Page 160 - Mind, Body and Spirit 2015-16

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www.raptcassociation.org.uk
FEATURES
TEACHING CAN PROVIDE SO MANY GREAT OPPORTUNITIES
David McCracken
Seventeen years APTC and seventeen as a school teacher. The transition from APTC into full time education was a dif cult journey spanning eleven months and nearly
two hundred applications that resulted in one interview for an international school in Kuwait. During this time, many told me it was time wasted because I lacked a degree and a Post Graduate Certi cate in Education (PGCE) but the school in Kuwait offered me a full time post teaching PE and Humanities. At the time I didn’t even know what ‘the Humanities’ referred to in education but for me, the old expression ‘getting your foot in the door’ came true because it led to seventeen years continuous teaching in ve international schools. I was lucky getting that rst break because they broke the rules employing someone who was not properly quali ed to teach children.
I’m sure many others have made the move into teaching since I nished my APTC career in 1995 and I’m sure none would disagree with the advice to make sure you have the required quali cations before you start. I completed a BSc in Geography and Environment with the Open University three years after entering the teaching profession but against considerable pressure from Headmasters, I always stubbornly refused to undertake a PGCE. I am still adamant that my training and life in the APTC prepared me for the teaching profession much better than a PGCE however having one would have saved me from a lot of adversity and criticism. Not having one also limited my options considerably because many places will not even consider an application without a PGCE.
In hindsight, did I make a good move entering education? Absolutely without question, taking the opportunities it offered was so rewarding and anyone leaving the RAPTC should never doubt their ability to do likewise. I soon discovered that I was very well prepared and of course it did present many challenging times. After Kuwait I moved to a school in Spain where I was expected to teach all year groups from year one upwards. Fascinating experience as it took me about two months to get thirty, ve year olds who were clearly ‘high’ on orange juice to sit on a white line. “On the white line - GO” simply failed to work.
In addition to PE, I was now fully involved in teaching Geography and a move to Prague introduced me to teaching the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme. Opportunities here presented themselves on a regular basis and when I left four years later I had been teaching Geography and Environmental Science to sixth form. PE became less than fty percent of my timetable although I did coach a lot of the school sports teams and take students on local and overseas trips. I de nitely favour the IB system over the traditional GCSE and ‘A’ level syllabus because there are so many more opportunities for education outside the classrooms and gymnasiums. This is an area that ex-RAPTC de nitely excel.
My next contract was in Thailand and thankfully it was just for two years. I had the unfortunate experience of having a very unadventurous Headmaster whose only priority was himself. We couldn’t see eye to eye on anything so he didn’t renew my contract and I moved to Hong Kong where I taught in a residential six form college for the next ve years. The management of education caused me some confusion and still does. Having moved from a career that generally selected and promoted its managers I arrived in a career that has teachers who didn’t want to teach. Many know that if they complete a management course and know the right people, they can quite easily move into management. This ‘system’ has received much criticism both within the UK and International teaching circuits and I found it to be frustrating at times believing it to be one of the fundamental failures of education.
The single biggest asset we share on leaving the RAPTC in my opinion is our con dence. It might appear at rst to be a daunting prospect to enter the civilian teaching profession but we have so much to offer generally as we are willing to get involved, to try new things, to take charge and to lead students by our own example. Children (especially the older years) really appreciate these qualities because it displays an interest in them as well as a professional attitude towards your job. In addition to working with many experienced and dedicated teachers I met those who were lethargic, unadventurous and uninterested in their chosen profession. My enthusiasm sometimes became a target for the ‘nasty’ element who looked for every opportunity to invent problems and my lack of a PGCE presented plenty. Ignoring them worked for me.
Teaching internationally has been an incredible experience. I have learned an enormous amount because the students have come from all ve continents. They have come from every social background with an attitude of working together without any of the many forms of discrimination. In the same class I remember discussing politics and human rights with various Americans (including Latin and First Nation) Arabs, Jews, Hindus, Roma and an Afghan refugee among a spattering of other nationalities. Opportunities such as this do not appear every day; in my opinion they are not to be missed. As expected, working with students with so much diversity in nationalities teaching is not short of amusing experiences. Besides my Spanish class of ve year olds and the white line I had a rather rotund Kuwaiti boy telling me every lesson that his heart was pounding and he didn’t understand. In Hong Kong I had an eighteen year old who could not place Hong Kong or even China on a world map - she was from Hong Kong and ended up being selected to study medicine at a US University. In Thailand I ‘discussed’ with one of my male IGCSE Geography students from Thailand who was insisting that there was no prostitution in Thailand because it was illegal. In my 6th form Geography class in Prague I had three female Vietnamese students who always sat on one chair, at one desk at the same time - they called me Mr Big.
In 1999, I became involved in anti-slavery work and it was for this issue I decided to leave teaching three years ago. Although I am still living in Hong Kong I have been spending about half my time in Cambodia with two NGOs I have been associated with for seven years. One investigates sexual offences against children by both local men and foreign travelling sex offenders. At the other NGO I have been teaching English and Human Rights to girls who have been rescued from sexual enslavement. In Hong Kong I work with an anti-slavery NGO developing young activists and by appointment, present to various audiences on contemporary slavery and human traf cking. This developed from an opportunity
Final preparations for the IGCSE PE Outward Bounds
Getting lost is not an option so close to the Thai border with Myanmar