Envy is rife in a school. Different departments regard each other with suspicion and to talk to a teacher of another subject is sometimes seen as fraternising with the enemy. It’s easy to be jealous when humanities get to be in the plush new building with interactive whiteboards, good ventilation, and carpets, whilst we maths teachers are stuck with a block with high echoey ceilings, a climate that is always too hot or too cold (goldilocks would have a field day) and solid flooring that when chairs scrape along it causes a one hundred decibel din, oh yeah, and because of the high ceilings it echoes for two minutes. Not that I’m complaining. Much.

Resources are guarded as though they belonged in Fort Knox. This extends to photcopying and the paranoia is such that the photocopying numbers for each department are changed monthly. There were concerns that people were using the codes from other departments that they'd stolen by looking over people's shoulders.

And to think that we teachers are entrusted with nurturing the youth of today into well rounded individuals. God help them.