Headed to the UK to teach? Things to know before you go

Back in June of 2014 I had just graduated from my university in Ontario. I was young, hopeful, and excited for my next great adventure: I was going to teacher's college in Scotland. It was going to be my first time travelling abroad and not only was I going for a visit- I was going to live there. Like every girl who grew up in the 90s and early 2000s, we all have this sense of Anglophilia. From the Spice Girls to S-Club 7 to Mary Kate and Ashley's hit movie Winning London, a lust for British culture was something ingrained in our psyche from a young age. That is why when I boarded that super crowded, overheated Air Transat plane in Toronto, I was so excited for my chance to live out my childhood dreams!

Now when I arrived in Glasgow it was a whole new world. From discriminatory professors at my university, to learning that if you wear the wrong colour in the wrong part of town you will get stabbed, to the Scottish referendum and beyond, culture shock doesn't even begin to describe what I experienced. But much of that is for a different story. In this tale I will focus on what I learned as a teacher in a secondary school and the things I WISH I had known before even boarding that plane. So here we go:

1) Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland all have their own different education systems

And depending on where you do your teacher training, you can teach in some places but not in others. For example, I did my teacher training in Scotland so I can teach in Scotland and England, but those that do their teacher training in England cannot teach in Scotland. It's weird, I know. So depending on where you are headed, make sure you know about the correct education systems. If you arrive to teach in Scotland thinking that you are going to be teaching Key Stage 3 and GCSE's- think again. You will actually be covering National 4 and National 5 curriculum.

2) There's a reason why there is a shortage of teachers in England

Hindsight is always 20/20 and looking back, I should have clued in right away that there was probably a reason why there was a shortage of teachers in England. It's not because people don't want to be teachers- oh no- it is because of a combination of insufficient pay, extreme job stress, and insanely bad student behaviour that teachers are quitting left, right and centre. Now don't get me wrong, there are some people that go abroad and find a good school in a good location and they have a great time but more often than not that is not the case.

To put it into perspective: I had to pay for classroom resources at all my schools out of my own pocket, I would work from 7am-1am every day getting lessons prepped and activities created and marking done and I was told by my superiors that I "was not doing enough to help my students", and I was regularly called a cunt by my students. Now that it has been a few years since these experiences, I have had multiple conversations with fellow ex-UK teachers and stories like these are more common than you would think.

3) Get ready to deal with some crazy student behaviour

I had the luxury of teaching some of the most amazing young people I have ever met. Many of them I still keep in touch with to this day because I want to support them for the rest of their lives- they are THAT great! But with those students, I also had the other end of the spectrum. Now before I go into detail of what I experienced, I want you to think back to your own school days and think of some of the worst behaviour that your peers displayed. From that one kid that told their teacher to fuck off, to the two kids that would call their teacher gay, to that one kid that would run into classrooms and scream. We all have those memories! There's always that ONE kid at school we remember. Now imagine that there's about 15 of those kids in your 30 person class. From being called a cunt to students flipping desks and punching walls to getting spat on to everyday disrespect. That is the reality of many British classrooms. And it doesn't even matter the age! I taught secondary school and experienced this but I had friends who taught primary-aged kids and they were told to fuck off by 5 year olds! I have many theories for the reason behind this behaviour ranging from systematic and cultural issues to celebrity influence, but the fact of the matter is that many kids you will teach will behave like garbage humans. Brace yourself.

4) There is no such thing as curriculum

Growing up in Ontario, we always knew that our teachers were following the Ontario curriculum when planning our lessons. This meant that no matter where you lived in Ontario, in Grade 9 Geography you learned about Canada, its climate, its resources, and how to successfully write Saskatchewan on a map and get it to fit. From Moosonee to Grimsby, we all learned the same thing.

In England this is not the case. They have this thing called the National Curriculum but it's basically just a general guide for topics to teach, rather than setting specific standardized curriculum expectations. For example, the curriculum document for Grade 9 and 10 Canada and World Studies is 198 pages, whereas the National Curriculum document for Key Stage 3 geography (gr 6-8 equivalent) is 3 pages. Teachers are told in this document to "extend their (Students) locational knowledge and deepen their spatial awareness of the world’s countries using maps of the world to focus on Africa, Russia, and Asia". These instructions are so broad that it means that the chances of students in any part of the country learning the same thing are slim to none. I taught in two schools that were an hour apart and we did not teach the same things in KS3 geography.

It is very difficult coming from a system of structure to being told to teach whatever you want. It leaves you questioning whether or not you are actually doing a good job of teaching important information and skills.

5) Don't compare your home education system to theirs

In most parts of the world, comparing and contrasting similar ideas is a fantastic way of learning and reflecting. Not in the UK. Especially when you first start out teaching, you will constantly be comparing how things are done to what you know and are familiar with for your own internal learning and processing. But sharing those comparisons is a one-way ticket to disaster. Unfortunately the only way that you can do well as a teacher in the UK is if you are meeting the needs and expectations of the teachers around you- not if you are meeting the needs and expectations of your students. Everything you do will be judged by other teachers so they are going to expect you to be like them in order to be considered successful. This means that if you begin to start pointing out differences or suggesting alternatives, many teachers take great offence to this. If they are offended, then your chances of doing well are slim. Adaptation and acceptance are key to making it, but be warned, this could have an impact on your mental health.

If this seems like a very negative review of teaching in the UK, it is. But this is what I learned from my reality. And had I known to anticipate some of this going into it, I think my experience would have been drastically different. I was told that everything would be sunshine and rainbows and that was far from what actually happens once you set foot in that classroom.

Now don't get me wrong, I had experiences that I loved and would never change them for the world! And through the negativity I learned so much about myself as a person and as a teacher. But if this is a career path you are considering, listen to all the stories: the good, the bad and the ugly, so that you can approach your classroom feeling a lot more prepared than I ever was.