If you ever get fired, you should know that all the blame falls on your head. This is because for the greater part, your actions contribute a great deal to your fate at the workplace.
Other factors like the nature of your boss, the traits of your co-workers and others partially play a role, but this article mainly looks at the kind of actions that will enable you to keep your job for a long time without getting fired.
1. Always deliver
As a teacher, there’s one main job you’re brought to do – and that’s teaching. Everything else is secondary. As a teacher, these are the signs that you’re doing your job pretty well;
- Quick syllabus coverage
- Relevant and appropriate notes
- Good grades/ improvements in the students’ grades
- Proper use of teaching aids
- Over deliver (do a little more than is expected of you)
As you do all the above, make sure your main aim is great student performance, not any sort of appreciation from your bosses because that will only lead you astray.
2. Regular attendance
In order to maintain a successful career as a teacher, you have to try as much as you can to come to school every working day so you don’t miss out on things like;
- Lessons
- Class meetings
- Staff meetings
- Special school events
Of course, sometimes it will be just hard to come to school because you don’t feel like it – but it’s not only about saving your career, but attendance is a reliable basis for promotion of a teacher to higher ranks.
3. Respect to mates and superiors
Respect for all your peers and superiors, is as important as respecting yourself. In most cases, it will guarantee the longevity of your career if you do things like;
- Talking to all your colleagues with respect
- Resist touching people’s property without their permission
- Listening to others first before you say anything
Before I go any further with this, I’m not saying you have to give in to intimidation or erase your boundaries. Some people will want to intimidate you or take advantage of your respectfulness, and you have to know how to respond appropriately.
4. Avoid romantic relationships
By this, I mean both with your colleagues and students – unless, of course, you’re in the same place with your spouse and the relationship started before the career. To be honest, your true love will come from anywhere but your workplace. Romantic relationships will bring about things like;
- Competing with your colleagues to win the love of one of your colleagues that you all have feelings for
- Legal battles in case of a teacher-student relationship that parents get to know about
- You lose the respect of your students when you engage in relationships with them
In some schools, the temptation might be a lot stronger than in others – especially where/ when it seems normal.
5. Respect the rules and regulations
Every school administrator knows that in order to keep their teaching staff in check, they have to have specific rules and regulations on their conduct. As a teacher, adhering to the rules and regulations will give you a safe career. Here’s how you can do it;
- Stay humble
- Don’t take any rule for granted, even though it doesn’t seem that important
- Resist any form of influence from your peers that are already breaking them
Sometimes, your peers will turn you into a black sheep and even hate you because you’ve resisted conformity. If you succumb to their influence, you’ve lost the mental game.
6. Don’t get too emotional
Of course, every human being has emotions – and out of emotions, we do so many things. However, you have to regulate your emotions in order to avoid doing things like;
- Turning your anger towards students
- Giving heavy punishments to students out of anger
- Getting too excited
If you get too emotional, you’ll most likely do things that you’ll regret sooner or later, and that’s one of the worst forms of career suicide.
7. Stay punctual
Punctuality is one of the most important traits and a great predictor of the longevity of your career as a teacher. This is because punctuality gives you advantages like;
- Timely coverage of all the intended topics of study and the syllabus
- Not missing out on any activity in the school
8. Don’t make enemies among your colleagues
It’s not like you should be on friendly terms with each and everyone in the staffroom, but there should be a form of truce that allows you to work safely with everyone. On the other hand, making enemies among your colleagues brings about things like;
- Conspiracies to sabotage one another’s careers
- Inflicting physical harm upon one another
Even if some people will still hate you regardless of your good character, it still won’t be like the situation when everyone’s on each other’s neck.
9. Quit if you notice unbearable red flags
In everything you do in life, you can possibly encounter red flags somewhere. However, it’s hard to notice them. Examples of possible red flags include;
- The definite likelihood of getting fired any time soon
- School administrators that you can’t work with
- Unhealthy working environment
Even though you’ve noticed any of these red flags, it’s hard to push the eject button – because you believe it will pass, or you can do something to change it. Even though this is true sometimes, sometimes it isn’t.
Conclusion;
This article has been mainly about those things that you can/ have to do in case you want your job to last. However, there are certain situations that are entirely out of your control, and you can’t prevent them no matter how hard you try. Also, it’s extremely important for you to have a career deadline so that you prepare for it, in whatever you do.
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