We all wait to be called for work but... how do we spend our downtime?

Here's something we can all relate to...

Sometimes the call comes in and sometimes it just doesn't.  We all know experience matters and getting out there and putting our knowledge into practice makes us better teachers.  But...  What do we do with our downtime?  Does it matter?  And if so, why?

To discuss an aspect of this one I thought I'd pull a passage out of the 2012 VAGO Report on CRT Arrangements:

"Many audited schools said that highly skilled and experienced CRTs do not stay as CRTs for long. High performers are often given fixed-term contracts and quickly become permanently employed.

Better performing CRTs are also likely to be on multiple lists held by government and non-government schools. As a result, schools in the same locality are competing against each other for high performing CRTs who can ‘cherry pick’ preferred schools and/or positions. This can make it more difficult for some schools to attract suitably skilled and experienced CRTs."

While the VAGO Report is a document from Victoria this is not an uncommon pattern for high performing relief teachers in Australia.  This is a very useful piece of information for us to be aware of because this is how schools are viewing their struggles in managing their CRT workforce. They are constantly looking for "high performing CRTs" and, in fact, fighting over them. This is something that gives us direction and purpose when the stereotypes are screaming at us that all we need to be good CRTs is X, Y and Z.

That above passage also says something very specific if we are paying attention. While there are plenty of CRTs to go around, there are not enough doing the job to the high performing standard that schools are wanting.  While that can seem like an attack on "under-performing CRTs" it most certainly isn't.  It gives us a look at something we can actively take advantage of.

There is always room for more of us to become high-performing CRTs.

While it is more difficult than it has been in the past to become a "desirable CRT" it is still not a lottery, skill matters.  It does us good to know that succeeding is going to take proactive effort, especially in an oversupply of teachers. The above passage is important as it shows us that CRT stereotypes are, to some extent, the lowest common denominator.  They are not "what schools want" from relief teachers, they are only "what schools expect" or "what schools will accept".  What schools actually want frequently slips through their fingers either through to more permanent work or because the relief teacher in question simply chooses to work elsewhere.

Waiting for the morning call is a necessary part of the way we work as CRTs but I encourage everyone to take any downtime and put it to a profitable use.  Don't "wait for work", be proactive and seek out the knowledge you need to formulate strategies you can use to capitalise on every opportunity set before you.  Schools will accept the average CRT but what they want are the so-called "high performing" CRTs.

Accepting the limitations placed on you by CRT stereotypes is something that stands between you and a successful career .  Of course "suitable experience" will only come with time but the stereotypes simply don't support us to gain the skills schools are seeking.  The simple truth is that the more skill we have the more work we are offered and the more opportunity we have to become "suitably experienced" too.

Many CRTs are out there cherry-picking their schools and positions.  CRTs are out there giving themselves a leg up into the classroom positions they are after.  If they can, so can you.  Break the mould that these stereotypes set for you and be all you can be.

Always. 

Regards,

Mel.