DJ

I'm really lucky in what I do in the sense that I get out and about around the country and see what's going on in lots of different schools.

Being a typical Scot, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

My transient work pattern means that relationships, while broad, aren't always deep.

So, I miss that satisfaction, which is the real job satisfaction in teaching, about changing young people's lives for the better.

Today I was in Greenfaulds HS, Cumbernauld, at the invitation of a guy I'll call DJ. I now know this is what the kids at the school call him, so, if its good enough for them :-)

DJ organised a Higher Modern Studies conference today. There were teachers and pupils, 349 in total, from schools all over North Lanarkshire, in a cracking theatre within Greenfaulds HS.

Several things were notable about the conference.

The first thing was how focused the pupils were. I mean, I wasn't exactly Robbie Williams onstage. I did my contractual slot and talked about the main issues concerning wealth and health inequalities in the UK, and Glasgow in particular.

So, entertainment I wasn't.

I was on for about 40 minutes, on all sorts of dead serious issues. The previous two speakers were the same. The pupils were just fantastic; asking questions, taking notes and concentrating in a way that really makes you realise that the generalisations which many people make about young people are way wide of the mark.

Another was the school itself. I spoke with the heidie and he was exasperated about the infrastructure of the school and the need for investment. Fair point.

But, and this leads on to point three; it is obvious to anyone who enters Greenfaulds HS that there is the most extraordinary vitality about the place.

Everyone smiles. I don't think I came across anyone who was scowling, who didn't have somewhere to go, something to do, some activity that wasn't important.

I'm a massive believer that, just as you can tell within a minute of interviewing a person for a job whether they've got what it takes or not, you can suss out more about a school by walking around it than you can through endless, tedious, examinations of "quality assurance" folders.

Which brings me on to DJ.

DJ has a CBE for his work at Greenfaulds HS. He is extremely bashful about this and I know he had his reservations about the whole process. But someone, or a group of people within the community, wanted to recognise his amazing contribution. Right now, getting a gong from the Queen is a really powerful way that acknowledgement can be made.

I've known DJ for a few years now, but never seen him within his school environment before. It was amazing. He was organising a conference for 349 pupils, involving ten schools. He had a programme to organise, guests to see to, car parking, photocopying, the lot.

He delegated to key pupils. I saw the fun DJ had here; the banter with pupils, the mutual respect. He probably taught these pupils' mums and dads. DJ could hardly speak in fact as he had been up more or less all night, all week, organising a school theatre event.

DJ's school trips abroad are the stuff of legend. He does one every year, which has no trouble and is remembered for life by everyone who is lucky enough to get a place on it. DJ has an opt-in supported study class with 50 pupils attending, after school. I met DJ's colleague, Joyce, and she was just as full of life as DJ.

In short, what I saw today was the kind of educational environment which never makes the news. Why should it? There is no scandal. It is positive. It is caring, it is motivating, it is the kind of place I would dearly love to send my own son to.

DJ is a one-off, as the kids say, "a legend".

But, as DJ would be the first to admit, there are teachers like DJ, but different in their own way, all over the country.

And, brilliant pupils all over the country too.