Hugh Reilly: Teacher, don’t go to that dinner party…

WHEN attending dinner parties or other such twee middle-class social gatherings, most Scottish dominies consider it prudent not to let slip that one is a pedagogue.

Being outed as a dominie has the capacity to excite the jugular veins of hitherto amiable fellow guests. “So, you’re a teacher, eh? One of those pseudo-professionals who enjoys 20 weeks’ holidays a year, has a final-salary pension scheme and who, after a day’s work, is home in time for Countdown,” says the anti-teaching brigade spokesman, wine in his half-full glass rippling uncontrollably.

According to even my mates, teachers are duds [no offence meant, lots taken]. Now successful businessmen, the credit for their education is bestowed upon the University of Life, a veritable institution that does not charge tuition fees. If the great unwashed are to be believed, unique to the teaching profession, teachers complain about their occupation. This must be true; after all, who has ever heard a taxi-driver, a farmer, or a company director complain about his lot?

Thankfully, outside the borders of the best wee mean-spirited country in the world, education establishments greatly value the efforts of Scottish teachers. For example, the headmaster of the Edron Academy in Mexico City, Brian Cooklin, a former Glasgow headteacher, waxes lyrical about the qualities Scots teachers possess: “They are dynamic, enthusiastic and have a passion for teaching.”

According to Mr Cooklin, the Scottish tertiary education system and teacher-training programmes provide a depth of knowledge not witnessed in other countries. Delivering lessons in international schools to classes brimming with children from many cultures is a breeze for Alba practitioners used to teaching asylum-seekers and the children of earlier immigrants to Scotland’s shores. In many city schools there is more than a sprinkling of pupils from eastern Europe, China, the Indian subcontinent and Africa.

Further, as part of their Continuing Professional Development, many Scottish teachers possess an EAL qualification [English as an Additional Language]. In 2003, Glasgow City Council paid my course fees when I studied for such an award, my Bangladeshi students being the unforeseen beneficiaries of my model employer’s munificence.

Decades of serial upheavals in Scottish education have resulted in schoolmasters and mistresses adopting a flexible approach to learning, that is – forgive me for using pedagogical jargon – becoming very adept at flying by the seat of their pants. Implementing the latest wheeze dreamed up by a non-teaching expert is not for the faint-hearted. When Standard Grade was introduced in the mid-Eighties – whereby candidates attained a Credit, General or Foundation award – it heralded the death knell for the pass/fail mentality that had, allegedly, been the Achilles’ heel of much-derided O-grades.

Fast forward to the present day and, under the brand-spanking-new Curriculum for Excellence, students will be once again be subjected to pass/fail leaving examinations. In other countries, teachers would be incandescent with rage regarding such flip-flopping on teaching and learning rationales. Luckily, Scottish staff are accepting of the capricious nature of those steadfastly striving to constantly improve the Scottish education system.

Apparently, Scottish teachers earn brownie points in the global education market for their readiness to teach subjects in which they are not qualified. Their willingness to bravely “give it a go” has been forged in the white heat of primary schools where staff who can barely say “Jean-Paul and Claudette son dans le jardin” valiantly pass on their tad-limited knowledge of French to les enfants.

Teachers of my acquaintance who desert these islands generally prosper. For example, Kimberley Roan, a former pupil of yours truly, is teaching English in Qatar, a somewhat different location from her previous post, a temporary job in downtown Drumchapel. After only a few months, she was promoted to head of year. Hopefully, on her return, she will be able to secure the permanent teaching appointment that eluded her in the land of her birth.

Having taught in Greece and Bangladesh, I would encourage Scottish teachers to grab any opportunity to teach abroad. Dinner parties abroad tend to be enjoyed, not endured.