Every so often I become completely preoccupied with the idea of being a ‘good’ teacher. How this presents itself varies. A lot of the time it’s, unsurprisingly, linked to the aesthetics of how I present myself. And this all starts with the lanyard.
For some reason, teachers seem to have a lot of keys, and/or things they need to wear around their neck, and businesses have picked up on this. To write this piece, I searched the phrase ‘teacher lanyard’. Amongst being presented with many different types of lanyards, Google also presented me with the following:
Some of the answers offer general advice for teachers or the curious public. The last one however links to a school page where staff are required to wear lanyards! A common misconception about everyone in the profession and one which my own sister thought was true. I’ve never been so offended.
If you know any teachers, or anything about teachers, the types of lanyards available are probably quite familiar. Milkie Co. has both fabric and beaded lanyards in fun and funky colours. The Teaching Tools collaborates with artists or uses Indigenous designs to decorate their lanyards. Ditto Teacher Latte and Mrs. Edgar. Miss T Teachables’ boasts the world’s first ever luxe leather lanyards. They also have, lanyard organisers! These can be personalised to carry all your lanyards.
Personalisation is something we have seen more and more of, anecdotally I feel it has really increased in the past 15 years, however apparently it started between the 1920s to 80s which is a very broad range really. Personalisation trends suggest that AI will play a major role, so perhaps you will be able to try your lanyard on, online before having it personalised and sent out to you.
However, I have become so preoccupied with explaining lanyard culture, I’ve veered away from talking about the role lanyard has in teaching culture, and in addition to this, why I seem to hold them up as a bastion of being a ‘good’ teacher.
According to the study of Sociology, there are Elements which all cultures have. These are:
Rules, norms, ethical codes, and values
Attitudes
Beliefs, assumptions, and mental models
Symbols and symbolic action
Heroes
Rituals, rites, ceremonies, and celebrations
Stories, histories, myths, legends, jokes
Artifacts
Artifacts!
According to this principle, artifacts are reminders and triggers, they also bring meaning and identity to those in that culture. We can see what my mind is doing.
This also takes us into the subconscious process of Semiotics. This being the study of signs. We are not only referring to literal signs, (stop signs, traffic lights) but the more subtle ways in which we communicate about ourselves. The Lululemon ‘Define’ jacket suggests a healthy lifestyle and an ability to be swayed by online trends. This meme pokes fun at the popularity of coloured water bottles in the marketing field.
How we represent our jobs on the internet is interesting in itself as many fields take to creating viral content that loads of people in that field find relatable. The labour to create this content can be as consuming as working, and ironically, the content itself may focus on the more onerous or unpaid elements of the job.
The consumption of this content can happen at work as a reprieve from the realities of the working world, or outside of hours as a way to decompress and even enjoy these elements of the job. The cliches presented to us are at once comical but further reinforce the stereotypes we participate in; there is a sense of belonging and awareness as we relate to what is being represented to us.
In some instances, this extra work (vlogging, instagramming, selling items related to the field), can become the main job of the person or, continue in a way that keeps the original job at the fore.
By participating in the use of the artefacts we sign post to ourselves and to others what our role is. Whilst I acknowledge that getting a lanyard is not going to do what I think it is on a fundamental level, it’s a great way to trick everyone (mainly me) into thinking I have my shit together.