Continue reading »]]> I was shown a photo recently of me giving a leaving certificate to one of my students. The photo moved me greatly because the boy is now dead. His name was Thomas Kelly and he was killed last year when someone hit him from behind when he was strolling in King’s Cross with his girlfriend. No motive has yet been established for the attack. A reason has been suggested. The alleged killer was drunk. Evidently, this is meant to explain things.

When answers to alcohol fuelled violence are suggested, the hackneyed solution of more education is invariably trotted out. It was at the recent NSW
Alcohol Summit. This is going to sound strange coming from a headmaster, but I don’t think education helps much with this sort of PROBLEM. People know that when they gamble, the odds are they will lose their money. People know that if they smoke, they may die of cancer. People know that if they have unprotected sex, they may end up with a sexually transmitted disease. But, many still do it.

It is not a lack of knowledge that causes a person to get drunk. It is a lack of judgement. It is a lack of consequence. It is a lack of an understanding of what it means to be a member of society.

Zealots will come out and say we should not consume more than two standard drinks a day and that, shock, horror, 7.2% of Australians drink daily. Without wanting to trivialise the risks associated with any form of drinking, these sorts of figures do not win the average Aussie to the cause of moderation.

What should worry us are figures that suggest that many young Aussies are drinking in order to get drunk, that ten million Australians are adversely affected by someone else’s drinking habits and that $ 1.4 billion is spent paying for the consequences of alcohol fuelled violence every year.

Reform is not going to happen unless it targets the main problem which is not so much drinking as excessive drinking. 10% of our heaviest drinkers consume about 50% of our alcohol. The alcohol industry relies heavily on big drinkers for their profit. Therefore, society needs to target those times and those places that lend themselves to heavy drinking.

The various initiatives used to cut down on alcohol related violence in Newcastle need to be introduced state-wide. No double shots after a certain hour, bars closed at 3 AM, plastic glasses after Cinderella loses her shoe…this is sensible stuff. Yes, it will hit the heavy drinkers who want to make a night and then a day of it – but they need to harden up. The price society is paying for their freedom is too high. Go home. What are the hours after 3am going to bring other than a headache, some vomit and a fight for a cab?

Of course, these measures bring no guarantees. Thomas was killed just after 10 pm. But the 37% reduction in alcohol related misbehaviour in Newcastle is not to be sniffed at.

The Alcohol industry spends over $1 million a day in Australia promoting its products. There is no way a government can counter this. That said, some thought should be given to restricting alcohol promotion. Given the carnage on our roads, a good place to start might be at our major car races. The poor lads at Bathurst were restricted to a slab of beer per person a day last year. And this was supposed to be progress! It is worth remembering that fast cars plus loose alcohol can equal a body on a slab.

Decreased availability can help, but not prohibition. Liquor outlets that contribute to violence should be closed. Full stop. The current penalties and compliance checks are a joke. We also need to try and move pubs from high volume, low margin establishments to low volume, high margin establishments. Cheap swill halls out. Classy bars in. This might have the happy effect of making many establishments more female friendly.

We may also need to be prepared to pay more for alcohol. Unpopular? Yes – but there is an undeniable link between increased price and decreased consumption. Great Britain whacked a 2% increase per year for five years, and this appears to have helped.

More than anything, we need politicians with guts. The mealy-mouthed words from some at the recent 2013 NSW Alcohol Summit confirm a lack of leadership in this area. Now is the time for bipartisan support for the Newcastle initiatives. Now is the time to declare war on heavy drinking. Now is the time to stop any more weeping over photos of those killed by alcohol-fuelled violence.

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It has been suggested that to be successful as a teacher you need to be able to drink three cups of coffee before 8.00am and keep it in the system until after 5.00pm.  To be successful as a teenage boy is rather more demanding.  It requires:

­    The body of a Greek God (usually male)

­    The sporting ability of an Olympian (preferably without steroids)

­    The mind of Einstein (but without the hair)

­    The sex appeal of whoever is going out with Kylie Minogue

­    The social charm of Casanova

­    And the wealth of the average banker before the Global Financial Crisis

All this can be a touch daunting for the average boy struggling with ‘C’ grades, uncoordinated limbs, a mumbled conversation limited to football and a propensity to blush in the company of a girl.  He might also be struggling with acne and a Facebook page devoid of any female friend who could be remotely be considered a ‘prize’.

Heaping coals on the head of the average youth is the implicit expectation that they should do at least as well as their parents, and probably better.  As a teen, I distinctly remember being in awe of the fact that my parents had learnt how to drive a car, got reasonable jobs and had saved enough ‘moullah’ to secure a modest home.  Furthermore, their dinner conversation was made up of the relaxed banter of those who had read well, traveled a bit and knew a thing or two about contemporary literature.  How had they done it? I was flat out learning the road rules for my ‘L’ plates, holding down a part-time gardening job and buying myself the latest Hendrix offering. And I knew sweet nothing about foie gras. Evidently, it’s not a form of artificial grass!

A boy can be overwhelmed by the task of growing up. Comfort is not provided by schools with, ‘The Future is Unlimited’ sorts of mottos (usually in Latin). Neither do schools help when they wheel in a steady procession of inspirational speakers who have all sorted themselves out and become famous. As a boy in 4B (the bottom grade), I found it all rather depressing. School prizes won in my early teens were limited to a dictionary given at Speech Night. I think it was, ‘For trying’.

There are some quite well-known anecdotes, reflections and pithy sayings that can be shared with a son struggling with the ‘Will I ever make it?’ question.  Chief of these is the poem, Success which has been attributed (wrongly) to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Here, in a slightly adapted format is one of the best definitions of what success is.

SUCCESS IS:

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people

and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics

and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child,

A garden patch or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.

Other literary gems exist such as Rudyard Kipling’s If. But, there’s there problem … ‘If’.  It implies a condition, a prerequisite, an obligation to do something if the prize is to be bestowed.  This can be an uncomfortable truth for our sons.  Attainment is elusive, except, perhaps, in the home where superlatives from well-trained parents can be heard – even for performance that is quite modest.

Unfortunately, outside of the home, the judges are harder, and their grades are less generous – unless undisputed genius is displayed.  For this reason, a son needs to be encouraged in the home but not to the extent that mediocrity is adulated. The world can ill afford to have its ranks swelled by little princes who think the world beyond the front door adores them.  Therefore, a parent must tread that difficult path between encouragement and exhortation; between, ‘Well done’ and, ‘I think you can do better’.

Best of luck with it all.

Continue reading »]]> I received news today that police charges against one of the Year 10 students from The King’s School on exchange to Scotland last year have been dropped.

Knowing something about the case, I expected this decision and believe it to be entirely appropriate.

None-the-less, there are lessons from this matter that the School will study carefully in order to ensure its boys exercise the grace and integrity expected of them, whether they be engaged in ambassadorial duties overseas or not.

It will be interesting to see whether this same grace and integrity will characterise Fairfax Media in reporting this case hereon.  Thus far, they have publicly questioned the culture of the School, the competence of its Headmaster and the integrity of the boy.  The Sydney Morning Herald implied the boy should have been expelled even though the allegations were not yet proven.  This would have been a grave miscarriage of justice.

The damage done by the unbalanced reporting of this case by Fairfax Media has been considerable.  This is regrettable and all the more so given that both the Sydney Morning Herald and The King’s School have enjoyed over 180 years of co-operation, with the School contributing richly to educational debate within its pages.  There appears to be an appetite within Fairfax Media for the denigration of some of Australia’s leading schools.  I hope this case might foster a review of this situation and cause things to change.

Reputation is a fragile thing.  We must all, newspapers and schools alike, seek to honour those we serve with integrity and truth.

Continue reading »]]> ‘Wham’ is the sound of impact.  It’s a sound that’s persuasive. It’s a ‘get-out-of-the-way-I’m-coming-through’ sort of sound.  It’s a sound we want to hear at King’s in 2013.  I’ve challenged Kingsmen to make this a year that packs a punch – that has impact.

It’s far too easy to drift through our days and divert ourselves with the trivial.  The result is that we end the year saying, ‘Where has the year gone?’.  I’ll tell you where it’s gone, it’s gone nowhere.  As it is said, ‘If you aim at nothing you will hit it’.  If a year has been spent on things of such limited consequence it is not remembered, then we have lived a year without impact.

At the start of 2013, I’m asking my students three questions and giving them two areas in which to achieve one goal.

Three Questions

1. Do you do things powerfully?

In Rocky IV, the villainously named, Ivan Drago, was said to pack a punch of 2,150 pounds per square inch.  Assuming an impact area of 100 square centimetres, it would be like getting hit by a four tonne truck.  This is impossible.  However, good boxers can manage about half this force, which is still very significant.  Novices can only manage a quarter of this force which is why they remain novices –their punches lack impact.

When a rugby scrum packs down against the opposition, it can either ‘go through the motions’ and use the experience as a group cuddle – or it can pack low, assume the correct body position and have real impact.  I want 2013 to be a year our boys do things powerfully.

2. What’s in your head?

The year won’t be successful if our boys do not believe they can succeed.  If a boy thinks he is a ‘B’ stream student, he will remain a ‘B’ stream student.  If a boy thinks he can’t get three Band 6 grades in his HSC, he probably won’t!  Our fabulous HSC results last year now show that it is now normal for a Kingsman to work at a Band 6 standard.  (We got 278 Band 6s out of 187 students last year).  Therefore, we must now all and accept this higher standard, and believe it to be possible in the lives of our sons.  We are a school committed to attaining the highest possible academic grades – indeed, we now expect it.

In the great Holden-Ford duel at Bathurst last year, Jamie Whincup held off David Reynolds by three-tenths of a second.  What spurred Whincup on was  a comment made by Dick Johnson that he didn’t have the mental capacity to win the race.  Whincup proved him wrong.  But, what about us?  Do we have the mental capacity to make 2013 a year of real impact?

3. Who’s in your team?

At the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic won the Men’s Singles – but only just!  He was taken to five sets by a virtual outsider – Stanislas Wawrinka.  In explaining how he managed to recover so quickly and go on to win his remaining matches, ‘the Djoker’ said that he had a great team of people around him.

Who’s in our team?  Who’s helping our children?  Is it a team that encourages and supports, or is it a team that is rather ho-hum in the support they give.  Parents, teachers and friends make up the bulk of the support team of our kids.  Parents and teachers are generally a given with children not being able to control these variables.  However, they can choose their friends.  A friend can have a profound impact on a child’s learning.  If a young person surrounds themselves with friends that encourage them in their learning – they are in a very good place.  Not for nothing has it been written:  ‘Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future’.

Two Areas

IN LEARNING our children need to go for excellence.  They need to compare themselves with the best, not the worst.  They need to set goals that stretch them.  They must explore the true limits of their potential and make each day at School count – really count.  They shouldn’t go to bed unless they have improved – until they have mastered the next step in their learning journey.

IN LIVING our children need to learn to shake hands firmly and practice random acts of kindness.  They must write ‘thank-you’ notes, help out at home, befriend someone in need of friendship, support a charity, learn to tie a double Windsor knot and to recite the words of an Irish blessing.  Ok, ok, I know, but I think you get the idea – they must not be ordinary.

One Goal

Three challenges.  Two areas.  One goal – to have impact in 2013.

Continue reading »]]> The Federal Government’s recently announced White Paper on ‘Australia in the Asian Century’ will probably fail.  This is a shame because we need it to succeed.

The Paper was motivated by the global centre for economic activity becoming more oriental.  Evidently, the centre started somewhere East of Thingummystan (we used to call it Russia) then migrated westward drawn by the wealth of Europe and America.  Somewhere over Whereisfjördur (Iceland), the global economic centre took a U-turn and has been hurrying back to Beijing ever since 1950.  This is good news for Australia.

However, our capacity to enrich ourselves on the spoils of this fiscal migration is unlikely to be helped by trotting out a party trick of ‘heads, shoulders, knees and toes’ said in Japanese – this being the only thing remembered from enforced Asian Language classes in the middle school years.  Typically, between 80 to 90 per cent of school students drop their foreign language studies before reaching Year 12.

Yes, there is undoubted cultural enrichment in studying a language, but there is also resentment and frustration if you are not a linguist.  There is some truth in the saying that an educated Australian should not necessarily know an Asian language, but at least they should have forgotten one.  There is benefit in learning an Asian language.  However, cultural understanding can also be fostered through a study of Asian History, Geography and Society.  We need not always rely on ‘heads, shoulders …’

Julia Gillard loves to wave the funding stick to get schools to toe the line.  We’ve seen it with academic improvement, now we’ve got it with Asian languages.  However, the threat would be more persuasive if the $6.5 billion of extra Gonski funding were actually in the hands of schools and able to be confiscated.  (Note to Government – do not confuse aspiration with achievement.)

Poor Ken Henry.  The author of Australia in the Asian Century hasn’t a great track record of success as a Government advisor.  His Tax Review of 2008-2010 recommended 138 tax reforms but the Federal Government has implemented only about six.  Will he do better with orientalising us?   Probably not.  It is one thing for a school to offer a language; it is another to have it accepted by students.  It is one thing to study a language; it is another to learn it.  It is one thing to learn a language; it is another to understand a country.

It has been suggested that it will take about a billion dollars to teach half our children an Asian language.  Ouch!  This will be bad news for the Federal Treasurer who has run out of smoke and mirrors to deliver a surplus budget.

Do not misunderstand this thesis.  Learning an Asian language is a good thing.  It is next to impossible to learn the language of a place without developing an understanding of the place.  But then what?  You must also be creative, resourceful and engaging if you want to do business in Asia.  You must have something to offer other than ‘heads, shoulders, knees and toes’, said in Hindi or Mandarin.

Therefore, we do not just need to teach Asian languages in schools, we need to teach enterprise, endeavour and excellence.  It is our rock, crop and stock that is wanted by Asia, not a linguistic party trick.  It is our product and service that is wanted, not our proficiency in a language.  (They can already speak it.)

So, let’s teach Asian languages in our schools, but to stop it being tokenistic, it must be done properly.  It must also be done recognising that it is but one means of equipping our children to benefit from the aspirant needs of three billion middle-class consumers on our doorstep.

Continue reading »]]> The quality of political debate in Australia is now so appalling that even the most partisan of protagonists must be appalled at the performance of our politicians.

There is a hunger for authentic leadership and a weariness with self-serving MPs whose vision for their country fails to extend beyond short-term political expediency.  There is a thirst for moral leadership and a longing for statesmanship that puts principles before popularity.

Whilst recognising that no one is perfect and that ‘all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’, there is an expectation that our representatives of the people should model those behaviours that ennoble rather than degrade.  But many don’t.  Given there is a moral ambiguity in our nation, perhaps we should not be surprised.  Our representatives of the people are just that – representatives of the people.  We get the politicians we deserve.  To this end, we all might benefit from reassessing our leadership skills:

• Are we able to lead ourselves?  Are we able to take control our lives in a manner that realises appropriate goals and enriches the community in which we live?
• Are we able to show leadership in the home?  To what extent are we, as parents, modelling those values we want in our children?
• Are we able to demonstrate leadership at work – to show initiative and influence productivity in a positive way?

When we point the finger of accusation at our politicians, it is as well to remember where the other fingers of our hand are pointing.

You are a leader if someone else is following.  You are a leader if you are an influence.  Lots of people like to describe themselves as leaders, but are not.  They may be managers and do useful and necessary tasks related to organising things, but they are not necessarily leaders.  Leadership has to do with initiative, creativity and inspiration.  It is not necessarily about bureaucracy and administration.  Management is more to do with the head, whereas leadership is more to do with the heart.

Leadership is not for the feint-hearted.  If you are going to do leadership properly, it is hard work.

• The easy bit of leadership is to use your gifts for the betterment of oneself. The hard bit of leadership is to use your gifts for the betterment of others.
• The easy bit of leadership is to wear the badge. The hard bit of leadership is to deserve the badge.
• The easy bit of leadership is to do what is popular. The hard bit of leadership is to do what is right.
• The easy bit of leadership is to deal with policy. The hard bit of leadership is to deal with people.
• The easy bit of leadership is to enjoy its success. The hard bit of leadership is to endure its failure.
• The easy bit of leadership is to follow consensus, the hard bit of leadership is to follow conviction.
• The easy bit of leadership is administration. The hard bit of leadership is inspiration.
• The easy bit of leadership is to judge others. The hard bit of leadership is to judge yourself.

Yes – our politicians need to lift their game when it comes to leadership – but perhaps we all should.

Continue reading »]]> Ross Gittins did an extraordinary job of vilifying independent schools in his article ‘Productivity the loser in Gonski fight’ (SMH 27/8/12).  The eviscerating of these schools was complete when Gittins, usually a measured analyst, was moved to use phrases such as ‘money hungry elite schools … hiding their naked greed’.  He concluded his attack with a spiritual condemnation – ‘professed followers of Jesus using all the secular world’s lobbying tricks’.

Whoa there, Boy!  Let me interrupt the rant with some truth.  Independent schools hold many disparate views on the Gonski recommendations.  After all, we are independent.  That said, many, if not most, thoroughly applaud Gonski’s recommendations.  And quite rightly too.  Gonski has preserved the principle of entitlement.  Every Australian child gets some share of the education tax dollar.  He has also honoured the principle of needs-based funding, with the disadvantaged child getting more funding.  Brilliant!

I gave Gonski a B+ for his recommendations when they first came out and I see no reason to change this grade.  In short, I liked them.  I would have given an ‘A’ but for some intemperate use of NAPLAN data that was never designed to be used to fund schools, and for some errors in funding disadvantaged students that would have left some worse off.  I am not alone in my high regard of the recommendations.  Many independent school heads like them.  Why wouldn’t we?  Quite apart from the obvious fairness, several independent schools will get more money.

If you are going to rant against anything, rant at a Federal Government that is not making the full funding of Gonski a priority.  Rant against over-funded schools (according to their SES score) having their over-funded status protected.  Rant against the redefinition of ‘disadvantaged’ that is being considered by some politicians to save money.

Many of the ‘elite schools’ denigrated as ‘selfish and aggressive’ by Gittins get less than a quarter of the funding they would get if they were a State School.  Most are quite happy about this because it is recognised we have more capacity to raise monies than most State Schools.  That said, the 2009 MySchool data revealed that 61 of the 100 wealthiest schools, as measured by the Index of Community Socio-Economic Advantage, were State Schools!

In the end, the stagnation of the Gonski reforms relate very little to lobbying by independent schools and relates more to the fact the Government hasn’t any money.  To implement the Gonski reforms properly will now take over $10 billion.  The Federal Government hasn’t got this money and it hasn’t got the political strength to get this money.

By all means have a rant – it makes our newspapers rather more interesting – but try and have a well-informed rant – otherwise you just reveal prejudice.

Continue reading »]]> No father should have to give a eulogy for a son.  It should be the other way around.  It usually is – but not for Ralph Kelly.  In The King’s School Chapel and supported by over 500 mourners, a shattered family farewelled a murdered son – Thomas Andreae Kelly (1994-2012).

At the funeral, we heard about a young man who loved life, was prepared to be a bit different, and was charting a successful future since graduating from King’s in 2011.  Then, someone hit him.  Thomas let go his girlfriend’s hand and fell to the ground.  Two days later, Thomas’ life support system was switched off.  One of our own had been murdered.

The senselessness of the attack has shocked a nation.  If this can happen to a good boy from a good family – where does it leave the rest of us?  No-one is safe.  There is evil in this world, evil that considers hitting people an acceptable social sport.

Doubtless, the alleged killer will claim innocence.  If that doesn’t work, there’s mitigating circumstances, then diminished responsibility.  After that, there’s the usual clichéd liturgy of excuses.  Under-parenting, drop-out from school, no fixed address, in the company of the others who like head-butting cameramen, addicted to binge-drinking, occasional user of prohibited drugs – you know the sort of thing …

All this may, or may not be true – but here is something that IS true.  Background stuff may help us to understand the killer’s behaviour, but it doesn’t excuse it.  There’s a huge difference.

OK – the cowardly blow (allegedly from behind for goodness sake!) on the totally unsuspecting victim, was probably not meant to kill Thomas.  But, I find this excuse totally inadequate.  If you play Russian Roulette, you know you may get killed.  If you run red lights, you know you may get killed or kill someone.  If you hit people hard, you know you may hurt or kill them.  That’s why civilised people don’t do these things.

There is evil abroad – the sort of evil that walks into picture theatres and shoots people; that straps on suicide vests; that expresses manhood by hitting people.  Society must now be outraged.  We must advocate proper parenting.  We must ensure schools no longer wallow in moral ambiguity.  We must support our police rather than let them become used for target-practice by the criminal class and by some within the legal profession.

Evil people rarely understand that they are evil.  The alleged killer of Thomas Kelly had friends who said it was all media beat-up.  When I looked at Thomas’ coffin, I could not agree.  It was a senseless tragedy – a crime committed by a dangerously stupid member of our community.  It’s time good people said ‘enough’!

Continue reading »]]> Here in Rwanda, with a team from The King’s School working with Hope Global in the local schools, I are finding that cows have a significance that is both frightening and endearing.

The 1994 genocide saw one million Tutsi slaughtered in 100 days. One of the definitions of a Tutsi was someone who owned ten cows. Just tragic!

Then there was the love-struck young teacher telling me he only needed one more cow to have the requisite dowry to marry his beloved. Just charming!

Continue reading »]]> A ‘situations vacant’ sign is likely to dangle outside most Australian schools in the near future.  Over the next four years, more than a quarter of Australian teachers will have reached retirement age and over 10,000 teachers are likely to retire in the next decade.  Who is going to replace them?  The answer, of course, is anyone.  Teaching is easy … or is it?

The following is a personal reflection on the skills required of the contemporary teacher.

1.      Personable

Teachers must do more than grind through course content.  They must build relationships and enter the world of their students.  Humour and approachability will help, over-familiarity will not.  Some irascibility and even strictness is allowed in a teacher providing it is transparently clear to the student that they are still valued.  The cardinal rule for those wishing to be successful teachers is that they must enjoy teaching.  If teachers do not enjoy teaching, their students will not enjoy learning.

Unfortunately, there still exists the teacher who is the burnt-out cynic, who has given up hope and displays this to the students who are only too willing to fuel the emotional capitulation with further evidence of hopelessness. A great teacher is not necessarily the friendliest teacher or even the most popular teacher.  The great teacher is the one who inspires and disturbs until a new level of possibility is seen.

2.      Partner

It has been said that the teacher of tomorrow can no longer be the ‘sage on the stage’ but must be the ‘guide by the side’.  Yesterday, teachers poured knowledge down the thin-necked objects of their attention.  However, the last few years have seen a democratisation of learning where students are active partners with teachers in learning.  All this can be a bit humbling for a teacher, and even more so when Jones Minor has found a fantastic new website that is explaining things better than ‘Sir’, and Smith Major has demonstrated a superior knowledge of quarks, neutrinos and ‘God particles’.

Partnerships can be challenging.  Far better to be the autocrat.  No dialogue.  No distraction.  No worries.  But we can’t.  The teachers of tomorrow must not treat their students as passive recipients invited only to remember and repeat.  They must now be managed as collaborators in the plot to overthrow ignorance.

3.      Progressive

It is not necessary for every teacher to be a digital native at ease in a world dominated by integrated technologies, but they do need to be a digital immigrant who can venture into post millennial territory and survive within it.

In tomorrow’s school, modern technologies will be used everywhere with a presumption of their worth and convenience.  The whole school will be a workspace.  Benches in the playground will be littered with students using laptops, iPods, pocket PCs and mobile phones.  Learning will be encouraged everywhere.  Students will tumble out of classrooms and re-form in a dozen small groups to engage in tweets, blogs and Wikis.  Print stations will be found in strategic locations.  Stand-up work spaces with touch-screens will facilitate web-browsing for those ‘on the move’ and without a pocket device.  Flat plasma screens will provide synchronised school news, swipe cards will provide entry and attendance verification.

In classrooms, interactive white boards will magnify learning.  All key lessons will be digitally recorded for student recall.  Student work will be beamed onto screens for comment and marked using a virtual pencil.  Lessons will be augmented by video-conferences with specialist teachers off shore and by model lessons in clouds.  Are you up for this?

4.      Performer

Be warned, the educational world has gone mad about performance.  Accountability measures are everywhere.  Debates are being held about performance-related pay and credentialing is rife.  Stir in academic league tables, NAPLAN tests and ‘My School’ websites and ‘Big Brother’ is definitely with you in the contemporary classroom.

5.      Parent

They shouldn’t be, but they are.  The teacher of tomorrow will be required to be a parent.  Many parents are wonderful and fulfil their role with such completeness that a teacher need only teach the blessings of quadratic equations and the curses of the split infinitive.  However, some parents are less wonderful and this sometimes requires teachers to do the caring, the mentoring and even the loving.

This problem is exacerbated by the growing frequency of marriage collapse, single parenting, teenage parenting and aberrant parenting.  At a time when meaningful dialogue between fathers and their offspring is being measured in seconds a day, it is often left to the teacher to be the mentor.  Increasingly, teachers are having to deal with issues such as sex education, hygiene and morality.

There are also some who over-parent, who hover above their progeny in a way that guarantees they never grow up.  There are other parents who are all at sea – who are absent from their children’s lives except for brief periods of shore leave.  Having to cope with both is the teacher – building resilience in the over-parented and security in the under-parented.

6.      Physician

A teacher must be a healer.  A teacher must be able to counter the de-sensitising to violence, the premature sexualising, and the ambiguous morality that is the cyber world in which most children live.  They must also assist the socially maladjusted in a way that prevents the school from becoming a lucrative legal target.

Despite being squeezed between rising expectations and declining resources, the teacher of tomorrow will be required to fulfil parental dreams and to protect children’s rights.  They will be expected to be the polymath – the master of many skills.  They will be asked to be prophet, priest and parent.  Let’s hope that there are 10,000 brave souls that are prepared to step up to this challenge.