With stress levels thoroughly tested throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and 35% of teachers recently reporting they would “definitely” not be in education by 2026, schools need to prioritise maximising teachers’ wellbeing now more than ever. We look at what school leaders can do to turn the tide on this challenging outlook. Back in 1930, economist [...]
Introduction Outrage at public sector cuts is now so routine, that it’s hard to feel any authentic anger towards the government. But ire, in this instance, is appropriate. With school funding set to remain flat for the next two years despite inflation, schools are fated to have to make their own cuts – most worryingly, [...]
Part way through writing this week's chapter of our anthology on teacher stress, I came across a post on the Derby University blog that expressed all I had in mind - except with more insight and erudition than I can quite manage. So with their permission, we have a guest post from Dr Sarah Charles and [...]
Pre-pandemic, every time stress in teaching came up in the press, the same claims about causes were fired off: Workload – rigorous marking policies, the relentless need to document all decisions, differentiating for all learners in planning as well as endless data entry Correspondingly long working hours, much of which is unpaid Greatly increased top-down [...]
As the festive season ebbs into distant memory, accompanied by all of its good cheer, people are once more ready to feel bad about things. Cue a slew of articles last week once more highlighting the stress epidemic gripping the profession. What’s new here? Not much, except that stress is spreading. Metastatic, its migrated to [...]
There’s a familiar battery of daft arguments that plague debates about teacher stress. It seems absurd to give them any airtime, but having just surveyed the comments sections of recent articles on the stress epidemic I can see that they’re still in wide circulation. And, of course, even some prominent public figures still openly extoll [...]
With both pupil numbers and demand for teachers set to rise in the near future, it will become increasingly important for school leaders not just to recruit, but to retain good staff. New models for better retention are required. The number of teachers joining the profession has roughly counterbalanced the number leaving it in recent [...]
If you’re anything like me, you’re probably sick to death of people outside the profession telling teachers how to teach. If everyone’s an expert, then the craft is debased into non-existence. That’s why it's always exciting when someone who know education from the top and bottom offers their guidance. Teacher Booker were honoured to be [...]
Over the weekend I was delighted to spy this brave blog post on Teacher Toolkit, the UK’s most followed education blog. Titled ‘Why Supply Agencies are the new ‘Del Boys’’, it is as forthright as it is faithful to the facts in summarising the current state of play in how agencies and schools interact. Numerous issues in this dynamic [...]
A great spectre haunts teaching - the spectre of challenging behaviour. It's a terribly powerful force, leaving many terrified of their own classrooms and spooking many out of the profession entirely. Yet many insist the problem is trivial and that proper lesson planning and arbitrary CPD can ward against it. Some disagree and believe [...]
