In this post I’m going to share a truthful account of my recent experience Teaching in a Further Education College in London.
I thought teaching my subject area Beauty Therapy would be fun, effortless and really rewarding. I imagined the students would enjoy learning from a young lady in her early 30’s, who is fresh in the industry, has a beautiful appearance, and British born with Afro/Caribbean heritage and educated and articulate.
However, it was the total opposite. Don’t get me wrong, I did have the odd few learners especially adult learners above 19 that were respectful, accountable and understanding and offered me appreciation gifts at the end of the course. But the 16 to 18 crowd had no real sense of taking responsibility and baseline respect for their Teacher.
I’m not sharing this to frighten you out of doing it if you are considering sharing your skills. Instead I am realistically preparing you for the types of things you are likely to encounter.
Where do I even begin?
PART 1
Those who walk in during enrollment reveal themself to be a certain way and end up completely different.
The caliber of learners you get enrolling on these college courses nowadays can be very challenging. And they don’t leave their emotional/negative baggage at the door, like we’re expected to as Educators. I was told that on enrollment day learners turn up being positive and saying yes to almost every question the Head of Faculty or Beauty Lecturer throws at them but this all changes once they start the year long course. True colours start to show and disruption occurs in many forms.
When I joined the College I was last at, I was told by fellow staff that the previous Teacher had a very bad time with this group. They constantly challenged her teaching skills which made it hard for her to just get through a lesson. The group had been learning the same Units Manicure and Nail art for 3 months which should have been closed off well before Christmas. I was shocked to be honest and was wondering who supported her. Who allowed this to happen (in terms of management). And why aren’t proper disciplinary stages in place to prevent this. That Teacher’s time came to an end when her health took a toll and had surgery.
On my last day of working there my Manager shared some advice for me going forward in my career “Nicolle a lot of our learners have to be parented, because if you are too hard on them they will repel. You have to remind them that we are preparing them for the workplace as it’s a vocational course.” Plus he shared some facts around the borough itself being the lowest Economically un the city which also counts towards the type of learners that come there.
There was a time when I was helping a learner on Teams, then she randomly had a tantrum in the midst of our conversation and I could sense her rudeness through the screen.
Many learners lack simple computer skills making uploading portfolio evidence very difficult. In the end I had to upload over 100 pieces of evidence (treatment plans, paper based exam results etc) to VTCT ManageAssess because they weren’t taking responsibility to do it, or made up excuses. It got tiring in the end and as a Teacher I kept on getting grilled in Staff Meetings about work not being uploaded. Therefore, their progress bars weren’t going up which could potentially affect pass rates.
Be ready to teach Learners from all health backgrounds sometimes possessing an array of neurodiverse, mental health, learning disabilities. I welcome all types of learners but when they have a bad attitude or show no respect or don’t say thank you when you help them this can put a bad taste in your mouth and make you feel invisible at times.
Another thing to watch out for is if you ever have learning support staff in your class be weary. They can either take your side or they can turn against you like the students gather together and do. The previous Teacher also experienced something very similar too and eventually that Learning support staff resigned.
I will share with you one last outrageous situation I experienced whilst teaching at this College.
An adult learner who was chosen to be in my Micro teach when I applied for the position and had my interview randomly switched on me one day in a workshop I was hosting. The learner was adamant to have a word with me when ai was in the middle of assessing and she was in the middle of setting up a treatment area before her Level 3 class began. I responded telling her I could speak to her when I finish in less than 20min. She wasn’t happy hearing that, then muttered something under her breath. Then she came over to me, stood right in front of me when I was giving my feedback to 2 teen learners and said, “I feel like you never say hello”. I sat in utter stillness.
“If it wasn’t for us you wouldn’t have this job. Your rude man, you’re rude”.
The truth had finally come out.
I’m sharing this to warn you that if your light is too bright you might be better of dimming it in settings like this so others don’t feel out of place and throw their insecurities onto you. I also felt ashamed because there was another Lecturer in the room who wasn’t on good terms with me because of her own issues and she did nothing to support me. To be honest I think she had instigated this whole situation because as we know already many Lecturers cross that professional boundary by being too buddy buddy with the learners and gossiping etc. I’ve seen this on multiple occasions throughout my career.
The salary you earn is quite attractive it’s the type of learners that put you off this job. Not to say I will never stand in front of another classroom again. It might have to be an education setting I have designed with Christian morals and values rather than one where the values are written on a poster but not upheld.