I’ve recently found myself having to avoid education posts on social media sites.

Threads and articles and posts that would once have prompted healthy discussion and debate have become a festering pit of jaded cynicism. 

Educators, when did we start trolling our own profession?

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I’m not pretending that our current educational landscape is faultless, I am keenly aware of the strain it puts on us.

Nor am I here to tell you that if you’re unhappy you need to move schools or leave the system, I know it isn’t that easy. 

But I am genuinely floored when I read some of our profession openly state on social media that they feel they have “the worst job in the world”.  

Rose-tinted glasses

Much of the bitterness seems fuelled by the loss of some misplaced belief that the education system of years past was perfect. It was not. 

There are countless elements of our teaching past which were awful, far too may list here, but some on my list are: hours of invigilation; teachers coming back to teach after three pints on “pub lunch Friday”; a lack of rigour in knowing what was being taught and how well; a misplaced obsession with Learning Styles and de Bono’s Hats and a historical and endemic failing to promote academic success for our most vulnerable students. 

There is a lot wrong in the system right now, but there is an awful lot that’s right too. 

Seeking out positivity 

Rather than turning to the first person in the staffroom who you know will agree how terrible things are, try seeking out someone who will offer some light in the darkness. 

Misery breeds misery and it can take monumental effort to distance yourself from it at times, but it is worth the effort. If you truly believe there is no one on your staff body who can muster any positivity at all, that’s a great opportunity to be the change you want to see. 

Rather than salivating at the photocopier ready to fuel a colleague’s upset with Year 9 again, remind them of something that went well for them or how far they have come with another class. 

Reigniting passion

No one comes in to teaching thinking it will be easy, so there must have been something that drove you. Something that got you through your training, your NQT year and beyond.

What was it? Do you see that passion in those just entering our profession? Can you take some responsibility for not snatching that from them with your words and actions before they have had a chance to  develop as a professional? 

Bite your tongue before you belittle their small victories and show them kindness when they struggle, rather than using that as an opportunity to reinforce your own agenda.

Nothing new

I have been teaching a long time and I am under no illusion that teachers, by their very nature, can be sceptical and scornful, sometimes justifiably so. Me included.

In fact, venting and “off-loading” can be hugely helpful when done in a non judgemental and safe place. Perhaps though, social media has encouraged a groan and grumble in the staffroom to become a mentality and a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

But more than that, the inference that what we do is worthless and has no impact is destructive and as a profession we deserve more. 

I can already imagine some of the comments that this article will attract, the pointing and sniggering which has become increasingly common. 

But if a handful of teachers find a more positive voice; or become a friendlier colleague or direct their energies more productively or even have a better understanding of how to rationalise a bad day then it is worth the ridicule and derision. 

Lisa Lockley is assistant headteacher at John Willmott School in the West Midlands