What is your teacher brand?
Have you ever thought about your subject, classroom, teacher-self as a brand?
What advice would you give to a colleague who had been told in their mid-year appraisal that they should consider moving schools, so that they could re-brand themselves? In the first instance you may wonder what that has to do with teaching, however after a few minutes you may start to wonder about your own brand.
When students get their timetables at the start of the year in secondary school and they see their teacher for the academic year, what is their reaction to certain staff names? That name is in essence a brand. It stands for the type of lesson, learning environment and experience they will get every time they enter that lesson. Do they immediately think it is going to be a top of the range experience that year? What type of response is their when they go home and mention all the teachers they have?
So a teacher's name is part of the brand experience. Like a supermarket. The learning environment goes hand in hand with the entire brand. Will students experience lots of clutter when they enter their assigned learning space - bargain basement branding or will it all be sleek magnolia walls with minimal displays like the most expensive fashion designer stores on Bond Street?
Taking this back to being given that advice from a line manager. Is it easier to rebrand by moving schools? Is it easier to rebrand if you move to a promoted post? How would you rebrand if you are staying for another academic year in your current post?
For those responding to this article - have you ever done the task of looking at your own area of responsibility (subject area perhaps) and considered the value of your brand in the school? Do students consider it absolutely vital that they have access to this item? Is it a valued commodity? Where is it's place and how is it promoted?
Lots of questions, however as schools increasingly use marketing expertise to get external messages across to parents and students - there may be a need for teaching staff to consider their brand for internal marketing purposes? Let me know what you think.
){kind=link}
Comments
I find it fascinating that, just as more individuals are acting like brands, so brands are trying to act more like individuals. ;)
Thought provoking thank you - it's always good to have a think about what you are seen as and known for.. and then think - is that what I want out of being here... great post!
Branding of my subject area is huge also - students take our A Level because they know that Science 'has good teachers'. It influences their future (!) And of course, if A Level numbers slip you are under pressure as a leader to ensure you are 'branding' yourself well enough and that you are all teaching well enough.
A department is branded by the quality of the teachers within it and the decisions made by those leading it. A teacher is branded by how they teach and how much they get students on board.
Very thought provoking!
@abster of departments having their own logos. As they have their own twitter accounts too it could be the way to go
I've also, been through Special Measures and seen my school 'rebranded' - at that time, as difficult as it was, I had to 'rebrand' once more in order to fit in with the new school's direction and vision. That was the hardest thing - changing identity even though I was perfectly happy with the 'brand' i'd created. It took time, but being willing to grow is, perhaps, what sets great staff and great students apart.
As for the department brand as a geographer I've found it really important to do this from the start. As an options subject we've always had to compete for numbers, and one way to do that is brand. At my current school I'm the only humanities teacher so I'm teaching both geography and history. The school colour is orange so both have their own logos (geography - a muddy orange footprint and history - an orange fobwatch) with the name of their subject in green (geog) and red (hist) in the same typewriter messy font which match up with the colour of the exercise books. I thought I was being sad and nerdy but the kids seem to really click into which of the subjects their doing, over time I'd really like to get some badges with the logos on as rewards, and ultimately (when we get sixth form) to have student ambassadors wearing the badge with the logo of the subject..... a blog post to follow I think...