Our profession has a PR problem.
A BIG one. I won’t go into why here. That’s for another time. If this lockdown has
taught me anything though, it’s that teachers are seen as lazy, bone idle and
unwilling to ‘step up’ when the occasion calls for it. Years of eroding respect
for teachers and the education sector has led many of us to become used to the
bashing we often receive from the media, who still believe the old adage that
teachers clock off at 3pm each day and do very little in the holidays we get.
It’s like water off a duck’s back for most of us now. (We don’t clock off at 3pm
by the way!) Over the past two months, however, something has changed; the situation
has worsened and teachers have been targeted in ways we have never seen before.
I won’t go into all of what’s
been published about our profession lately but here are just a few tweets that
have come to my attention:
‘Tonight, thousands of
teachers will clap for the NHS. Time for teachers to show the same bravery! The
risk in schools is nothing like the risk in hospitals. Millions of children now
need teachers to step up.’
‘Teachers over 55 aren’t
working.’
‘Teachers need to show
some courage and get back to the classroom (and yes, I would volunteer!)'
‘What are teachers doing at home on full pay?’
Such comments have thousands of
replies from teachers who, quite rightly, feel battered, bruised and maligned
at the smear campaign across all forms of media. Of course, we know that these tweets aren’t true
but convincing others who don’t work in the education sector is a different
matter. What are we doing at home on full pay you ask? Working. Teachers
(including those over 55) are working harder than ever before to ensure students
don’t fall behind. Looking after the children of key workers, lesson planning,
lesson delivery and marking of work is still happening, just in different ways.
Is it a perfect alternative to face to face teaching? No. Schools were given
three days to prepare and change the entire way they work. But rest assured, we
are still working. I think @christteach
summed it up best in his tweet saying, ‘Why don’t they just put us all on
furlough at 80% pay til October and see what happens when teachers are ACTUALLY
doing no work?’ It’s tough and it’s stressful, but we’re making it work because
we have to.
Am I arguing that teachers should
be treated as saints? No. Am I saying that we deserve a clap every Thursday like
our incredible NHS workers? Not at all. I’m saying the media’s narrative around
teachers and the education sector needs to change. The media can say what they
want about the teaching profession because they’ve been allowed to get away
with it for so long; their narrative remains unchallenged and as such, they
know that it’s easy to get others to agree with them. We, as teachers, can
shout back all we want, but we remain unheard and are lost in an abyss
because very few outside the education sector back us up or question the media’s
rhetoric. Positive reinforcement is needed from those at the very top of the
hierarchy who have a nationwide voice, those who can be heard and will be listened to. Unfortunately,
teachers (like many others in the public sector) are victims of a culture that
does not champion its workers but actively seeks to criticise them.
And then there’s the case of the ‘experts’.
As with all things that are politicised, everyone has suddenly become an ‘expert’
on everything. In this case, everyone suddenly knows the transmission rates of
the virus in schools. Everyone knows how teachers are using their time in
lockdown. Everyone knows about education. Ignorance can (wrongly) spark the
greatest confidence.
Lots has been said. As usual, much
of it is inaccurate.
So what’s the solution? Being
honest, I’m not entirely sure. The more teachers try and make their voice
heard, the more they seem to be despised. At the time of writing, schools very
much seem to be in a situation of ‘put up or shut up’. Teachers have been asked
to return to their classrooms and it seems we must just accept being exposed to coronavirus. No
one on social media dares to ask about the needs of staff for fear of being
accused of not doing what is best for students.
There are so many preconceptions
as to what teaching constitutes and who teachers are; these, unfortunately,
have manifested themselves in very ugly ways in light of the recent announcement
of a return from June 1st. The reluctance expressed by teachers to open
schools to more students (let’s not forget that they never really closed in the
first place) has predictably been mocked and ridiculed. This isn’t a case of teachers
being reluctant to go back to school right now because they are lazy. This is a
case of teachers reluctant to return right now because government guidelines have
not guaranteed the safety of staff and students. Being brave shouldn't have to come into it. We want to go back. Our classrooms are where both teachers and
students thrive. They should be safe places but teachers across the country
cannot promise they will continue to be safe places if a return is forced
before the time is right.
There is one thing teachers can
promise though. When we do eventually return to school, when it’s safe to do
so, we will do all we can to support our students. We will work even harder to support them to catch up. We will talk to them about their time in
lockdown and help them face this new, frightening world they must navigate.
Those who criticise, attack and scorn us, trust us to educate their children
every single day. We will continue to do so because that’s what we do best.
Lots will read this and dismiss it as something else written by another teacher with too much time
on their hands. My thoughts aren’t about trying to convince others that teachers
deserve a little respect. They aren’t about finding solutions to education’s PR
issue. They aren’t about arguing back. They’re about expressing a small hope
that in the future, maybe, people will take the time to really consider what
happens in the education sector and the day to day goings on of a school. Don’t
get me wrong, our schools and our systems aren’t perfect, but those concerns
are for a different blog. I wrote this because as a teacher, I'm fed up of seeing the job I love being battered. Today, in the midst of so much criticism, I wanted to express my hope that one day, people will realise teachers are
not who they have been made out to be.
They are better.