CPD in association with
Thinking two steps ahead
How far ahead
can you plan
your career?
Margaret
Adams asks the question
S YOU read this question, you are
A
probably asking yourself if you
have a plan for your career.
Perhaps you are asking if you
want a plan. You might even be
asking yourself if it is possible to
plan your career at all.
If you are thinking of mapping out your whole
teaching career, and trying to work out what you will be
doing in 20 years’ time, then planning will be difficult.
You can, however, look ahead.
How far you choose to look ahead will depend on
a range of factors, including your view of the value of
planning.
Think about the following to help you get started on
the sort of planning that will be right for you.
Do you like planning?
Your success with careering planning is going to
depend a lot on how comfortable you are with the idea
of planning itself.
Ask yourself what sort of person you are. Do you
like to know where you are going? Do you like to feel in
control of your destiny? Are you a happy-go-lucky sort
of person? Do you just deal with situations as they arise,
and take opportunities as they present themselves?
There is no right or wrong answer to the questions,
but your answers will shape your approach to career
planning.
Make sure you know your preferences before you
embark on a planning process. Otherwise you are likely
to struggle.
Where is the horizon?
The first thing to do, once you decide to start planning
ahead, is to create a framework within which you will
work. Establishing your career horizon is a good way
of doing this.
Every one has a career horizon. It is out there in the
distance. You are heading towards it, and it is as far
ahead of you as you can see. For most teachers, their
career horizons are about five years ahead of them or If you are in your second year in teaching, for can set start to think about career goals and your your life affects your working life? Changes in
two career moves into the future. That is as far ahead as example, what can you hope to be doing next year? Then, career plan. relationships, births, deaths, illnesses, and changes in
you can realistically look. what would you like to be doing two years after that? Goals, in career planning terms, are the places economic and personal circumstances do not happen
You know where you are now in your career. You Look as far ahead as you comfortably can. When at which you would like to arrive. They are your in a vacuum.
probably know what you like doing now, and hence you you find that point, stop. You have found your career destinations. Your career plan is the strategy you put Work through the implications of all these issues
can think about what you would like to do next. This horizon. in place to help you to reach those destinations. Your to be sure you have a realistic view of the future.
‘
Emotional intelligence is an important factor
means you can see your next career move. Take the career plan is your journey planner. Think about how much freedom you have, given
opportunity to look further into the future, and consider
Know where you are going
If your career horizon is five years in the future, your commitments outside school, to move to
what you would like to do after your next move. Once you have located your career horizon, you where is it realistic for you to aim to be at that time? another part of the country to take up the sort of job
in predicting school success. Poor behaviour,
Do you want to be a head of department? Do you want you want.
to be a special needs co-ordinator? Do you want to be Work out what impact studying part-time for a
unauthorised absences and exclusion from school
Appraising appraisals
doing more-or-less the same job but using new skills to higher degree will have on your life away from the
help you to succeed? Wherever you want to arrive, how classroom and on your teaching.
are all linked to lower emotional intelligence
are you going to get there?
’
Is your plan flexible?
Dot Struthers
performance by giving them constructive Looking ahead is not about rigid thinking. You will
feedback.
• Confidential – remember you are dealing with
offers some
personal information, so you need to keep your
conversations private and this will create trust.
advice on
• Learning – position your sessions as opportunities
to review growth and development, not to assess
‘
Look as far ahead
need a means of reviewing your plan to allow you to
work out if it needs changing.
Planning ahead does not mean you cannot reassess
as you comfortably can.
where you want to take your career. If you are relatively
new to teaching, there is a good chance that you
how to hold
their competence.
When you find
will change your mind as new opportunities present
themselves.
• Simple – do not make the process bureaucratic,
effective appraisals
there is no need. Keep your sessions to 30 that point, stop. You
The new 14 to 19 Diplomas, for example, may have
really fired your imagination and encouraged you to
minutes. rethink your plans and your career destinations.
• Recognition – this is an opportunity for you to
have found your
This is not a problem. A good plan can accommodate
recognise good work or for a person to bring to change.
THERE IS nothing worse than feeling like your your attention to something they have achieved.
performance appraisals are a tick-box exercise and • Regular – have at least three one-to-one sessions
career horizon
As you look ahead, allow yourself to redefine your
destination and reshape your journey, if that is what
something that you are imposing on your team. throughout the year where you can chat informally feels right. Do not feel guilty. There is nothing wrong
The performance management cycle involves about progress and achievements. with changing your mind. Provided you know where
planning, monitoring and reviewing, but the secret is Performance appraisal processes can take a few It is important to do this thinking. H you are going, you are still planning.
not to make it too mechanised, although you do need years to settle down before everyone gets the hang of ocus your efforts. Your plan will help
’
aving goals
will f you to chart
a bit of structure. them and they get to a point where they are efficient your course.
Conclusion
Here are some useful tips to think about as you go and positive processes. All of this is true whether or not you are looking for So how far ahead can you plan? In the end it is a
through this year’s cycle: Avoid taking on the responsibility for your team’s promotion in teaching. question of how far ahead you want to look. Do not
• Balance – in your planning sessions think about success, you cannot step in and fix things, your job feel obliged to adopt anyone else’s approach. Do
having both professional and personal goals. is to coach them and help them to see what has to be
What can blow you off course?
not feel anxious if your plan is different from other
• Meaningful and valuable – it should feel like done without telling them. Some teachers really struggle after they have produced people.
time well spent, where both of you have come And, watch out that you do not set unrealistic their plans. You will know you have got your planning right,
prepared and progress is made. targets. While it is good to stretch someone, don’t They get sidetracked or swept in an unexpected when you feel comfortable with where you are now in
• Personal responsibility – make every session you break them. direction. After such an experience they often decide your career, and confident you know where you want to
have with them feel like it is their session, not they cannot plan ahead at all. take your life in teaching in the foreseeable future. SecEd
yours, and let them book the dates and times in • Dot Struthers runs workshops and tele-coaching If this is happening to you, check that you are taking
advance. courses on performance management. For more everything you need to think about into consideration • Margaret Adams is the author of How To Take Charge
• Poor performance – if you have a session information, visit www.merechats.co.uk or call Dot when you do your planning. Of Your Teaching Career (Continuum International
once a term, you can redirect and coach a person’s on 020 8408 3782. Have you remembered that you have a life outside Publishing, 2008) and of Work-life Balance: A Practical
teaching, and that what happens in that part of Guide For Teachers (David Fulton Publishers, 2006).
SecEd • November 13 2008 13
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