So, where's the “Abused” bit, I hear you ask? Well, maybe “Abused” is too strong a word, but I was looking for something beginning with “A” and that was all I could come up with on short notice! Seriously, of course the “abuse” isn't physical, or even verbal, but sometimes when you've had a bad day: - the kids have played up because you're not their class teacher; you only had a 10-minute lunch break because you had meetings and prep and heaven knows what; the carefully differentiated worksheet that took you three hours wasn't differentiated enough and the low ability kids didn't achieve anything; one of the kids refused to come back indoors after PE and the Behaviour Mentor sent a message back with the child you sent to fetch her: “In a meeting, will be with you in 20…” so you and the rest of the class are forced to stay out in the yard, lined up because, due to the lack of a TA, you can't leave either the class or the renegade child unsupervised, until the BM finally shows up; and finally, you're hauled over the coals by Senior Management for daring to tell the NQT that her class had been badly behaved for you (again), and thus upsetting her and making her scared to go back to class - sometimes, after all this, you actually do feel that you actually have been abused in some way! And yes, I know I've used the word “actually” twice there but it has a nice cadence in that particular sentence!
You must be wondering why I took the job in the first place. Lots of reasons really - it's part-time, which I really need right now, it's in a familiar school that I am happy working in and it's easy to travel to. That doesn't make the job itself any easier, just more convenient than other jobs and convenience in your working life, I have found, is not to be sniffed at. Things could be worse - I could be working more hours, in a school I don't like that needs a long-distance, expensive journey to get to. In an ideal world, of course, I'd be able to afford to work in a little tea-room by the river, baking and selling home-made cakes…
