With so much noise about teachers striking and arguments over pay, people shouldn’t forget that we are sleepwalking into an education crisis.
In my 23 years of teaching, and 12 as a headteacher, I have never experienced anything like the challenges we face in schools today. Many teachers will tell you that the situation has only deteriorated following Covid-19 lockdowns. Attendance has plummeted, special needs have skyrocketed and the behaviour of some children has become almost impossible to manage.
It would be easy to apportion blame to our post-pandemic world and the effects of lockdowns but that would be only half the picture. When you’re worrying about how to put food on the table, or money in the meter, it is no surprise that we are seeing a dramatic increase in mental health issues of everyone, at all levels. I have never had so many parents and staff burst in to tears, suffer panic attacks, or tell me that they are contemplating ending it all – the situation is desperate.
It is no surprise that teachers are tired and stressed like never before. Nothing could have prepared us for the world we suddenly find ourselves in; trying to do more and more, with less and less. Unfunded pay-rises last year and potential ones to come this year have plunged most schools in to deficit budgets and keep us headteachers awake at night, trying to figure out how to balance the numbers without having to let staff go.
