It takes a village

 `It takes a village...` African proverb 

It takes a village to raise a child is a proverb that, when you work in education, is what we affectionately call ´een dooddoener´ (in Dutch) or a cliché (if you prefer the word the English and Dutch stole from the French). Hell, we even have this hanging on the wall of our teachers lounge so that we can all stare at it and realise how hard it is to raise children. Which, I am not disagreeing with! However, I would like to talk about the other side of this proverb, which goes a little like this: 'It takes a village to keep a teacher sane.' 

You see, as a teacher you do not work alone. There is no bubble, no deserted island. A school is indeed, like a village, wherein everyone plays their part in order to ensure that the community thrives. And yes, everyone is there for the children. But as a teacher, I would like to shed some light on the incredible amount of work school support staffers do on a regular basis, that keeps us (teachers) sane. 

Nowadays not a day goes by without me needing help in order to do my job efficiently. From the ICT staff (three whole people in charge of ALL ICT ISSUES for the ENTIRE SCHOOL) that work tirelessly to reinstall lost wifi connections, reboot the printers for the sixhundreth time and fix every damn laptop that gets broken by impatient students (or technology challenged teachers). To the ladies that work in the study centre, ensuring that the books I need for students are ready at all times, while simultaneously despairing over the fact that nobody ever seems to be able to return said books. How about our lunch lady who works her damned ass off every day to stock our coffee machines, feed hundreds of children, while still willing to jump in and cater every single school activity ? I haven't even mentioned the people working at the front desk who handle all our visitors, fend off calls from parents and who slowly drown in all the packages teachers have delivered to school without ever picking them up. Packages that eventually end up being delivered by the janitors, who can fix everything teachers or students break, frequently aid us if a student's behaviour gets out of hand and who will still find time to help us hang our newest bookshelves (without ever questioning why we need all those shelves in the first place). What about the people that work in the financial administration? HR? People who, when a certain teachers decides to move but finds out she doesn't actually have enough money to do so, work tirelessly to provide said teacher with an advance so that said teacher doesn't have to eat stale bread. OR! The people in charge of the schedule?! Who are in charge of scheduling every class, every project week, every study day. And who do so while trying to honour the many (often demanding) requests from teachers and management alike. 

I could go on really, and I'm sure there's still tons of people I have forgotten to mention. The reality of the matter is that not one single workday goes by without me needing any of the people I mentioned above. Not for the seven years I have worked in education have I ever had a day I didn't need any of these people in order to do my job. And so my point is this: As teachers we sometimes have the tendency to have a 'woe is me' attitude. You've read my posts... you know this is me :P And it's easy to become convinced that you're out there, teaching these kids, on your own. But.. you're not. Because, without all the people I just mentioned? I literally wouldn't be able to do my job. Better yet, without them, our schools wouldn't even be able to function. So, my advice to all teachers out there (including myself)? Show your appreciation to your support staffers every damn day. You better start and end each workday with the realisation that your village is fricking amazing, and completely priceless. 

Because without that village... where would we be?