After nearly ten years in one school I have recently left the classroom and moved on to a new role as an Advisory Teacher in a local authority. In the time I worked at the school, it moved from being in danger of closure due to underperformance and financial mismanagement to being judged as Outstanding by Ofsted and becoming the heart of a pyramid of schools in the community. The school's journey has been a remarkable one and I am sad to leave so in thinking hard about why I am making this decision I have attempted to find common themes that link to the issues of teacher recruitment and retention.
Quite rightly, much is expected of teachers and school leaders. The skills that are needed to succeed as a classroom teacher are extremely varied and complex. The colleagues with whom I worked are extremely dedicated, professional and genuine yet a feeling has begun to spread that it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the highest standards. For example, more students are being referred to child and adolescent mental health services yet there is significantly less capacity available. This means that schools are forced to tackle hugely challenging and complex cases and therefore have fewer resources to continue with the imprtant and valuable work they are already undertaking. Similarly, support for students with SEN is becoming more stretched and where budgets are pressurised the services and structures dedicated to the emotional well-being of pupils can be first in line for reduction. In all of these cases staff do everything in their power to support students. Yet put simply there is less capacity available currently to deal with increasing demand for services.
Also in my experience teachers do not have sufficient opportunities to pursue dedicated and sustained professional development. With a teaching load of 80% or more, occasions to observe good practice or perhaps team teach are few and far between. In addition, too often meeting time in schools is spent delivering information rather than engaging in learning that will support teachers' needs or the interests of pupils. These factors mean that many teachers in schools do not have enough capacity to step back from the daily events and review their own work or that of others. As a result the progress made by teachers in adapting and improving their practice is slowed which becomes demotivating and a downward spiral.
Finally, although there is clearly a need to evaluate the work of teachers and schools, the expectation of showing progress through data can be damaging. In the search for a target, students become percentage points and lose their individuality. Whilst identifying gaps, students become part of a sub-group and lead staff away from seeing the 'whole' child. Also, in order to achieve positive outcomes from inspection, schools tend to prioritise exam results above and beyond everything else, except perhaps safeguarding. Good Ofsted reports, the use of targets and tackling inequalities in attainment are all valuable priorities but schools in some cases lose focus on individual children. My frustration lies in the fact that if schools prioritise the needs of individual children first then all the other concerns (progress, attendance, inspections, destiantions on leaving etc.) will follow, If schools value the 'whole' child then learning is likely to be more effective, pupils are more likely to want to be in school and teachers maintain positive, motivating relationships. When schools prioritise 'secondary' issues (Ofsted, A*-C, Pupil Premium etc.) then teachers tend to lose motivation as they can feel like hamsters in a wheel rather than autonomous, caring professionals who are trusted to make good decisions in the interests of children and their families.
