One of the benefits of being a lawyer is that, for the most part, you know who your client is. It’s pretty clear that the guy paying you to defend him in court is who you are serving at that moment. It’s similar for carpet cleaners, doctors, and taxi drivers.
But it’s a lot less clear-cut for teachers.
Who are teachers serving? Where does our obligation lie? Who are we ultimately accountable to?
In an independent school, the parents are paying for your service. And if they are unimpressed, they will go to a different service provider. Are parents the client?
But in a government school, the taxpayer is paying for the service; are they the client? And are parents now less of a client?
And what about the student; isn’t he or she the client?
Or is it the Head of Department to whom I’m accountable for my performance and ongoing tenure?
Or is my school the client? They appointed me and directly pay me for my service?
And ultimately, does it even matter?
Most of the time, no, it doesn’t. As a teacher, you do your best to educate the child and, in theory, assuming it goes well, all stakeholders are happy.
But at times when the different stakeholders have different priorities, it can get pretty murky.
What happens, for example, when you have you have been teaching a wonderful child who shines when given the chance to work collaboratively to tackle challenging problems, who has a mature capacity to embrace risk and learn from failure, and who, more than any other child you teach, draws on a deep-well of social intelligence to empathise with other individual students and to unite groups towards a common goal…
…What happens when you are instructed to evaluate this child by telling them to sit in silence, to answer the question as the examiner expects, to avoid risk, to collaborate with no one and to try to beat all the other students…?
…What happens when you believe this is not in the best interest of the child’s education?
…And when you decide to follow the instruction you are given and evaluate the child anyway, you may well do it with a completely clear conscience – “it’s the right thing to do”.
…the right thing for who? Who’s the client now?
David's Blog 