Not a wholesome day.

It is one of those days where I cannot be arsed with this job. In other words, it's Course Review Day. This delightful little thing is where the Programme Leaders have to write a report based upon OFSTED criteria, analyse data, prove retention and achievement statistics and explain why we're all doing such a wonderful job, thank you very much. This produces ream after ream of report, stacked to the hilts with unreliable numbers and unprovable facts, all done in order to keep some bloodless little number-cruncher in meaningful employment. And, just to add to the fun, the government's new Every Child Counts Strategy has been introduced, adding another ream of paper to each report.
As you may have guessed, it is not my favourite activity, and I've spent the best part of the day trying to drum up enthusiasm and inspiration while staring at my computer screen. While I don't mind targets and aims - I am, after all, a teacher and the Exams Officer - it's the extremely anal nature of what we have to write that I object to. It's the insistence that everything is a measurable, gradable, quantifiable thing that I hate. It's the theft of the teaching mojo: that magical, inexplicable part of the job, the moment when it all goes right and the student goes 'yes!', and these humourless beancounters think it can be all measured up and tucked in a box, in this case a coffin.
Oh, yes, I am also getting stress ulcers because of the bloody exams. Two more sets this week, then a whole week's worth in a fortnight, then two more sessions at the end of June.

sodding dilemma.

well, the last post seems to work: I wish I could say the same of me. I am at a crossroads, professionally speaking, and feeling deeply frustrated. Partly, it's because of the time of year. It's exam season at the moment, and I find myself kicking my heels in the classroom because of the revision and practice stuff, but also because I'm spending the vast majority of my time right now organising the bloody things for my faculty. I'm responsible for the smooth passage, organisation, implementation and execution of students,er, exams, and I find it a colossally tedious process. Indeed, I find all the paperwork associated with my current job tedious (I'm also responsible for the Part time EFL programme and the smooth flow of data in the department - the latter is rather like being Hercules trying to wash through the Augean Stables with a slightly flabby hose). All of my work commitments effectively mean that I'm hamstrung when it comes to doing the study and research I really need to do in order to further my career, a situation I have begun to suspect my manager has actually engineered. And now she is off to pastures new, and everyone is expecting me to apply for her post. It's a job I could do, no problem: The difficulty lies in the fact that I don't have the qualifications I need, precisely because I've been too damn busy doing what I do. There is also the nagging fact that it's not really the pathway I want to go down. On the other hand, it is something I should strive for, simply because I need the extra cash; But do I need the extra grief?

High time I reactivated this thing..

..so let's kick it off with the presentation I gave at the EnglishUK teachers' conference last year. It's via Google docs, so I don't think the animation stuff works, meaning it'll look a bit messy.