What to do when work makes you want to cry
A perspective piece about my job as the Group Marketing Manager at Kilmarnock.
A weird title, I know. But let me explain.
A few days ago a journalist came to my work to interview a group of my colleagues and started to ask the hard questions that I had never dared to ask myself.
You see, I work for a social enterprise that employs adults with intellectual disabilities. We focus on employment, education, and developing new opportunities for career progression and community connection.
I often ask my colleagues how Kilmarnock has changed their lives. I surround myself with the conversations about friendship, pride, and feeling useful or valued. I ask about aspirations and next steps. Dreams and possibilities. But I have always been too frightened to ask about what came before Kilmarnock.
See school sucked for me. Kids were mean, and the classes were hard. I always felt like I was on the outside looking in. Like I had missed some essential lesson growing up that made friendships and learning effortless and simple.
I don’t have an intellectual disability. I don’t experience any of the barriers the people I work with do. I don’t have any idea what school was like for those who come to Kilmarnock looking for a chance to do something meaningful.
The hard questions
What was school like for you?
The answers started the same way they would for many of us. ‘It sucked’, ‘it was hard’, ‘I didn’t have many friends’. The journalist was (as all good journalists should be) unsatisfied by these broad statements and dug a little deeper. The answers were slow at first, but once my colleagues realised their experiences were the same, they began to speak very frankly.
They talked about the tormenting of their peers. Of knowing that their ‘friends’ were laughing about them, sometimes behind their back but often to their face. They all agreed that they felt lost in class. That once they didn’t get one thing, they spent the rest of the year struggling to keep up. But it was what their teachers said that still has me fighting back the tears now.
‘There is no point in me trying to teach you.’
Ouch.
The teacher had gone on to explain to my colleague that he would probably never get School Certificate and wouldn’t be able to get, or hold down, a job. She said that she had students with prospects who deserved her attention and she needed to teach at the speed everyone else was learning. He was labelled as ‘unteachable’ and left to struggle.
I hope that the education system has changed since then, but I get the feeling it hasn’t changed enough. Class sizes are increasing, funding for teacher aides and additional supports is far from sufficient, and there is more pressure than ever on teachers to meet learning targets.
It’s not the fault of the teachers, the schools, the parents, or the students. But it is a problem. And we need a solution.
I believe we have found a solution
It’s not the only solution, and I hope many more opportunities emerge for people who have experienced this kind of discrimination and isolation. But what we have created has already been game-changing. It has transformed the experience of education for ten people this year and has the potential to help many more in the years to come.
You see, the conversation with the journalist took a turn when she started to ask about the Kilmarnock Academy. The mood changed dramatically, and all the smiles returned, including mine.
The graduates told us that within the first classroom session, all of their fears about what it would be like to return to education crumbled. They said, get this, that it was fun! That they had learnt so much and that they had felt supported at every step. That their fellow students actually helped them to learn. And that through working as a team they were able to smash expectations and gain way more credits than they believed was possible.
Just in case you missed that, they did more than they believed was possible. That is the single biggest takeaway for me. They actually changed their own attitudes about what they are capable of.
The Academy is giving those who have been told they can’t, a chance to show themselves, and those who doubted them, that they can.
We don’t all learn the same, and we all have our strengths and weaknesses. The Kilmarnock Academy is providing a personalised pathway to employment. Through recognised NZQA qualifications, ongoing work experience, on the job training, and a good understanding of health and wellness, our graduates are discovering new talents and opportunities for growth.
This can’t be done without our communities help. We are currently running a crowdfunding campaign to raise the funds needed to do more.
This is an incredible opportunity to help that kid at your school who didn’t learn like you.
In conclusion, I have found an answer to the question in my title. What to do when work makes you want to cry? You create a solution. And you don’t stop until you make it happen.
Be part of the solution http://pldg.me/kilmarnock
