Today we had a maths department meeting. It went on from 3:45pm to 5:00pm. Three out of seven members of the department were absent. There was no agenda and nothing pressing to sort out. However, it seems that even in teaching one needs to put in "face time". And so we did.
We discussed almost precisely nothing to do with maths. Instead, the more senior members of the department began to berate the Principal of the academy (as they are oft prone to do). Today's target was her mention in the morning meeting of how more "middle class children with two parents and an independent school background" were applying to the academy (admissions figures were released today, and we're 21 kids away from having a fully subscribed Y7 in September - a huge change from the past). I don't know if this stuff about the types of kids is true or not, but it certainly put everyone's backs up. Big time. Particularly the comments about two parent families - a number of members of staff are single parents and really took offence at this. Further, the "old staff" are really anti-change, especially anything that tries to move us towards the independent school model (which is essentially what our Principal seems to have in mind). Another "offence" has been added to her list by the staff.
Anyway, much bitching and grumbling and negativity later and nothing had been resolved. Now I'm all for people getting things off their chests (see, I'm doing it now myself) but all they seem to do is moan and moan and moan and never offer anything themselves on how to fix things. Further, they never say anything to her face about how they feel, preferring instead to bitch behind her back. I hate that two-faced kinda stuff - how is she supposed to appease the staff if no-one is telling her what she is doing wrong? It's all about necessary constructive criticism. You've got to give people a chance before slamming them down.
A big problem is that most of the staff aren't open-minded. They were all anti-academy from the start and wouldn't even give things a go. I'm pleased to say I did keep an open mind about the academy and the Principal, choosing to form my own opinion of her rather than listening to all the propaganda. Admittedly now I'm not a big fan of our Principal myself, but I'm willing to give what she says a try because that's what I'm here to do and because it is nowhere near my place to tell her how to run things. However, lots of the other members of staff are in a position to help change things, but they take what I think to be the easy way out. Maybe they have their reasons for how they feel, but still, when it comes down to it, they have their roles and duties and they need to fulfil them. But rather than pulling together and giving things a go, they rebel. Faced with such a hostile team, she's almost guaranteed to fail.
To me this meeting was an entire waste of time and left me feeling pretty negative about the school and its future. As if there aren't enough things to worry about without staffroom politics too.
We discussed almost precisely nothing to do with maths. Instead, the more senior members of the department began to berate the Principal of the academy (as they are oft prone to do). Today's target was her mention in the morning meeting of how more "middle class children with two parents and an independent school background" were applying to the academy (admissions figures were released today, and we're 21 kids away from having a fully subscribed Y7 in September - a huge change from the past). I don't know if this stuff about the types of kids is true or not, but it certainly put everyone's backs up. Big time. Particularly the comments about two parent families - a number of members of staff are single parents and really took offence at this. Further, the "old staff" are really anti-change, especially anything that tries to move us towards the independent school model (which is essentially what our Principal seems to have in mind). Another "offence" has been added to her list by the staff.
Anyway, much bitching and grumbling and negativity later and nothing had been resolved. Now I'm all for people getting things off their chests (see, I'm doing it now myself) but all they seem to do is moan and moan and moan and never offer anything themselves on how to fix things. Further, they never say anything to her face about how they feel, preferring instead to bitch behind her back. I hate that two-faced kinda stuff - how is she supposed to appease the staff if no-one is telling her what she is doing wrong? It's all about necessary constructive criticism. You've got to give people a chance before slamming them down.
A big problem is that most of the staff aren't open-minded. They were all anti-academy from the start and wouldn't even give things a go. I'm pleased to say I did keep an open mind about the academy and the Principal, choosing to form my own opinion of her rather than listening to all the propaganda. Admittedly now I'm not a big fan of our Principal myself, but I'm willing to give what she says a try because that's what I'm here to do and because it is nowhere near my place to tell her how to run things. However, lots of the other members of staff are in a position to help change things, but they take what I think to be the easy way out. Maybe they have their reasons for how they feel, but still, when it comes down to it, they have their roles and duties and they need to fulfil them. But rather than pulling together and giving things a go, they rebel. Faced with such a hostile team, she's almost guaranteed to fail.
To me this meeting was an entire waste of time and left me feeling pretty negative about the school and its future. As if there aren't enough things to worry about without staffroom politics too.
