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You've just been handed your new class, and the teacher passing them over tells you they were the most difficult group they've had in eleven years of teaching. So is that a useful heads up, or a label that's going to sit over the whole class before you've even met them?
That's where Dylan and Hayden start this week, after a Father's Day McDonald's story that takes an unexpected turn. The first question comes from a year 1 teacher about to take on their fourth class, and it opens up a proper debate. Why does every class somehow become the trickiest one ever? Is it fair to brand a whole class when you hand it over, or should you just pass on the facts and let the next teacher make up their own mind? And the big one doing the rounds online, do tricky classes even exist, or is it all about the school environment? Dylan has a fairly visceral reaction to that one.
Then things heat up. A listener has been made joint subject lead with no TLR, no extra time and no real choice, and asks if that's normal. It is, and Dylan explains exactly why he would refuse to do unpaid leadership work, what he'd say to the head, and the awkward bit nobody talks about: what happens when your co-lead quietly does it all anyway.
Next, a spicy one. A teacher writes in convinced some colleagues just don't want to work. Dylan and Hayden dig into change fatigue, why so much of what schools change moves the needle barely at all, and what people really mean when they call a teacher negative.
There's a quick one on whether the annual staff survey is ever actually anonymous, and the answers will make you laugh. Then a meatier Ofsted question about colleagues who praised SLT they moan about constantly, the one person who told the truth, and who ends up paying for being honest.
Honest, funny, and right on time for this point in the year.
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