Why I became a teacher: an inspiring drama teacher got me hooked

Ian Paish wanted to be a teacher ever since he was a little boy playing schools. He tells Emily Drabble how his career has progressed and why drama teaching can really help in a leadership role
Ian Paish
Ian Paish knew he wanted to teach when he started studying drama in secondary school. He is now part of the senior management team at Deptford Green School in south east London. Photograph: Ian Paish

I always wanted to be a teacher. When I was little I wanted to be primary school teacher. My parents tell me they used to laugh so much at me telling off my imaginary students. Then when I got to secondary school and started to study drama I knew this was the subject I wanted to teach. So it was all planned from the beginning. I had a really inspiring and amusing drama teacher called Peter Rowlands. He lived in Hebden Bridge but came from New Zealand. Peter had trained to teach at Central School of Speech and Drama so after my drama degree at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, I also went to Central to train as a teacher. Peter had a significant affect on me and lots of other students in our A-level class. Almost all them ended up doing something drama related.

Deptford Green School in south east London was my training school, where I spent the first two terms of my teaching qualification. It was a big change coming to London from the small town of Pontefract in West Yorkshire, where I'm from. I'd been to college but that was just a short drive home. This was London. I was nervous; it was the other end of the country. So, it was a real relief to find a school where it was just so lovely and friendly. As soon as I arrived I knew I wanted to stay. I just felt really quickly it was the school I'd have loved to have gone to as a student – and I think I'd have done much better if I'd been a student here. Despite it being a large inner city school, everyone knew each other. It was warm and friendly. There were really special relationships between students and teachers as well as between teachers.

I've realised that you can enjoy teaching in what could be seen as a tough environment if you've got supportive staff. This was an ethos that had been created at the school over a long time. In the past 11 years since I've taught here, a lot of people have left and new teachers have arrived, including a new head five years ago, but that ethos has stayed.

We've been a training school for a very long time and a lot of students train in our school and then get a job here as I did. We are no longer technically a training school as the criteria has changed but still take a lot of trainees particularly from Goldsmiths which is just across the road from us, and also the Institute of Education and Central. The interesting thing about trainees is they aren't jaded and have lots of ideas. We are all learners, that's our motto at school for teachers as well as students. We're open to taking new ideas and we have been pioneers for citizenship education.

Teaching is of course far more complicated than I'd imagined when I decided to be a teacher as a child. Of course I didn't think of all the ins and outs of the way you need to plan and the behaviour management tricks (and there are lots of tricks; when you start you assume if you tell someone off they'll behave, but that's not necessarily the case). And for a drama teacher, and any teacher now, there are no blackboards, which is disappointing.

The most amazing thing about teaching is the children. Whether you are doing an assembly or passing a student in the canteen, you'll get a look or smile from someone you've built a relationship with. They are very funny, and I don't mean I'm laughing at them, I mean they are amusing. That's definitely the big draw of teaching for me. I love it in spite of the politics, Ofsted and all the bad stuff. Working with young people makes it worthwhile. Seeing them start school when they are 11 and their bag is five times bigger than they are, then when they are young men and women ready for the next chapter in their lives. This is the first year of our new sixth form at Deptford Green which adds another whole dimension and it's going to be amazing to see our students grow up even more.

I started out as a drama teacher and I still teach nine drama lessons a week. Putting on productions is voluntary, but of course it's an expectation of drama and PE teachers that you will run extra curricular stuff and a big part of the job. You put in a lot of extra time but it all pays off. It's so enjoyable and means you have an impact on and know many more students than you actually teach. When you work with students on a show, they are coming in their own time so a very different relationship develops.

Now I'm leader of learning at school, so very involved in curriculum development, and one of the assistant heads - so it's not all about drama for me anymore. I play a game of two halves. It's a big change from being a class teacher. There are times when you're having to be really firm with people. When you become part of the senior management your relationships with students and even colleagues will change over time. But students seem good at knowing when you're doing drama and when you're in your other role. I think having a background in drama teaching can really help in a leadership role, in fact our head teacher also used to be a drama teacher. As a drama teacher you have to have a lot of empathy and understand people. The leadership of other adults, getting them on board and encouraging them to up with ideas, all these are skills you develop in drama and theatre - putting on a show is of course the ultimate in team work.

I feel I've been really lucky in my career. I've had leadership that has seen what I can do and given me the opportunities to develop, I really enjoy the leadership role and I suppose that's what's made me stay at the school for so long. My role keeps changing so it keeps me interested, keeps me learning.

As of this term we have a wonderful new school building, one of the last built under the Buildings Schools for the Future programme. We badly needed this new school building and being in it has really lifted our spirits. Everything is brighter and cleaner and it feels like a new chapter for the school.

My advice to those in training or just starting their teaching career is:

• Try to stay calm and not panic. It's hard. Sometimes it's worth pretending you're calm even if you're not, it can make you feel calmer. If students see you are flapping and running about they'll pick up on it.
• Be organised. It's a tough first few years you've got to keep on top of things.
• Get involved in the life of the school.
• Make allies, you need fellow teachers as your friends.

It can be difficult to work out if a school is the right one for you to work in. Visit, take a long look at the website (remember it's marketing but you should be able to get some feel for what the school do). Results are part of it, but not the whole story. If you get a job in a school that ends up not feeling right for you, don't be afraid to go and get another job.

Ian Paish is assistant headteacher and leader of teaching at Deptford Green School in south east London.

Ian's favourite resource: Bullying for year 7 tutors. There are 14 sessions in the unit, each planned to last for about 15 minutes - perfect for something such as tutor time.




  • A teacher and pupil


Teaching blog archive

  • Guardian Professional Networks
