Teaching Extracurricular Activities
Who delivers extracurricular activities?
Within Oxted school, most extracurricular activities are delivered by staff and by older students. In other schools you will also get parents becoming involved as well. That doesn't seem to happen so much here. Teachers are an obvious one. They've probably got an interest or they work within that area. I think the other thing to emphasize is the student involvement in running extracurricular activities. Running drama clubs, sports clubs, art clubs, equestrian clubs, etc. will be of massive benefit to them.
Do teachers run the extracurricular activities?
Teachers run a majority of the extracurricular activities within Oxted school, but students also run them here. Certainly the drama club and the art club are run by Sixth Formers and they're gaining a lot out of it as well as the students who are taking part in the activity. They're gaining organizational, motivational, inspirational skills that are going to stand them in good stead when they move on to university or even employment. At other schools you might also find parents running clubs if they've got an interest or a passion for something but that doesn't tend to happen so much here. The vast majority of the wide range of clubs that we support at Oxted are run by teachers and students.
How does teacher involvement in extracurricular activities benefit the students?
Teacher involvement in extracurricular activities benefits the students in two ways. Firstly, it allows the activity to run so the student can take part. Teachers or older students are necessary to fulfill health and safety guidelines. The other, and almost more important way, is that you develop a relationship outside of the classroom. You get to see a little bit more of the student rather than simply whether they're good at geography, in my case. For the pupil, they get to see the teacher in a very different light. They are not just that person trying to keep control of 30 people in a class, of which maybe five or six don't particularly want to be there. Everybody wants to do that club, they're motivated, they're keen, and therefore the teacher can really develop a very different relationship to them than in the classroom.
Do teachers participate in extracurricular activities?
Teachers do participate in extracurricular activities. They participate in extracurricular activities that have nothing to do with the school, and I think that is something to look for. If teachers do have an active outside-of-school life, then this is probably going to have a positive impact on the school. So within the Oxted school, we have a national swimming team member. We also have people who go and climb Kilimanjaro in their holidays, and those experiences can be brought back into the classroom and into the school. So, yes, teachers do have a chance to 'do their own thing' outside of school. Teachers also participate in the extracurricular activities run by the school so, for example, we are on a cross country day today and as soon as I've finished here I'm going to be taking off my suit, putting on my cross country kit and running a couple of races with the students there. So yes, we're keen to get involved and be part of it. Outside of sport, we also have things like National History Day, or National Reading Day and, again, the teachers will get involved in the extracurricular side so lots of fancy dress, lots of dressing up and lots of running of events that the students can take part in, some of which are probably set up because the teachers want to run them as much as the students want to run them.
Do teachers get paid extra to participate in extracurricular activities?
In the vast majority of cases teachers don't get paid extra to take part in extracurricular activities or to run extracurricular activities. The only time that varies is for very large schemes, and I think in particular the Duke of Edinbrough scheme where it's a very big commitment in terms of time, effort, holidays and weekends, and in that case there is a small financial bonus for those people who hold a position in this school as a Duke of Edinbreck coordinator.
