Schools Week have published my (and several other people’s) review of the best blogs of the year.
Harry Fletcher-Wood picks…
My favourite blogger of the year isn’t really a blogger, more a compiler of a latter-day encyclopaedia, gradually sharing entries.
The most viewed post on this blog is one from two years ago entitled The Darkest Term: Teacher Stress and Depression in which teachers shared their stories of stress and depression. Last year I contacted some of those people to see how they were getting on, although I never got round to publishing their responses. I’ve also contacted them again this week. This post contains one of the accounts from the original post and any updates.
Original Account: December 2013
I’ve been in teaching for nearly 10 years now. As a Maths teacher I’ve seen sweeping changes in curriculum, standards, accountability and scrutiny (i.e. increased forms of the latter two). Becoming a head of department should have been a proud step up, finally having chance to shape my department and make a real difference in the way the subject is taught in my school.
8 years ago, I was diagnosed with clinical depression, however one of the noticeable facets of my condition at the time that teaching was a release for me – I was good at it, I enjoyed it and I got great rewards from it. Basically, it held me together whilst the rest of my life was collapsing around me. It’s amazing that I look back at those times in my career with pride, because these days, all the love and life in my job has been sucked out.
I don’t shape my curriculum, it’s dictated by the government. I’m not allowed to be creative with my team or in lessons, because I have to deliver results – by teaching to the exam, in other words. I can’t continue with my policy of ‘happy people = great workers’ because one or two ‘requires improvement’ lessons from my staff are followed up by ‘support plans’ (informal capability) by SLT. My lessons – well planned, full of content and context – are destroyed because students demand entertainment rather than learning – a result of school policy that lessons should be ‘fun’. Oh and to top it off every other word spoken by SLT is OFSTED.
My integrity, authenticity and hope are questioned every day. It is no longer the world outside of my job that is the source of my depression, it IS my job that is the source. And after all of this, stress is a given. I’m fatter, balder and greyer than I’ve ever been.
Update: December 2014
I’m doing a lot better these days, I take up a new job in January, simply because I refused to continue putting up with the bullshit that was being thrown my way.
The final straw was after getting the 2014 GCSEs results back. We absolutely hammered the previous years results in my department, out-performed national across the board, but because we didn’t hit an arbitrary school target on progress we weren’t praised for our efforts.
So I started looking for a new job. When I got the job I’m starting in January, I was told I was being immoral for leaving the school in the lurch right in the middle of the year. Now, it wasn’t immoral when I only took a week’s paternity leave because I felt the pressure of having to deliver GCSE results, or when I was working 60+ hours a week keeping my department going due to two long term absences and a lack of help from slt.
I realised that much of the stress and depression I felt was down to my working environment and those who managed the school. It sounds daft, but there was simply no love. Anything extra done one year was taken to be the expectation the year after, without any thanks.
Outside of work I’m much better now, I’ve not had a down moment in many months and I’m more appreciative of the good things in my life, like family, friends and my personal achievements. I no longer look to validation of my efforts in my work because I won’t get it!
That last point sounds kind of sad, but it’s reality and I have to accept it. Wishing that you’re going to get a pat on the back in teaching these days might leave you disappointed.
Update: December 2015
I moved on from that ‘new’ job this year because I was not allowed to do the job I was employed for. Basically they didn’t know what to do with me, and the role they’d created, so I was left to fester. I wasn’t having that, so I applied elsewhere and I’m now in a job I like. The hours are still demanding and the ‘black dog’ quite often bites but the difference is that I’m in a school that a) appreciates my skills and b) provides the structures in order for me to succeed.
It’s really not hard to keep staff happy. Allow them the autonomy they deserve as professionals, be there when times are tough and pull them into line if, and only if, they clearly didn’t do the best they could in the circumstances.
I love teaching, it’s bloody hard but it’s rewarding when it pays off. But every time a barrier is thrown up, or your credibility is unfairly judged, doubt creeps in. The coalface of teaching needs care and attention by the administrators, not further directives and prescription.
If anyone reading this is experiencing stress and depression themselves, you should be aware of the Teacher Support Network which runs a hotline and offers practical advice. If it is your working conditions that are making you ill, or if you want help with ensuring that you are supported at work having being diagnosed with stress or depression, I would recommend contacting your union.
The most viewed post on this blog is one from two years ago entitled The Darkest Term: Teacher Stress and Depression in which teachers shared their stories of stress and depression. Last year I contacted some of those people to see how they were getting on, although I never got round to publishing their responses. I’ve also contacted them again this week. This post contains one of the accounts from the original post and any updates.
Original Account: December 2013
It started with an assault. It was quite a bad one, bruising and feeling rather shaken. The pupil had a history of aggressive behaviour and the rest. I reported it, as well as to the police. That was the start. The whole SMT machinery turned on me. I was given a dressing down and from that point on it all started to go wrong. I had been teaching for over 7 years, I think. No NQT, I was an ex-serviceman, confident and assertive. From the day the SMT betrayed my trust all of that evaporated. I became withdrawn and apathetic. I removed all the personal touches in my room.
More assaults followed. Once pupils sense you have been “breached” they home in. A pupil grabbed my wrist to prevent me from closing down a PC in an IT lesson. I raised my voice and the response was instant: “You shouldn’t have touched me!” she screamed. I knew I would get no back up from SMT. I was right. I reported it and had to fight to get the pupil removed. The poor behaviour which was the usual in the school became utterly unmanageable. The Headteacher had stated in no uncertain terms that I should seek employment elsewhere. There was no backup, the ambitious year 11 Head of Year eager to avoid exclusions to feather his own nest. I fell further, becoming more and more stressed. More issues followed, culminating in a hostile observation which triggered my visit to the doctors (on the advice of an assistant headteacher). From the start of the new September year I felt like I was living in a glass box. I was unable to interact with my young children. I would just sit on the sofa, usually covered in a blanket. I was so cold. In the mornings I was sick, I used to cycle into school, or run. That stopped. I drove to work and as soon as I could I left. Ironically I still had an excellent attendance record. My results were still very high (over 90%). I was dead on the inside.
A few days after the hostile observation, after the headteacher personally giving me feedback but just before the follow up observation I arranged to clear my reputation, I went to doctors. I broke down and cried. I cried, I sobbed, I felt ashamed and weak. I felt defeated, used and betrayed. It felt like the end.
I wasn’t. The Local Authority went through the motions. Their occupational therapist found that I was not depressed; my doctor disagreed. I was diagnosed with workplace stress. I never returned to secondary teaching. Over a year on I am now retraining into a better career – the law. I feel much better, more relaxed, happier, freer.
I still harbour immense resentment for those that call themselves “SMT”. They ignored all the warning signs that were evident as to my condition. They chose to punish rather than support. I am sure I am not alone in finding this.
My advice to those thinking of teaching – don’t. It’s not worth your sanity. If you thought I was alone in the school I was not. I was the third staff member in less than 3 years to leave through stress. A head of department for one of the core subjects was even keeping a log of workload, instructions from SMT and such to cover themselves if they were “strung out”. Not a nice career, not nice people. I fear for my children’s future with such unfeeling careerist monsters in charge of schools.
Update December 2014
There are two versions of what happened next. The other one is slightly more bombastic than this version. I hope this is a more considered and less vitriolic. I assume my hand typed the first as some form of catharsis.
January/February is still a dark time for me. The low feelings still reach out from the past, they whisper dark thoughts to me, suggest that I was weak, that I am useless and just couldn’t cope. What happened after I left didn’t help. My medical status was shared by my headteacher to other heads in the area, and the local MP. The latter was sent up by the heads to try, successfully, to blacken my name with the DfE. This knocked me back again a year after I crashed out of teaching. Talk about a sickening profession of weak leaders and scheming departments. The whole lot could be cast off into the ocean and there would be no tears from me.
Ah, you see, there it is again – the bombast and vitriol. My need for redress can be all consuming you see. I am not one to forgive. This one is a keeper. I suspect I will carry the events that lead up to the end of my career to the end of my days. I will not forgive, or forget. I have a wife and family and their well-being are my sole focus, but still the delightful thoughts of how best to tar the names of those who did me wrong entertain me during the interludes in my daily routines.
An experience as mine results in changes to a person. Changes in your character are the most noticeable. I am quicker to judge, condemn those in the wrong quicker, and I have no second thoughts on harshly judging those in power who fail. I suffered at the hands of those in power for their failings, and thus those in power must suffer harsher judgement – after all that is what the extra pay is in exchange for. I have developed a harder edge. There is no one else who will look after your interest other than you. I can sum it up thus; I trust less those who are not close friends or immediate family. You have to look after your own, and putting time and effort into projects for the “common good” are a waste of time, unless I’m going to get paid for it.
The shame of crashing out of a profession, the loss of control and the fact you were “bullied” out of a job still hurts too. Until I earn money again I cannot hold my head up high. We, the family, rely on my wife’s income. I am not providing for my children and reliant on the very generous assistance from my parents. For a proud man this is a continuing injury. It is, when I think about it, a frequent slap in the face. I am retraining, and only a few months left, but it still rankles me. It is one more thing to be ashamed of. I have feel I have failed my wife, children and parents. This is the wasteland that injurious stress creates. For any “senior leadership” brave enough to read this remember that. Behind each “sign off” is a wasteland of emotional carnage that you are responsible for. I hold you and your SMT/SLT ilk in nothing but contempt.
So no, it appears I am not healed. Off the tablets – yes for the past 2 years; better – most certainly; healed – no. I have been scarred by this hideous experience. I will take those scars to my grave. I can only hope I will attain a position to wreak similar injury on those who injured me. To know they have suffered a similar experience would lighten my suffering. I live in hope. Who knows I may even actively seek such positions out. Who can say?
Update December 2015
After the long bitter night, dawn breaks. Well folks I am almost completely better. A did omit a few sections to my previous polemic. I did have a rather pleasant exit from teaching. It was the summer of 2013. I spent two terms teaching in Primary school; a single form entry village school far from my home. It was ace. I was supply and the headteacher was a new chap. He was supportive, helpful and funny. Apparently he was rather different to the previous incumbent, a divisive lady by all accounts. Those two terms helped me to come out of the mood within which I had become mired. I came off the happy tablets which was a dislocating, liberating and emotional ride. The mixed year group I taught was great fun. We did evolution, a field trip (3 mile walk in the summer sun beside a lazy river), historical visit where I could dress up, spellings, times tables (by rote, all read out as a class – you all know the tempo). At the end of term I was sorry to go. The children were great, the parents supportive and kind (and generous – oh my the booty I got on the last day!), so I left on a high. This helped I am sure, but I was far from healed.
After that I retrained into the Law. It was a tough course, and the more I learned the angrier I got. The injustice at how the SMT had ridden roughshod over my rights and ignored their duties. I was outraged at the ineffectiveness of the union, at the sheep-like manner in which staff comply and bumble along hoping they won’t be next. I became sullen that I could not afford to take action and at the compromise agreement I signed. I verbally lashed out at family, nothing permanently damaging, but enough to look back and feel ashamed. My mood would rise up and crash down. I was still not a fully functioning father to my children, or a husband to my wife. I was not earning, costing the family so much money to retrain and my time almost totally consumed by study. I wondered when it would end. Then I passed the first sat of exams. My mood lightened as I felt I was able to do something else – I could complete this course, that I could change career! My family was happy with my results, I was relieved and happy that I could cope with pressure and stress still and the dark thoughts, the need for hot revenge, receded.
Over that summer of 2014, I became more like my old self. The next year went by so quickly. My results went up as I got into my stride. I completed my course with a good grade (doubly happy with that considering I had a 4 hour commute a day and a family to see). I got a training contract and now have a 9 minute train commute and brisk walk to the office. There is stress, but it is productive stress. It is not destructive, inhibiting stress imposed by moronic SMT or children of an ill temperament. I feel happy, grateful at this second chance. I still tear up far more easily than I used to (Inside Out – cried at the short film in the beginning, let alone the main feature!) and I am now aware of those who exhibit the same symptoms as I did. Yet the events of 2010 to 2012 all seems but a hazy memory. Good job I wrote it all down as a legal statement in 2013. Now I have committed it all to paper I seem to have let go of the memories.
Has this slaked my thirst for revenge? Not one bit. I do not think of it as often, but it is there. Anyone who is a victim of the meat grinder that is SMT send out a few Subject Access Requests (look them up) and see what comes in. The things I have come across! I started sending out letters asserting the wrongs I discovered and seeking redress. The last letter I received was a response from the County Council. They were replying on behalf of the headteacher who ground me up. I hand delivered a personal letter to him – which was another personal demon faced down. He did not seem pleased to see me which, and that was a nice feeling. The County now think they might be liable for some the actions of that individual. Odd as they denied liability for everything a few letters ago – it is amazing what can be found out, and how once you know, the other side become more circumspect and lessen their flat denials. So I grind onwards to seeking redress, hoping to reveal those who ruined so many teachers. If Old Andrew is interested in publishing it I would be happy to write up my full tale of woe, litigation pending.
In Summary – Do not take it lying down – when all the fight has left you that is the time to dig in. Make a diary, go see a doctor for their diagnosis (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT and PRUDENT). If you are visibly stressed you are likely to have been marked for ‘replacement’. They got you into the mess, you need a settlement to see you through, so extract all you can! If the costs of dealing with broken teachers mount up maybe, just maybe, someone will press for change. Get on their case. They must protect you, they have obligations, they are not all powerful and They Do Not Hold All The Cards.
Also get a lawyer, that will really get their attention.
If anyone reading this is experiencing stress and depression themselves, you should be aware of the Teacher Support Network which runs a hotline and offers practical advice. If it is your working conditions that are making you ill, or if you want help with ensuring that you are supported at work having being diagnosed with stress or depression, I would recommend contacting your union.
The most viewed post on this blog is one from two years ago entitled The Darkest Term: Teacher Stress and Depression in which teachers shared their stories of stress and depression. Last year I contacted some of those people to see how they were getting on, although I never got round to publishing their responses. I’ve also contacted them again this week. This post contains one of the accounts from the original post and any updates.
Original Account: December 2013
This involves colleagues and not me.
Within my department one member has relinquished their TLR after just 4 months due to stress, another member of staff has relinquished their pastoral role after nearly suffering a complete breakdown and our department has experienced record sickness this year.
These incidents involving stress have historic origins. There has been a relentless request to achieve an outstanding Ofsted. Over the past 2 years, in the build up to Ofsted, a number of senior members of staff were ‘eased out’ whilst a team of AST were brought in. This was done in a number of ways and not all were pleasant. In our department it was decided by SLT that we needed a new HoD despite years of continued improvement and leading the college in results. Three new members of staff were hired and within weeks were engaged in weekly meeting with SLT to feedback on the department and HoD. The HoD was placed on competency after a few weeks, and remained in this category for a further month until they were able to prove that the claims against them were spurious at best.
Shortly after this, an ‘Oftsed consultant’ was brought in and the entire school was rated a 4. They pointed to data and claimed that our department was a 3 and could only ever be a 3. My HoD was not permitted to see the data they were using. The consultant was brought in to review the department and rated the HoD a 3, no advice on how to improve was given. When Ofsted eventually arrived later in the year they selected our department as the best performing in the school and the reason why the school scored a 2 overall (our dept was a 1 according to data). By this time my HOD had agreed to leave. All new members of staff joining the department this year had been told in advance that we were a falling faculty (even after Ofsted had named us in their report as the best in the school and the reason for its success).
More than one member of the AST team left with no jobs lined up because of the stress of working in a college with very few systems and a culture of fear. This year the same culture of fear exists but this time the focus is on another department. The same consultant has been brought in to ‘help’ that department. Within the last two weeks the newly appointed HoD was found collapsed in their office on the day the ‘consultant’ was due in. Everyone in that department is well aware of what fate awaits the HoD, the previous HoD was eased out last year.
I would say the biggest cause of stress is pressure to chase results and a complete lack of systems from SLT. There is now the expectation that we should offer twilight intervention and eventually weekend intervention.
Update: December 2014
Of the people in the original post, one is no longer here.The other is, and is happier. Since then another staff member left last Christmas having only joined in the summer and one appointed this summer handed her notice in a month after starting and is retiring completely.
Make of that what you will.
Update: December 2015
None of the staff previously recruited remain.
Last year the replacement for the teacher who retired also left in the summer. The old new head of dept quit to regain a work life balance. Four new joined this summer. One off at crimbo. One threatening to go at Easter. Other than that, brilliant.
The most viewed post on this blog is one from two years ago entitled The Darkest Term: Teacher Stress and Depression in which teachers shared their stories of stress and depression. Last year I contacted some of those people to see how they were getting on, although I never got round to publishing their responses. I’ve also contacted them again this week. This post contains one of the accounts from the original post and any updates.
Original Account: December 2013
I’ve been on anti-depressants for just over a year. Initial prescription was for depression and anxiety. The school based factors have been:
- Working in a Category 4 school is intensely pressured. There are more negative than positive conversations with leaders and managers which is always making me think: “What have I done wrong this time?”;
- Getting a grade 3 lesson observation in Ofsted and Performance Management observation in the same year. I eventually got a 2, but lesson observations now fill me with huge anxiety;
- Not being allowed onto the next point on the pay scale (despite my own yr 11 classes results being better than HoD and fulfilling all performance management targets and then some);
- Negative inter-departmental politics;
- Constant monitoring of work eg. book trawls, learning walks, planner reviews etc.;
- Bullying by a colleague;
- Verbal abuse from pupils becoming an everyday occurrence;
- A timetable and marking load I can’t actually manage;
- Pay freeze, making life more difficult financially.
- No work/life balance for entire time I’ve been teaching.
These are the ones I can think of off of the top of my head.
Update: December 2014
How I got mostly better:
1. I was signed off work for a total of 10 months – looks horrific I know but it took a good 4 months before I began to sleep properly, and another few months after that for the worst of the thoughts that the Black Dog generates to dissipate.
2. During that time I had a dizzying array of prescriptions – some for the depression and anxiety, others for constant minor illnesses. Thankfully, I now rattle a little less from all my meds.
3. I made good use of the counselling available to me via Occupational Health, they were lovely and helped me devise an exit strategy
4. I had time to seek careers advice – at the time I was utterly desperate to leave teaching. It was useful to at least know where else my teaching could take me.
5. I had time to apply for jobs – which takes lots of time to look, research and apply for. I had no hope of doing so while working the hours I was under the stress I was.
6. I kept in contact with my HT regularly, we met up once a month, off site on neutral territory. I emailed her with updates as to my well being as often as was helpful. This enabled a mutually fruitful arrangement for how and when I left the school.
7. I cleared as many debts as I could, so that with a pinch, I could find part-time work.
8. I read an awful lot and learned to fill my days fruitfully but without undue stress or pressure
9. I absolved myself of guilt – not easy initially but self-flagellation would not have helped me get better.
10. I learned to ask for help and accept it. Then I finally had the courage to apply for a job I REALLY wanted in a sector I had intended to move to after a certain amount of time in Secondary school.
11. Never say never, but at the moment, I cannot see myself back in a secondary school any time soon. If I were to? Not full time. It is not a way of life you can hope to sustain, whilst also sustaining yourself.
Update: December 2015
In a nutshell – much happier out of secondary school, don’t regret leaving the sector for a moment – teaching lots of A-Level is brilliant, if mentally exhausting, and I love working in FE.
If anyone reading this is experiencing stress and depression themselves, you should be aware of the Teacher Support Network which runs a hotline and offers practical advice. If it is your working conditions that are making you ill, or if you want help with ensuring that you are supported at work having being diagnosed with stress or depression, I would recommend contacting your union.
The most viewed post on this blog is one from two years ago entitled The Darkest Term: Teacher Stress and Depression in which teachers shared their stories of stress and depression. Last year I contacted some of those people to see how they were getting on, although I never got round to publishing their responses. I’ve also contacted them again this week. This post contains one of the accounts from the original post and any updates.
Original Account: December 2013
I have been a secondary teacher for 20 years. Normally I get along with work, teach my lessons pretty well in my usual manner of avuncular-yet-purposeful, but in 2013 the continual pressures and the dictats handed down by Gove (eroding my pay; adding more to my workload and making me pay more for my pension) plus the general day-to-day led me to have doubts about my performance.
In February 2013 I suffered a bout of flu – not manflu, the full-blown feel crappy stuff. While I was feeling run-down I made the foolish move of thinking about things – and then I imploded. I hated the thought of going back into the classroom, wanted to sit at home looking at four walls and didn’t interact much with anyone. I never went back to my school.
I was lucky that my local authority occupational health department and my headteacher were supportive and knew that I needed time to get my head straight and decide what my next move was. I was on antidepressants and sundry other medication for my blood pressure. I came mighty close to leaving the profession, thinking that anything that earned any kind of money, even being a milkman (then I realised there are very few of those left) was better than being in the classroom.
And so in September I was unemployed, living on £73 per week as opposed to £36k pa – this has not helped my financial situation, but I came to the realisation that that was not important. What was important was my happiness, me being able to face the world again. In late October I got a supply gig – to be honest I was dreading it but it was wonderful to be back in the classroom, and luckily felt as if I had never left. In a week’s time I will be unemployed again just before Christmas, but there are more important things in life than money.
Update: December 2014
Well, I thought I would try to get a full-time teaching job, but no-one seemed to want to employ a teacher at the top of the pay scale.
So I have left teaching. I now work as a customer services operator for an online retailer, I write novels and screenplays in my spare time, I have taken a 70% pay cut, but I have no stress, love my work and am in a new relationship.
Sure, I miss teaching, but at least now I won’t drop dead in the classroom.
Update: December 2015
I am like an old yo-yo in terms of the job. I am back in the classroom at the moment as a supply teacher. I missed interacting with children and felt I needed to see how I got on. I am ever hopeful that I will get a permanent post soon.
The worries and stress are sometimes still there, but I have developed a personal resolve – I may be back as a teacher, but I refuse to do things that I know I cannot – I won’t let this job kill me – there is much much more to live for. I still intend to stick around long enough to be a burden to my daughters.
If anyone reading this is experiencing stress and depression themselves, you should be aware of the Teacher Support Network which runs a hotline and offers practical advice. If it is your working conditions that are making you ill, or if you want help with ensuring that you are supported at work having being diagnosed with stress or depression, I would recommend contacting your union.
This is a follow up to my recent post asking Should Managers Tell Teachers What To Do?
A lot of the discussion about teaching focusses on problems related to teacher accountability. In particular:
It’s difficult to unpick whether the problems with these things are fundamental, i.e. that teachers simply should not be held to account in any of these ways, or whether the problems are with the way these are done. However, I would suggest that watching a teacher at work and looking at their classes’ books and results are not inherently outrageous things for a manager to do, but the way these things are done at the moment are often outrageously and obviously harmful.
A lot of the problems here are about aims. The same systems are being used for several different aims at once:
It is not actually possible to achieve all five of these aims at once. So for instance, lesson observations for purpose 1 need to be carried out by the most senior managers; be unexpected, be based on the simplest and clearest criteria and should reach definitive conclusions. Lesson observations for purpose 2 should be carried out between people with similar specialities and responsibilities and allow for discussion, detail and disagreement. Lesson observation might not even be a good idea at all for purposes 3 and 4, given that this will encourage one set of behaviours when being observed and different behaviour the rest of the time. Similar issues arise for other types of accountability. Does the feedback from work scrutinies actually help teachers improve? Does blaming teachers for poor exam results improve the results next time?
But even if we disentangled the aims in particular cases (e.g. observations for development, work scrutinies for enforcement) we don’t solve the problems of having different aims. There will be cases where aims contradict. Cases where following a policy makes a teacher less effective; for instance if more marking leaves them with less time for effective planning. Cases where the act of appraising a teacher undermines their confidence in their ability to do their job. Cases where enforcing a style of teaching that OFSTED is thought to want will prevent the results that teachers are required to get from their students.
The aims need to be prioritised. What is it that managers most want from their teachers? And this may vary depending on the situation. In some schools, where discipline has collapsed, compliance with the whole school discipline policy may turn out to be a more urgent priority than anything else, even competent teaching. In some schools there are so many experienced teachers willing to share their expertise that formal structures for improving teaching are unnecessary. But beyond certain minimum standards that all schools should require of all staff, most of what schools want is a trade-off between priorities and if the systems used to hold staff to account don’t have clear priorities, how are staff meant to know what is important? It is particularly important for accountability that no professional is held accountable for both methods and outcomes at the same time. As soon as you dictate their methods, then their outcomes are out of their control.
And even if the priorities are clear, that does not always mean that bureaucratic enforcement is the best way of achieving them. It’s a cliché to say teachers aren’t trusted, but how often do schools set in place formal systems to achieve things that could be achieved informally? Is there any reason you couldn’t just ask a teacher if they are up to date with their marking? If you have a great new way of teaching, is there any reason why you can’t persuade teachers it works rather than forcing them to use it? Do you always have to watch what a teacher does instead of just asking what they are going to do? Perhaps it’s a response to OFSTED, but how often do schools seem to care about having paperwork that proves they are trying to achieve something rather than caring about whether they are actually achieving it? And that’s without the cost of all the enforcement and systems. Comprehensives in England seems spectacularly over-managed. The number of people employed as managers is astounding, and even more astounding when so many of them see their job as to manage their colleagues. Nobody should be paid to line-manage fewer than 5 people, probably not fewer than 10. Nobody should be filling spreadsheets or databases with appraisal data. Nobody should be being repeatedly observed by senior managers unless they are actually thought to be failing. And most of all, nobody should be employed to create work for other people.
Finally, there’s the question of whether the systems actually work. Do they make judgements which are unreliable? One off lesson observations don’t. Do they actually measure the wrong things, or nothing at all? And watch out for Goodhart’s Law: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” There’s no point getting particular outcomes that you wanted if they lose their desirability in the process. If the behaviour an accountability system encourages is not what you want, then it is a bad system. If accountability for results has managers moving under-achieving kids out of their classes, then it is counter-productive even if those managers suddenly get better results. If work scrutinies/marking policies discourage teachers from marking as often as they would, then it is a waste of time. If lesson observations make teachers spend less time preparing all their other lessons, then nobody gains.
So to sum up, here is my checklist for accountability and scrutiny systems. If you are a head check whether your school’s accountability systems avoid each of the following:
I thought I’d post now about the changes in OFSTED from the start of this term, mainly to see if people have noticed a difference. I’m inclined to view the changes positively, but it would be interesting to hear what others think. Please either leave something in the comments (avoid anything that might be libellous, thanks) or email me here.
The old system of private contractors running inspections has been abolished. This means all inspections are “in-house” and one would hope this should have led to greater quality control this term. So here’s my first question:
If you had an OFSTED inspection this term, how was it?
A lot of the old “Additional Inspectors” (AIs) employed by the external contractors are no longer inspecting. The new equivalent position is “OFSTED Inspector” or OI. A full list of OIs can be found here. Which leads to my second question:
If you have experienced a “rogue” AI in the past (i.e. one whose judgements were based on criteria other than those OFSTED are meant to use) are they still on the list?
Please don’t actually include anyone’s name in the response to that, just a rough idea of what they did in the past and whether or not they are still on the list. For what it’s worth, the inspector who observed me back in 2013 and led me to my initial realisation that inspectors were still enforcing a particular teaching style is still on the list.
The old system of inspectors moonlighting as consultants has been tightened up considerably. The new conflict of interest policy for OIs has some clauses that might make a difference to those hoping to cash in on their status as OIs. While OIs can do other work, such as consultancy, they are now subject to the following provision:
If the OI is permitted to continue an interest alongside their work for Ofsted, with or without measures/conditions, the Senior HMI considering the declaration must ensure that:
- no information relating to the current or future work of Ofsted may be disclosed, other than information that is already in the public domain
- the interest may not be advertised or promoted in any way that refers to Ofsted, its employees or stakeholders, and
- the interest must not result in improper conduct, for example, through the use of Ofsted time, titles or contacts.
So, obviously, my next question is:
Do you have examples of OIs violating these rules?
Please use some common sense on this, I can’t allow unsupported allegations to appear in the comments, but I would be interested to know what you’ve seen, and I’m happy to look into where would be the best place to report any violations. I’ve already found a couple of examples this term of consultants apparently breaking these rules on websites.
I think these rules also prevent inspectors from carrying our “Mocksteds”. If not, I assume that other rules do, on the basis of this report in July:
Last night Ofsted said it was imposing a ban on taking part in Mocksteds. A spokeswoman for the education standards watchdog said: “Ofsted has repeatedly said we do not expect, or want, schools to prepare for inspections. Schools should do nothing other than focus on providing a good education.”
She added: “Under the terms of their new engagement, Ofsted inspectors will not be allowed to carry out mock Ofsted inspections. Furthermore, we have been clear with our contracted Ofsted inspector workforcethat they are not allowed to carry out mock Ofsted inspections.” A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said: “We have been clear that headteachers do not need to prepare for visits from Ofsted.”
So my final question is:
Have you experienced a “Mocksted” this term, and if so, was it conducted by serving inspectors?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Previously, I was looking at types of instructions that should never be given. Continuing from where I left off:
3) Instructions that no manager would ever subsequently admit to giving.
Examples include:
As a general principle managers should not be asking teachers verbally to do things that they would not be willing to put in writing and be held accountable for.
Before I move on to the fourth case, which is a bit trickier, I will stop to consider the three types of instruction that should never be given that have already been mentioned.
They were:
Now all of these three types of instructions I have discussed so far can be dismissed as examples of bad management. But if you talk to frontline teachers you will find they are hardly uncommon. While the obvious advice to managers is “don’t do any of these!” there are perhaps some general questions heads should ask themselves about their school to avoid any of these situations.
The fourth case, however, is even harder to prevent and has almost become a normal part of how schools are run in this country.
4) Instructions which, if followed, will be used against you.
This is not completely different category to contradictory instructions, but instead of simply having instructions that conflict, the conflict is disguised by its indirect nature. Instead of having to choose between different instructions, you have to choose between following a manager’s instruction and avoiding the consequences of following it, which in many cases is actually to be criticised by that same manager. So, for instance, managers might enforce a terrible style of teaching, and blame teachers for poor results. Or managers might require teachers to follow a completely unworkable discipline system, but then blame teachers when there is poor behaviour in their lessons. Or they might tell teachers to give their opinions, then blame teachers for saying things they didn’t want to hear.
At the heart of this problem, and why it is so common, are faulty systems of accountability and management. Teachers are given too many instructions from too many managers and held accountable for too many consequences. I will discuss this in more detail in a future post.
You are currently browsing the Scenes From The Battleground blog archives for December, 2015.
Scenes From The Battleground 
The Darkest Term Revisited: Teacher Stress and Depression Part 6
December 20, 2015The most viewed post on this blog is one from two years ago entitled The Darkest Term: Teacher Stress and Depression in which teachers shared their stories of stress and depression. Last year I contacted some of those people to see how they were getting on, although I never got round to publishing their responses. I’ve also contacted them again this week. This post contains one of the accounts from the original post and any updates.
Original Account: December 2013
Update: December 2014
Update December 2015:
If anyone reading this is experiencing stress and depression themselves, you should be aware of the Teacher Support Network which runs a hotline and offers practical advice. If it is your working conditions that are making you ill, or if you want help with ensuring that you are supported at work having being diagnosed with stress or depression, I would recommend contacting your union.
Share this:
Like this:
Posted in Commentary | 1 Comment »