Teachers and school leaders need urgent support to rebuild the trust between schools, their communities and government that was “frayed” and in some cases “destroyed” during the government’s “chaotic” handling of the sector during the pandemic, researchers have warned.
The authors of a new report, Capturing the Real Costs of Care in the Classroom, warn their findings reveal the need for a “radical shift” away from a top-down culture of “governance structures” - such as the Department for Education, Ofsted and local authorities - “telling teachers what to do”. Instead, they say, we need a system that “listens to what teachers know and what they need”.
The University of Sussex research is based on evidence collected through audio diaries and interviews with primary school leaders, teachers and other staff during the pandemic and afterwards.
Lack of support for teachers
The report’s authors say their research shows that the retention and recruitment of qualified teachers has been made “more difficult by direct experience of, and broader awareness of, a lack of consistent support for and trust in teachers, as communicated by the government and media through the pandemic”.
They add that “external pressures”, such as unclear government guidance, pressures on funding and a lack of external support, that started during the pandemic and continued in the following “post-war” period have also led to “straining in some relationships between teachers and senior leaders at schools”.
The research follows a National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) report, published last week, saying that people are being put off teaching as a career because of concerns about low pay and poor working conditions.
The findings also come after trusts’ leader Leora Cruddas warned that schools are facing a “rising tide of mistrust” and called on policymakers to support the sector in re-establishing its social contract in local communities following the pandemic.
Researchers say the report also adds to evidence that teachers view Ofsted as having an undermining influence because of the additional work it creates for “already overburdened staff”, which can “push teachers to the edge”.
Dr Jenny Hewitt, who led the research alongside Dr Sarah-Jane Phelan and lead researcher Dr Dinah Rajek, told Tes that the findings should inform any reform of Ofsted planned by the new government to “better reflect the post-pandemic reality schools now operate in”.
Earlier this month a group led by former Ofsted inspectors Professor Colin Richards and Frank Norris warned that the inspectorate is facing an “existential crisis” after a survey showed that 91 per cent of respondents thought Ofsted was not “fit for purpose”
The pair ran an alternative consultation to Ofsted’s Big Listen exercise after being concerned that Ofsted had avoided asking questions about single-word inspection judgements.
Understanding why staff are leaving
Researchers say the University of Sussex findings highlight the “crisis” that the teaching profession faces and argue that it is “vital…..to establishing a better understanding of the factors that are driving so many dedicated and skilled teachers and headteachers out of the profession”.
Earlier this year the NFER predicted that the government will miss its secondary recruitment targets for 10 of 17 subjects next year, including those that it has attempted to boost via higher bursaries, such as maths and physics.
This would mean recruitment targets would be widely missed for the third year in a row, with just half of the teachers the government aimed to attract having been recruited last year.
Meanwhile, the latest DfE Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders survey, carried out last year, revealed that more than a third of teachers and leaders were considering quitting the sector over the next 12 months, with workload cited as the main reason.
The University of Sussex report argues that little is known “of the lived experience of teachers and headteachers, and how they balance and manage the increasingly pressurised conditions of primary schools” amid recent “rolling crises” such as the pandemic, lockdown and its after-effects, the cost-of-living crisis, teacher strikes and real-terms school budget cuts.
Covid Inquiry evidence hearings on the impact of the pandemic on children and young people are set to get underway later this year.
Social contract ‘broken’
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The ‘social contract’ between some parents and schools has deteriorated, influenced not only by the pandemic but also by factors such as unmet special educational needs, the rising incidence of mental health problems and families who are struggling to cope.
“Increased investment in schools and broader support services, including social care and children’s mental health, is essential.”
Mr Di’Iasio added that an ongoing “collaborative” approach between government, wider agencies and the education profession would be “crucial” to achieving the “reset” that the education secretary has committed to and achieving “effective solutions” to the challenges that schools face.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has told school leaders, teachers and the wider sector that she needs their help to deliver on the new Labour government’s education pledges because she “cannot do it alone”.
Ms Phillipson was speaking at a reception for education sector leaders hosted by the Department for Education, following her pledge to “reset the relationship with the profession”.
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