Who Am I Doing This For?
The Alexander world is full of them –
people proudly beating their chests saying: “What I do works.” I guess I am one
them. J However, my message is different: I am not a traditionalist. I am
not a purist. I don’t believe the past is where you look to understand what
will happen in the future. The old argument (that I have used too): “This is
what Alexander did, so it must be right…” was more convincing half a century
ago just after he died. Today is a very different world from the place
Alexander lived. Different solutions for different times. Some people will not
agree with me and you know what? I don’t care. That person has already decided
what they want and that’s great. Good on them!
So what I am about?
I am here to help this person: You love
this work, you believe Alexander's Discoveries can make a significant positive impact
on Society, but you sometimes wonder and doubt your ability to deliver on that
promise. You also want to earn a decent living. AT Teacher Education can cost
as much as a degree at College or University, so at the very least you expect to earn
enough to pay off a mortgage, run a car, take a nice holiday every year, and
tuck some money away for a rainy day.
This is a minimum requirement for any
serious profession. But in own recent survey of teachers, only 27% are
achieving this. The other 73% do not. I’d love to change that – this is my
mission in Japan. I’d like to see 73% of our graduates moving into full-time
employment!
How can we make our profession such, that
any person wishing to enter into education has a strong chance to earn a
full-time living upon graduation? That’s the question I have, and I have been
holding that question since 2005 when I got serious about Alexander Technique
as a business. So if you are serious, keep coming back here and visiting my
blog – I plan to give away everything I have learnt for free!
But if you didn’t read my blog yesterday –
please do. Tomorrow I will carry on my series “Marketing in the Teaching Room.”
You have to regear how you teach, not just how you market. The two are not that
different. You change one - you change the other too.
Hi Jeremy,
ReplyDeleteI am an AT teacher - recent graduate. Moved out of Melbourne to Beechworth, where I am very seriously decided to start my practice.
After my graduation, I do feel confident teaching the AT, but I very quickly realized that my Marketing / Business running ability is very close to zero.
So anything that will help me to set myself up is very welcome. I guess this is my thanks for your posts.
And looking forward for more and ready to share all I learn apart from this blog.
Thanks Jeremy. Good Job. Keep it up!