Alex (name changed) is a year 9, lovely boy who speaks as he finds. He is also dyspraxic, has major sight loss and is on the autistic spectrum. He described the wet relay lesson as ‘joyous’, which made my week and was in stark contrast to the previous javelin lesson, where some had been propelled upwards, backwards and sideways – ‘petrifying’ would have been my description and an observer would have required improvement in the clarity of teacher instruction! Thank goodness for Jo, a talented LSA who spotted Alex was pointing the wrong way. The redirection of the lesson was a proper intervention.
Returning to the few lessons I teach has been joyous. The nuggets of student appreciation are what we live for and as a Headteacher it is lovely to still contribute to lessons. This is the most important part of the school day. Comparatively, the remote learning experience can be a soulless experience, talking to blank, misted screens or faces with a delay. This is an unedifying task that does not feel like proper teaching and is certainly not joyous. A school is a lovely place with a ‘hum’, a rhythm, a routine that is reassuring. The normality of school can lull you into a sense of happy normality. Yet all is so very different. I am, for the first time ever, teaching athletics in October – antiseptic spray and wipes now an essential part of all the lesson routines. The normality of school comes with a headteacher health warning of constant anxiety, as teachers who are never absent awaiting test results, are shielding or have to supervise their younger children, ‘bubbles’, sent home from primaries or nurseries. For them, the remote teaching with toddler attachment has to start now, often to reluctant students whose ability to access and work on the mythical promised government laptop is constrained by the very differing family circumstances. For Alex, a large family with one school laptop and no LSA Jo to redirect and explain, his laptop time will be limited and will not be a joyous event and may not be a productive, prosperous experience.
Therefore, as headteacher, the anxiety levels of the office increases as the budget to manage continues to be spent – a debt that will have to have a reckoning. Yet, the total lack of appreciation of the job from the Government continues to be staggering, even for a white Cabinet, which is male dominated, whose only experience has been selective, privileged, rich exclusion from the secondary norm. Although I would suggest there are weekly examples of incompetence, just two recent examples of their insensitive, incompetent bullying missives are:
- The Act that from 22nd October, schools will be breaking the law if we fail to provide immediate access to remote education for students removed by COVID from school attendance.
The sheer ridiculousness of this statement is jaw dropping, especially for those of us still awaiting proper laptop provision, proper Wi-Fi access and proper promised support. We know we have to teach – we did not stop in March! For those in self isolation we will provide the best experience possible.
- Secondly, there is the omnipresent, impending threat of Ofsted, the DfE equivalent of the Government’s repeated growl of sending in the Army. For the six month lockdown, Ofsted went missing. Now headteachers eagerly await HMI visits with the subsequent published judgemental letter to parents to follow. At best, this is a stressful, unnecessary distraction and seems to be atypical of the DfE’s accusatory tone that seeks to blame, criticise and undermine rather than properly support, assist and listen to those who are doing a remarkable job in opening at a time when most businesses are locking down. No wonder exhausted headteachers/SLT retirements are on the increase. Perhaps they need to teach to appreciate and get back to the joy of what schools are about or perhaps, fundamentally, they need support – financial, emotional and very public. Alternatively, I will teach javelin with the two HMI observing, ‘two birds one javelin’, now that seems a joyous alternative. The first coherent plan since March 22nd.
Neil Morris 