WHAT ARE YOU REBELLING AGAINST? WHAT HAVE YOU GOT?

If you look around at the moment, the world seems an angry place. There has been a fair bit of writing on it and many commentators think it explains why Brexit occurred and why Donald Trump was elected in America. If you spend any time on Twitter or Facebook (in public forums), you will see that anger again and again and again. As a teacher, I’d like to think that in the world of education, this wouldn’t happen. We’re educated people and therefore you’d expect to see a bit more nuance in terms of the discussions that we have but every now and then, you’ll see anger and lots of it and it makes me think why? Why do some teachers get so worked up over issues that seem rather trivial?

Recently I wrote an article about Joe Wicks and what teachers can learn from his lockdown lessons. It was a pithy piece that I thought would be fun to read if you are a teacher. It clearly wasn’t going to be revolutionary…most articles about what teachers could or should be doing are always going to be very similar as there is nothing really new out there, you’re just putting a new twist on things and in my case, it was lockdown lessons with Joe Wicks. I always think with anything you observe/read, you can take lessons from, even if it just acts as a reminder to do what you’ve always been doing.

Most of the comments were pretty positive but I was quite surprised at the number of negative comments, whether they were on Twitter, Facebook or below the line in the article itself. Patronising comes up a lot, as does the fact that I clearly don’t spend enough time in the classroom (I do) and I haven’t observed enough lessons (I have) but overall I have to admit, I thought it was quite funny that such a harmless article can cause such anguish but it is worth reflecting why this might be the case.

One of the books I read over lockdown was Francis Fukuyama’s ‘Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment’ and I found it very interesting. He talks about this word called ‘Thymos’ which is a Greek word that Plato uses in ‘The Republic’. Thymos is part of the soul that craves respect and recognition of its worth. He goes on to explain that if you do not get respected at the rate that you think you deserve, you get angry. He later on discusses the case of Mohamed Bouazizi, a vegetable seller in Tunisia, who has his vegetable cart confiscated and because he is then mistreated and ignored, he sets himself on fire. This was a catalyst to the 2011 Arab Spring.

If you look at the teaching profession in Britain, we can see why there might be many angry teachers. If you look at reports related to the retention of teachers, you’ll see that the disrespect shown to teachers is something that is continually mentioned. Quoting from this report it says ‘A number of teachers reported that increasing respect for the profession would support retention, believing that levels of respect needed to be improved across society, the media, young people, graduates, and parents/carers. Teachers felt there needed to be more understanding of teaching and the expertise and dedication of those that teach.’

Therefore if a fellow teacher writes an article about what they can learn from Joe Wicks about teaching, it can be seen as belittling and disrespecting the profession. Comments pointed out whether Joe could show the same amount of energy with students who didn’t want to be there on a wet and windy Wednesday afternoon. They also pointed out that there was no differentiation for SEND students and that Joe was not being judged on results and was only doing half an hour each morning.

If like me, you have been the butt of your friends’ jokes for years about being a teacher, it can slowly grind you down. Add in the stereotypical nature of PE teachers as well (Those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach. Those that can’t teach, teach PE) and again, I can understand how the Joe Wicks article can make you rather angry, as it seems to be more of an attack on them. It clearly isn’t if you read the piece as it’s just a general article on the kind of things we want to be doing as teacher but the fact that I use the phrases ‘PE teacher to the world’ and ‘PE with Joe’ that he used, it gives a sense that I’m saying his lessons are PE lessons, when they are clearly not.  At the same time, Joe Wicks is getting huge respect and recognition for what he was doing whilst teachers are being slated on social media for sitting on their behinds during the pandemic (which we all know was not true) and that they don’t deserve a 3.1% pay rise. Whilst Joe has been at home protecting himself and his family, many PE teachers, like my good chum Duges, have been in school providing lessons for key skill workers and potentially putting himself at risk.

Another recent book on this subject, has been ‘Angrynomics’ by Eric Longergan and Mark Blyth and you can see an interesting discussion about it here on Renegade Inc. One of the areas they talk about is tribal rage, as shown amongst football fans. As teachers, we are a tribe and therefore we will kick back against anything that might be seen as a criticism. This can be seen clearly where the profession pretty much united against Andrew Adonis’ comments about online learning. But we also see tribes within tribes and I have written about this before, with regards the progs vs trads debate. Some of the angriest tweets I witness are ‘debates’ between fellow teachers/educators, when you would assume we would be in this together. In the interview above, Eric states the same in football, where violence amongst fans of the same team is common. They talk about how some fans get angry with others because they do not show enough commitment to the cause. We can potentially see this when teachers get angry with other teachers (or at least get very sarcastic) for putting up nice displays in their classroom. The reason is that there is little evidence that this helps learners and therefore if you really care, then you should be focusing on other things, like spaced learning. Unlike James Dean, these people are rebels WITH a cause but sometimes they don’t appreciate how much anger they provoke.

Relating it back to my Joe Wicks article, it should come as no surprise that the angriest comments would be from fellow teachers because in many respects, I am wasting their time with something so obvious, that it is not even worth repeating! It is patronising!!! And in many respects, I can see why they say that.

I remember once, a Maths teacher friend told me to be wary of anyone that was so passionate about something. I asked him why and he stated it was because it makes them irrational. They are blinded by their passion and therefore they can’t see the other side. We can clearly see this in football when looking at refereeing decision but again, take the Joe Wicks article, some teachers are so passionate about PE teaching, that they see his ‘lessons’ as being an insult to Physical Education. Therefore, if a fellow teacher even suggests (using the words of Joe Wicks) that they might be PE lessons, they get angry. They feel disrespected. I admire that passion and I expect it probably makes them exceptional teachers of PE but from writing a ‘fun’ article perspective, it can be hard work! This is the case in the evidence in education debate as well and this can be a tricky business because we might end up believing something so passionately that being told it might be wrong causes a huge amount of anger. Growth mindset is a an interesting case here. This is hugely debated but it’s fascinating seeing those who are pro-growth mindset only tweeting evidence that supports it and those who are anti-growth mindset only tweeting evidence against it. Confirmation bias reigns supreme!!!!

The world is an angry place and I saw a glimpse of that in the reaction to an article about Joe Wicks. In many respects, it is easy to laugh at the oddness of this anger over something so trivial but what we’ve noticed in recent times, is that you can’t ignore it and in fact, laughing at their concerns just adds even more disrespect into the mix. It’s clear that in all areas of life, we must try and understand each other a bit more, as that will make the world a happier place.

However, as teachers, I do think that we need to have more confidence in ourselves and our profession and appreciate the skills and talents that we have. We shouldn’t be so easily offended when people criticise us…lockdown learning has shown how valuable teachers are and how Joe Wicks lessons couldn’t replace the PE teacher at your school. Whenever my friends take the mickey out of me and tell me what an easy life I lead, with all my holidays and so on, I always say to them – come and join me!!! So far, no one has taken up the offer.