Much is said, and rightly so, about the heavy workload of teachers, but not so much about the heavy demands made while actually teaching – the high levels of focus and concentration required for many hours. How much of the following is noticed by outsiders? The effective teacher is able to take in, analyse, assess and make decisions about a vast multiplicity of variables and respond to a wide range of incessant and unending demands at such a fast, lighting or computer-like and almost subliminal speed, that it takes a huge mental effort to make what has happened conscious, verbal and explicit.
Robert Hayes
Teacher, ACT
IEU member since 1997