are secondary school teachers cliquey?

I may be starting as a ta alone at a secondary school soonish and I'm a bit concerned. I've worked in 2 secondary schools, the first one i was observing lessons and the teachers didn't speak to me at all! The 2nd time i was with other students so i hung around with them. Just wondering what other experiences have been, i heard that teachers are actually know for being a bit cliquey in the staffroom. Having a friends at work is really important for me to be happy at work! :confused:

Reply 1

evantej

emma t

I think you answered your own question to be honest. I have used this example before, but I will use it again. When I was doing work experience in a secondary school earlier this year, I sat in the staffroom with other people who were doing the same programme (student associate scheme). The next day, while I was in the classroom by myself (along with teachers), the teachers put down pieces of paper on the seats the student associates had sat in the previous day, 'reserving' them for lunch time (they actually wrote reserved on the pieces of paper before you assume we were being paranoid). Later on, some PGCE students explained the 'staffroom system' and how they were looked down upon by full-time teachers so we were at the bottom of the pile, essentially.

To be fair, I assume most jobs are cliquey to an extent so I cannot see why teaching would be worse per se. :confused:

Reply 2

Reicheru

I'm a TA at the moment and i've found at my school I get out of it what I put in. If I try to be friendly and talk to the teachers then they will talk to me if I don't then they don't. If you are the only TA then I'm sure they will make an effort to include you. If anything I find the other TAs a bit cliquey towards the teachers - they want to be separate from them.

Don't worry too much about it! If you go in and be friendly people will respond to that whether they are a teacher or not. You will be fine I'm sure.

Reply 3

nikki_louise

i went in for two weeks work experience before i apply for my pgce and never found this, teachers and ta's all spoke to me and considering i have no qualifications and im doing my undergrad i was really pleasantly suprised. i think often different schools work diferently so dont get too worked up until you are there nd see what happens.

Reply 4

dobbs

Try talking to the teachers?

I've been doing two weeks observation in a Primary School as part of my (secondary) PGCE that I start on Monday, and I do agree some of the teachers barely speak to me (even when I'm in their lessons) but the majority do and are really friendly.

I think if you just sit at the back of the class and take notes they'll not really be interested, but if you get chatting to them about various things - ask them how they found their PGCE (this is a fantastic question as they all seem to love telling you about it!) or just ask them things that they'd like to answer (asking things like "Can you tell me how you link your classes to the national curriculum" is boring, but things like "How do you reward kids who do well?" and "Do you run any extra curricular activities" can be interesting to talk about).

I think quite a few will speak to me tomorrow as it's my last day in the school and I'm taking a big tin of Quality Streets in to say thank you for being so helpful for the last 2 weeks :smile:

are secondary school teachers cliquey?

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