Intrinsic Achievement is my phoenix that rose from the ashes when I made the turbulent but necessary decision to step away from a teaching career after 15 years. Through the rapid roll out of hastily implemented initiatives, my once enjoyable and manageable workload had dramatically increased, with relentless pressure and stress finally taking its toll. Resigning proved to be an extremely difficult decision to make and to come to terms with not only because I have children and a mortgage to consider, but more poignantly because the road I had travelled along to become a teacher in the first place had been no easy journey, every single step had been earnt. Walking away from my full-time permanent teaching position proved to be the longest and hardest choice I had ever made, this in itself surprised me.
However the irony behind my heartbreaking decision was that the very same method and skills that I had developed 25 years ago when I was only 15 and had consciously chosen to turn my life around were once again called upon and put to work. This time I needed to find that same inner strength and self-belief which would now enable me to walk away with dignity from a system that no longer aligned with what I believed the essence of teaching to be about and to begin the process of establishing my own business.
Intrinsic Achievement is my creation, it is an authentically designed Personal Growth & Development programme using effective techniques which help people of all ages discover their own innate abilities. It is now further refined and packaged for others to use as a guide which they can pick up and run with. I cover a range of generic themes including how to effectively establish your intentions & achieve your goals, increasing your level of energy & motivation, enhancing self-belief and self-awareness concepts, forming & implementing clear boundaries, improving personal organisation & self-management processes and re-discovering original leadership qualities. While Intrinsic Achievement has structure, it also remains fluid enough for me to adapt and modify material in order to incorporate specific requests from clients.
My services can be delivered as large or small group presentations or as one to one sessions; all have a teaching aspect followed by an action plan component which is where the work really begins. My approach sets out to return people back to a fully cohesive and stabilised state ready to step into their ultimate potential by using physical, emotional and mental techniques that really do work.
Intrinsic Achievement is the unique and refreshing story of what happens when you embark on a quest to extend your-self, overcome adversity and alter your own circumstances. It is the culmination of mixing grit and determination with courage and action, witnessing how the small seemingly inconsequential internal shifts are then projected and reflected externally, enhancing the world around you.
In the 18 months since I stepped away from full-time teaching my biggest realisation has been that I will always remain a teacher in some capacity. Now my ‘classroom’ is larger and limitless with no enforced pedagogy. Having the opportunity to work in schools as a relief teacher has also been vital, keeping me up to date with exactly what is occurring – the good and the bad. This means my references are real and current with fresh experiences and perspectives. I can gauge what teaching staff, students and parents (I am one) are all facing in these hectic and chaotic times and the issues are huge. I am aware of the white elephants in the staffroom of many schools where teachers avoid discussing the true issues or drawing attention to their real concerns for fear of going against the status quo – it takes courage to go against the party line.
I believe the most pressing issue right now is the burn out and rising exhaustion levels of teachers which is the adverse by-product of the continual changes taking place within the system. These by-products are, unfortunately, proving difficult to measure as they often remain silent – who wants to own burn out? Many teachers I talk with who are leaving will suggest other reasons for their departure, but dig deeper and the core issues are usually the same. I am all for progress, evolution and learning new things, however I am genuinely concerned with the loss of common sense in exchange for what is often becoming show pony leadership and the emerging semi-corporatised model of education full of PC buzz words that can be superficial. All at the expense of talented teachers who become disillusioned and see through the veneer. The demands now placed on teachers from both upper management as well as from students now exceed what is practically possible to deliver.
The other immediate concern I see is the growing erosion of NCEA as a robust qualification. There are inconsistencies surrounding the assessment of internal Achievement Standards and Unit Standards where I have seen teachers giving students the answers. Teachers can be subversively pressured to get many across the line rendering NCEA relatively meaningless and taking away from those who genuinely put the work in. More importantly, through this practise, under the guise of helping or boosting a student’s performance, you are taking away their feeling of personal accomplishment and satisfaction from achieving under their own steam.
As a student I had gained a number of D’s in my junior years, failed School Cert and Sixth Form Cert, and eventually grew tired of the feeling of failure, so by putting myself through Outdoor Pursuits, Spirit of NZ and Outward Bound I ended up achieving more than I imagined, walking away with an A Bursary, Science degree and qualifying as a Geography teacher. This feeling of success due to my own efforts has fuelled and propelled me for the past 25 years. I did not gain inspiration from someone either doing it for me or handing it to me on a platter. Teachers need to be very careful not to confuse helping a student with actually doing the work for them as that a misguided practice and the quickest road to learned helplessness, a phenomena emerging in our young people as we foolishly try to clear their path from adversity. At the other end of the spectrum some teachers are facing surmounting pressure to gain more and more top-end results and Scholarships. The pressure then projected towards these academic students has resulted in some falling into the downward spiral of stress anxiety, panic attacks and depression.
The ever increasing distortion of acceptable and appropriate behaviour in the classroom as boundaries are continually stretched is also worrisome for those who have been in the profession long enough to see and feel and the impacts. The introduction and proliferation of digital technology has the ability to enhance students learning which is great, however it also opens up the world to children from the push of a button exposing them to content they may not be ready to deal with or understand.
The number one resource for students will always be teachers, they are the human links and bonds needed to deliver an education system that will nurture our children. It is therefore crucial that the holistic wellness of all teachers is respected and not brushed aside or paid lip-service to. If you are in a position of leadership and have the ability to make crucial decisions then use your power to slow the pace down regardless of what researchers may be telling you to implement. The analogy of flogging a dead horse really does have meaning in this sector.
I have not set out to slate a profession that was once my vocation and passion, but I will draw attention to, and raise awareness of, a system that currently ‘needs to be seen to be working’ even as the systemic cracks are beginning to show.