Chalkface

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The steep, crumbly wall of a limestone cliff made mostly of chalk is a fragile geological feature
2. Additionally, it metaphorically refers to the difficult circumstances in teaching environments faced by educators
3. A steep, easily eroded cliff composed chiefly of chalk rock ; the demanding and practical situations encountered daily by classroom teachers

Etymology: The geological sense is the plain one: a chalk face is a steep cliff of chalk, the kind found on the South Downs and the Kent coast, and it is simply chalk plus face. The sense that has caught people's attention is the classroom one, and it is a deliberate pun. "Chalkface" plays on "coalface," the place where miners do the hard, practical work underground, so teachers are being likened to those working at the sharp end of the job. The pun is credited to the education writer Ted Wragg, who is believed to have coined the term in his column for the Times Educational Supplement. The chalk is the classroom's blackboard chalk, and the image shifts the focus from the cliff to the daily grind of teaching.