It often pays to build yourself a bit of armour against some of the more difficult facets of working in further education. It’s helpful to have an extra layer that allows you to deflect the blow of yet another policy shift, or some chain mail to defend against student apathy towards English and maths. A gauntlet that will soften the strike of yet another restructure is pretty much an essential part of your uniform. Fashioning protective gear is necessary to continue the daily business of actually teaching students.

This layer takes many forms. My own suit is made up of amusement at the cyclical nature of things and irreverence in the face of the relentless, pounding seriousness of every decree that crosses my path. Does this mean I don’t care? Certainly not, it just allows me to function without having a breakdown every couple of hours. The same goes for my interactions with students; a wry inward smile in response to some shoddy behaviour allows me to steady myself and carry on with my day.

My colleagues have their own suits. For some it’s organisation to the nth degree, or a sacred half-hour during the day that allows them to recharge, or venting over a drink after work.

Whatever it looks like, being able to defend yourself against the idiosyncrasies of the FE workplace is essential. But there is an inherent problem with donning our helmets and getting on: acceptance.

Developing coping strategies doesn’t mean you should accept everything

An extra layer of protection enables us to perform in some extremely difficult circumstances. But I think, at heart, the question is this one: why do we need that layer in the first place?

Coping strategies are all well and good if the things we’re asked to cope with are reasonable. But there comes a point in some FE institutions where that stops happening and the armour we wear is dented by unreasonable expectation, abusive student behaviour or mismanagement.

There are things that should be considered “part of the job” and things that no sane person would consider part of any job. Coping strategies can sometimes result in normalising the latter. If this goes on for too long, no armour will be able to protect you.

Working in FE is the definition of “tough, yet rewarding” and to get those rewards you need strategies that allow you can go about your daily business. But developing coping strategies doesn’t mean you should accept everything. The armour that we wear should be there for exceptional circumstances and mundane pressures, not to protect us from constant, unrealistic extremes of workload, behaviour and the like.

So I’ll continue to clang about, warding off the occasional arrow, but I’ll make sure it is only occasional. I mean, who wants to walk around in a suit of armour all day? They’re heavy and they chafe something awful.

Tom Starkey teaches English at a college in the North of England @tstarkey1212