In the running world, they talk a lot about “hitting the wall”: the moment in a race or a run when there is a sudden onset of extreme fatigue and a loss of motivation. There is no warning. One moment, you are heading for a personal best; the next, you are collapsed in a heap of exhaustion, confusion and desperation.

It happens to experienced and novice runners alike. And the reason it happens is fuel: the body has used it all up and cannot find another drop in the system. As a result, that system stops working.

Reading social media posts over the past week, “hitting the wall” seems a fitting description of what teachers are currently experiencing. They are suffering extreme tiredness, dissatisfaction and desperately need the “water stop” of half term to be a few steps closer.

It should come as no surprise that they have hit this point so early in the school year. The profession has been on high alert for 18 months, battling the various demands of the pandemic and running on adrenaline in the hope of that elusive point of “normality” finally coming into view. They worked their holidays, they worked their evenings, they worked their weekends. In marathon terms, they were the ones who got out in front and set the pace, dragging the sector and the pupils along with them because, if they didn’t, none of us would have kept running.

Normality still seemed a feasible aim at the start of this year, despite the hangover from summer schools, exam chaos and Covid uncertainty. As such, teachers prepared themselves for the “last big push”.

It’s clear now, though, that what we considered to be normal isn’t coming back any time soon, if ever. Together with sky-high Covid absences, a deluge of colds, coughs and other minor respiratory illnesses is working its way through the population. Dire warnings of shortages on the shelves and talk of the reintroduction of Covid mitigations are ever present in the media. The world has changed; our personal relationships and freedoms are going to take time to rebuild.

Inevitably, this has an impact on wellbeing that needs to be acknowledged. Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi used his speech at the recent NAHT conference to pledge a commitment to the wellbeing of students - but that needs to be expanded to staff, too: one cannot happen without the other.

So, how might that be done?

Schools need more “fuel”. Whether it is access to services, direct funding or room in the timetable to breathe, opportunities to restock the “energy” supplies can mitigate many of the issues stated above until long-term solutions can be found.

Schools need more trust. Accountability measures - Ofsted included - are all back to “normal” when the situation on the ground is far from it. When we fail to trust teachers, it leads to a loss of motivation and innovation; a better way to hold schools to account needs to be found.

And schools need more respect. The government gives the impression that teachers are tolerated rather than celebrated. The day-to-day work of a teacher is poorly understood and this leads to poor policymaking. Teachers are not the barrier to good outcomes in schools; they are the only route to them. The government needs to start showing that it recognises that.

“Hitting the wall” is sometimes viewed as the consequence of a failure to prepare. But more often, it is the result of an individual pushing themselves too hard, for too long, with too little support. That is the case for teachers and the least we can do as a society is to be there - now - to catch them when they fall, and then make sure they are never put in that position again.

@jon_severs

This article originally appeared in the 15 October 2021 issue under the headline “Teachers are running on empty - we must help them to refuel”