By a lovely coincidence, on World Teachers’ day, education is today’s theme on #Blogtober17.  First of all I am a teacher and I love my job. I believe in the power and good of education. I was one of the lucky ones to benefit from a free education system, a good comprehensive school and then university with no fees and a small maintenance grant which allowed me to become the first member of my family to graduate. It saddens me that if I were 18 today, I would not go to university, the cost would be too high. How many amazing potential teachers feel the same in a profession which is facing a recruitment crisis?

I suppose this will turn into a little manifesto today as I believe education can help our children all around the world to start to come out of poverty, to give them opportunities and to broaden their horizons. Knowledge excites and empowers us all. We need to make education stimulating, relevant and inclusive. Our curriculum needs to allow teachers to be autonomous and creative, to allow play, exploring and all types of learning, to emphasise creative subjects and to celebrate everyone’s strengths, academic and non-academic. It also needs fair funding.

Despite my concerns I can’t imagine doing another job and genuinely hope that teaching will be the sole profession in my working life. Children are amazing and it is a privilege to work with our young people and to teach, guide and support them.