One man’s resettlement – Martin Flanagan

Lieutenant Commander Martin Flanagan, a Royal Navy seaman officer who had specialised as a helicopter aircrew instructor and airborne surveillance and control observer, left the Service six years ago. In this article he shares his path from there to a new career as a teacher, and the lessons he has learnt along the way, with anyone else who may be looking for a fresh challenge

‘Aged 45, the highlights of my career included the command of HMS Dumbarton Castle and 849 Squadron A Flight. I also served in the MoD Press Office, and had several tours on aircraft carriers.’ Leaving due to concerns over career progression, Flanagan, like so many people, values his Service training and experience: ‘Leadership and dealing with people mainly. Specifically knowledge of aviation and maritime industries has been of use, as has awareness of programming issues and challenges. I use aviation experience all the time in the classroom.’

He gained a Bachelor of Science (BSc) honours degree in Systems Analysis and Management during his time in the Navy. For resettlement, a Career Transition Workshop (‘useful for CV writing, interview questions and practice’) led to a Bristol Management Centre course, Business in the New Millennium, and then to his first job, as Business Operations Manager to an international research study hosted by University of Bristol.

However, this was not to be his final career choice, because he is now a maths teacher in a large, successful rural comprehensive school, and continues to serve in the Royal Naval Reserve Air Branch: ‘I like people, particularly dealing with children. Learning happens when, among other things, the students can see a relevance to what they are learning, in an encouraging environment that is fun and exciting.

‘This article is a reflection of my career change from military aviation to teaching in a state secondary school. I hope it will be of interest to people from the Services considering teaching as a second career, and to school training managers considering candidates with either a flying or a military background.

‘Basic similarities include training lead time; training processes involving the collection of evidence in a wide range of skills; and graduated development from simple, short, closely supervised tasks, to complex events involving detailed planning and execution. Training ethos is about the student passing the course, and the provision of early and continual encouragement to the student, and appropriate constructive criticism.

‘Costs and time mean a steep learning curve and pressure on student and teacher. Most trainees will have a hiccough at some stage. People who can cope with military training are well placed to meet the demands of teacher training, and vice versa. Professional standards inspections may have different names, but they are the same process. As well as collective inspections, county councils can also inspect individual teachers, and there is a rolling programme of supportive inspections by senior management in all schools.

‘Dealing with people requires communication, diplomacy, leadership and management. This is a people-based business and, if you do not like dealing with people, particularly children, do something else. Personal organisation is vital; I have more than 150 school reports to write, lesson plans to prepare, career development records to complete, departmental meetings, etc. etc.

‘Both flight and lessons involve planning a complex activity. You then execute that plan, which may or may not run as you anticipated depending on a wide range of factors, only some of which are in your control. When flying it might be weather, serviceability, re-tasking or crew factors. In lessons it might be weather, behaviour, child illness, unexpected difficulty with understanding a key point. Finally, you reflect on the activity to ensure you capture both what went well and what did not, and why.

‘All the best teachers are enthusiastic, and the pupils often get swept along by this. So although you have to be realistic and accept that not all will engage with you or your subject, it makes little difference to what you do. If you are upbeat and set them tasks that they can manage, they will usually try their best and all of you will enjoy the lesson. Up to 32 pupils may be in the classroom, with two or three of them being cleverer than the teacher! All need support at a relevant level, at which they can succeed and their minds can be stretched.

‘I teach Key Stage 3 and 4; ages 11 to 16. Those at the younger end of the range are very biddable; while 15 and 16 year olds know that GCSE qualifications count for life, so dealing with them is very similar to dealing with junior sailors and soldiers. The most challenging are 13 and 14 year olds, who are coming to terms with their own strengths and weaknesses, and who are not sure what they want or how to get it. In the staff room the average age is higher than in a unit. Teaching is quite a popular second career, so age is not a very reliable indicator of teaching experience.

‘As in any career, some teachers work very hard, while others get away with the bare minimum. In the beginning, as with any new career, it can be very demanding because lack of experience makes you inefficient and under-confident, so there is a tendency to over-plan to compensate. The school day is compact, with a rapid turnaround between lessons, so that the time set aside for planning and marking is never enough. A typical day is 8 am to 4 pm at school delivering lessons, with another four hours’ work in the evening reflecting on the day’s lessons and planning tomorrow’s, marking reports, etc.

‘Although risk analysis is now an important part of planning all activities with children, I am not aware of many deaths as a result of maths lessons. Pay is set nationally with supplements for inner cities and additional responsibilities. Expect £20,000 after qualification, so ex-military people need to accept a 50 per cent pay cut.

‘It was up to me to make the arrangements for teacher training. I approached the schools, collected the evidence to support my teacher training, arranged inspection visits and approached other people when I did not understand. I made it happen. There are lots of people who are willing to support and help, but in the end it is down to the individual.

‘Another big difference is the job market. At the end of a flying course you have a job. At the end of teacher training you do not. You need to find your first qualified post while studying to pass the course – a significant additional pressure. There is a national shortage of maths and ICT teachers, which is partly why I chose to teach maths.

‘Many people have asked me about the difference in discipline. There can be an expectation that enforcing discipline in the classroom must be hard after years of being “unquestionably obeyed”. I use quotes because, of course, in the military we are not “unquestionably obeyed”. Although we ultimately have recourse to military law, in practice we lead by being fair, clear and consistent in applying an agreed set of rules. If someone does not understand we explain it. If there is a deliberate challenge to those rules that person is sanctioned.

‘The same process applies in the classroom. Children do challenge more often – and they are supposed to. However, they generally respond quickly and positively, particularly when given a choice. There are differences (like sometimes walking away to give them the time and space to comply), but I see a lot more similarities.

‘Entwined with this is leadership. A class of 32 offers a marvellous leadership exercise, particularly if it covers a wide range of abilities and you have an adult teaching assistant as well. The bad news is that, even if you have a lot of leadership experience, you still feel intimidated when you meet a new class. The good news is that you know how to hide it.

‘Consider a four-year plan, including the student teacher year. I was given the following advice: “The first year is bad; as a student you have so much to learn and evidence to collect. The second year is worse, as you have your first full teaching load, and a lot of names to learn in your new school. By the third year it gets easier as you now have your own teaching resources, you know the routines and you know the pupils. After four years you have either given up or are now able to really enjoy being in a very worthwhile career.” I have found these comments very helpful on the harder days when one wonders if it will ever end.

‘I thoroughly recommend teaching. Apart from being broke, working every evening, and being ignored as I lay pearls of beautifully crafted wisdom before an uncaring and disruptive audience, what is there not to like?

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‘These photographs show the sort of very enjoyable nonsense you can get up to. I decided to include lighter than air principles in the curriculum. I have not yet got around to teaching why helicopters always hover left wheel low, but I will.

‘In summary, teaching can be very hard work, but it is very rewarding. I leave the final words to the mother of one of my 12-year-old students last year:

Dear Maths Department,

I just wanted to write and say thank you for the help that you have given X, the improvement in his maths is amazing. At primary school his frustration was awful and would be demonstrated by throwing his homework across the room!

Yesterday we did a practice paper together. He scored well, only getting two questions wrong; working out all his calculations mentally and demonstrating good methods of logic and processes of elimination.

Anyway, thanks again for the help you have given.

Good luck!’