Hidden Lessons Av Mehreen Baig

<p>You''re in at 7am, there until 7pm and marking into the late hours. You''ve got one student who''s a full time carer, another who''s pregnant, and a third who''s just joined a gang. You haven''t got enough textbooks to go around, and one of the parents just called you an ''extremist''. You''ve just gone through a devastating heartbreak and you have to teach Romeo and Juliet to 30 hormonal 14 year olds. <br><br>Welcome to life as a teacher.<br><br>This is a world that all of us know, but most of us have completely forgotten. It''s a world where you''re working 50 hour weeks, but you''re still just a part-time teacher because the rest of the time you''re a security guard, a nurse, a counsellor, or a friend. It''s also a world where you spend all day with some of the most interesting people you know. And even when the lesson plan has been abandoned, you''re still learning. <br><br>Mehreen started teaching at 21, and by the time she left 10 years later she''d learnt a bit about teenager