. Shame then, that our politicians (of whatever party) really don’t care to make any meaningful changes. I don’t think it really suits them. But I don’t think the question at the top is the right one to ask. 

It really doesn’t matter who broke it and the fact is that it was designed for a different age with different values. The world has changed but education has not. The real question is what are we - you, I, society - going to do about it?

It’s very easy for us to sit in our classrooms, offices, homes, or down the pub and complain about it. But if we do nothing to change it then really, we’re complicit in maintaining the problem.

Most, but by no means all, of the people I work with are feeling stuck, unhappy, or sometimes actually hate their job. They feel stressed on a Sunday night at the thought of the week ahead. They are desperate for something else but see no hope of change in their future. 

Increasingly I’m meeting teachers in this situation and I feel really drawn to helping teachers either rediscover the love they have for the profession, or make the move away from it. Everyone seems to be moaning (especially in my profession) about the lack of time given to helping young people transition into the workplace, but nobody seems to be helping teachers with their own career. And surely that would be a good place to start.

You give so much, and have so many great qualities and transferable skills. As I suggested in my last blog, a great start would be for you to make a list of all of the skills and qualities you use in doing your job. You’ll need several sheets of paper for sure, or why not use a spreadsheet or document that you can keep on your phone to add new ones to as you remember them. 

I’ve created a 5 day event called “Get your career unstuck” which will give you a framework for describing those skills, help you understand exactly what an ideal job is for you right now, and take the first step on the road to unstuck. 

It’s free, so if you’re up for getting more out of your career, head over to www.davecordle.co.uk/challenge. It runs every week starting on Mondays and you’ll just need to put aside 20 minutes (more if you want) each day to complete the activity. 

I’d say you're worth it. What do you say?