Sunday 27 March 2011

pressure for paying

I have just completed my first piece of relief/supply work in a private school.Wow. I was lucky enough to fulfil some Art supply in a top Girl’s boarding school in Brisbane and I must say, for first impressions of the private sector, it is a world away from all the work I have done previously in state schools.
From the outset it was a different vibe altogether, pupils were incredibly polite, focused on tasks and maintained a steely focus about the challenges they faced. The girls were eloquent, were able to hold conversation and offer valuable opinions on wide ranging topics, even outside the boundaries of what was being taught. There was no behaviour issue, something I realised straight away as there was not even a behaviour pathway in the relief teacher’s handbook that every visiting teacher is given! Admittedly, being only the second male teacher under the age of 30 in the school meant that I was viewed with some interest by the older girls especially, although this was quickly disarmed by myself and a colleague who had recommended me to the post with loud and clear references to my married state!
To be brutally honest, they were the easiest classes I have ever taken. Year 12 continued a coursework piece whilst being VERY stressed about a law studies exam the same day and within these worries, it was clear just how different this school was from the state ones I had been in. Every single girl, no matter how well prepared, was worried, some to the point of distraction, others to the point of silence. It was evident that from comments and their demeanours that their success had a great deal to do with whom it affected rather than their own personal grades. “My mum will kill me if I don’t do well”, “my sister got 100% in this exam”, “I don’t like this course, I’m only doing it for Uni” or similar were all comments I heard several times and they highlighted the increased pressure on private school students, a different pressure from state schools pupils perhaps. If there is a pressure on state school pupils to achieve, then there is a different pressure on the private sector- the manner in which they achieve, 75% is not as good as a 99% after all.
This pressure was etched on most of the girls’ faces, placed into a scenario where it is expected everyone will ‘achieve’ but the scale of their achievement is where they will be really judged. Having gone to a state school, the only pressure that I honestly felt was the pressure that I placed on myself and as such, seeing the worries before what was only a modular exam was a real eye opener. My colleague told me a story about how a girl got a high B in an exam and cried almost immediately, not because she thought she could have done better, it transpired, but because her parents would want her to do better. This attitude may be a widespread one, it may be an exceptional case, but I am led to believe, from colleagues, that the pressure runs deeper than a simple pride issue. Parents pay thousands to get their sons and daughters into private schools to achieve the very best, not pass at the same level as a state school pupils perhaps, and could it be that ‘value for money’ is at the base of the pressure exerted onto pupils, particularly in the upper years of their schooling?
This pressure could even be seen in the younger groups that I taught, where grades were the talk and the familiar hierarchy of pupils being friends with those of a similar academic level was evident, perhaps even magnified in a school where the distraction of the opposite sex is not on offer to tempt pupils out of their friend groups. Even in year 8, a year that I have heard described as a ‘nothing’ year on many occasions, girls were worried about their grades and how their parents would react, in one girl’s case, 5% lower than her normal grades.
However, I think it is narrow minded to assume that this pressure can just exist within the realms of academia. My other new job is that of Rugby coach at a leading boy’s school in the local area. To put this in perspective, I am one of 60 coaches.60. Last year in the UK, there were 4 coaches for the entire school, here, there are 4 coaches who coach the under 14s D side alone. This incredible emphasis on sporting prowess and in this example, Rugby, leads to a different side of pressure. Some parents may just see the sport as an aside, a bonus of the fees they are paying for their son’s academic education, however, I am sure and have seen in action, that some of the pressure applied is directly about the Rugby and whether their son will make it in the professional arena. This expectation that they will be at least given a shot is perpetuated by young men coming out of the school and playing professionally and playing well and progressing in their careers.
For decades now, the folklore of sporting pushy parents has been legendary and no more than at the moment, the pressure on some of these young boys to not just enjoy their sport but most crucially succeed is shocking and must inhibit their enjoyment of the sport. Even with their rugby education so far, this seems evident. Of the boys I have trained, a large percentage are drill robots, having done the same drills over and over again so the fun is sucked out of them and emphasis placed on big hits and weights. However, place them in a game format and none of these drill skills are used and many of the boys simply to play rugby with an ounce of intuition as they have been drilled to death and just like the terror on the girls’ faces before law studies exams, the terror etched on the boys’ faces in a game scenario depicts the pressure to succeed, not just in a simple game of touch but to succeed in sport generally and make a name for themselves. And to be honest, I am not sure if that is the way to go about things. A little pressure is a good thing but as I was once told “it’s fine to have butterflies, but the most important thing is to make the butterflies fly in the same direction”.