Every year, I take the opportunity to tell people about Thank a Teacher Day, and the importance of showing our appreciation for these incredible teachers, lecturers, support staff, and school and college leaders.
Educators across the country are so vital to the development of our young people so it is only right that we take the time to thank them for all their efforts.
But this year, perhaps more than ever before, it feels particularly important.
We have seen schools rise superbly to unprecedented challenge, having to change everything about how they teach even as they kept teaching - and more than that, truly claiming their position as cornerstones of their communities.
There are images from the lockdowns, particularly those dark early days that will stay with me for ever. Children trapped at home, some in incredibly challenging environments, but with their teachers trying their best to keep reaching them, to keep supporting them and to be that shoulder for them to lean on, even if only over the telephone or on a screen.
Thanking staff who went ‘the extra mile’
They could have concentrated solely on teaching, leaving the physical and emotional wellbeing of their young people for someone else to handle, but we all know that no teacher could do this. Instead, teachers went that extra mile, organising food hampers for struggling families and doing everything they could to support their young people.
Images of teachers and pupils waving at each other on the doorstep, refusing to let this awful pandemic come between them, would end up bringing me to tears.
From Exeter to Edinburgh, we saw schools creating a sense of belonging and connection at a time when people felt utterly lost, struggling to cope with the enormity of what the pandemic brought to our doors. They went above and beyond, reaching out to their communities, to pupils, and parents and their wider families, doing far more than the public had a right to expect, and doing it under incredible pressure as well.
Protecting your young people is at the very heart of being a teacher and it’s something that becomes near impossible when surrounded by so much uncertainty. But when we needed our incredible educators to stand tall and be that calming figure for their pupils, they did so, time and time again.
While they do not do this for the thanks, it is still important to make sure that this is recognised.
We have seen incredible appreciation for our schools and a far greater understanding of the wide range of work that they do. Even as families struggled with online learning, they could see what teachers were doing to support them and gained a far greater understanding of what the daily life of teachers really looks like.
Good teaching is ‘something to be truly valued’
New research, from a survey we conducted in partnership with Parentkind, showed that three out four parents had greater respect for the work that teachers do following their own experience of home schooling. Across the country, people realised more than ever before that teaching is hard, that it is an expert profession and that good teaching is something to be truly valued.
We have seen that appreciation in the “thank you” messages that have flooded in over the past few months, and in the excitement among pupils to take a day to truly celebrate their incredible staff.
Our hope is that, in schools across the country, on Wednesday 23 June, the staff will take a moment to reflect on what they have accomplished and allow themselves to feel pride in how they have responded to the greatest of challenges. This year, you are all heroes, and we will say “thank you”.
Steve Munby is chair of The Teaching Awards Trust
National Thank a Teacher Day is on Wednesday 23 June 2021. To find out more about how you can get involved, visit thankateacher.co.uk. To find resources, including make-your-own bunting and a cookie recipe from Nadiya Hussain, visit the Thank a Teacher Day resources page.
