Polonius in the Staffroom: An accidental love letter...

POLONIUS

This above all: to thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

[HAMLET, Act One, Scene Three]

Apologies to all those readers who do not share my love of the great William Shakespeare. Hearing so much of the misery of studying him in school, I count myself lucky to have had a wonderful secondary English teacher, Mr Cartwright, who unlocked the magic of the bard in his own, authentic way.

Mr Cartwright, a tall, distinguished-looking man who must have been in his late -forties or early fifties (I hope!) when I first met him, stands out for me as a great teacher for two main reasons. First, he had a calm, gentle manner which appealed to me far more than many of the louder, bellowing types that populated my all-boys grammar school; the contrast was made even starker by him "living" on a corridor with some particularly persistent offenders yet never sliding to join them in their brash, autocratic style. I always respected this about him, though regret that my somewhat rebellious teenage self did not always show him this. The second reason for my admiration has nothing to do with his teaching but the fact that, after finding out that a couple of us were budding rock musicians, Mr Cartwright began regularly sharing tapes (yes - good old-fashioned cassettes - google them if you need to!) of his favourite bands with us. Much of my musical taste grew from these conversations and the subsequent listening sessions at home with a guitarist friend, discovering bands such as Dinosaur Jr. and The Violent Femmes as well as urging us to explore the then less familiar world of jazz and soul. Mr Cartwright didn't fit the mould, as I saw it, but it didn't matter. In fact, it made me respect him more. He loved to share his passion for music and the fact that we were pupils not peers did not stop him from this. I am eternally grateful to him for this.

So what do Mr Cartwright and Polonius have in common? Thankfully, very little. Unlike Polonius, Mr Cartwright has never (to my knowledge) been run through with a sword whilst hiding behind a curtain. More importantly, Polonius was a hypocrite whose projected values he frequently contradicted through his self-serving actions. In short, Polonius lacked INTEGRITY. Whilst I continue to reflect on where my (strictly platonic!) admiration for Mr Cartwright stems from and why his actions have convinced me of his professional integrity, I'm going to change direction now before this post becomes any more of a gushing love letter to a former teacher. Instead, I will leave you with some thoughts:

Why is integrity important in our professional lives? Taking integrity to mean "being consistently true to one's values", it means teachers standing by what they believe in and acting in ways that project those beliefs. 

If you believe in a calm approach to classroom management, don't modulate your response when a louder member of staff decides to roughly discipline your class (I particularly loath this behaviour and have seen some lovely, soft-spoken teachers buckle under the pressure to raise their voice to their class because of a more dominant member of staff appearing at the door to holler their expectations - it is a sad sight indeed and not the same as a supportive "all in it together" approach to behaviour management). 

If you feel that every child in your class deserves to be heard, even if they are mistaken or misinformed, consider what this looks like in a staff meeting. 

If you believe that "mistakes are just learning opportunities on the way to success",  do you treat other teachers' errors in this way, or fall into the pernicious trap of assuming that adults should somehow have transcended this mantra and instead need dressing down for their failures?

Finally, if you mention the importance of staff well-being anywhere on your website, job advertisements, staff room noticeboard etc., don't let the external pressures of accountability, Ofsted, parents, line management demands etc. obscure this as you lead. (I must point out to anyone reading from my current school and trust that I am extremely grateful to be led by those with integrity in this regard).

Take some time, when you can, to explore your beliefs and values, then your actions over the last few weeks. How have you done? 

If not, maybe just sit down to write an open love letter to an old teacher...