Who looks after the people, looking after our students?

This week I overheard the start of a virtual pastoral team meeting where the senior leader launched straight into the business of the meeting without even a ‘Hello’. This was after the preceding ‘gathering chatter’, amongst the team, had  been about the fresh challenges of homelife that week; lack of food delivery slots for a self isolator, a newly born family member, only viewed via facetime, and crippling concerns about an elderly parent in a care home where Covid has taken 6 residents already.

This experience and other anecdotes from teacher and support staff friends, as well as reading posts from colleagues has made me think about what will happen when schools do reopen, in whatever form that turns out to be. Like many people, I have had the time and headspace to reflect on many areas of education, the professional and personal world that has consumed me for the majority of my adult life. My social media interactions have become more varied and take up more of my day, as I search for the daily human interactions I am used to, and I have been fascinated by the changing landscape, and the new connections we are having with each other. Despite some school leaders discussing the difficulty they are having coping with on-line meetings and interviews, and how unexpectedly draining they are, staff are still expected to juggle the array of challenges at home and perform the new tasks directed by managers. 

All school staff are having to consider their teaching or job responsibilities, coping with working remotely, as well as having to handle the increased parental contact and the anxieties of those parents, with regard to schoolwork and attitude of their child. The majority of people will have some form of family responsibilities and, maybe, home schooling their own children. They may be physically ill themselves, or be caring for a family member, or maybe even dealing with a bereavement. Staff may have financial concerns if they are now the sole wage earner, or they may be dealing with tensions this may highlight, which could morph into domestic abuse, if it wasn’t already present and exacerbated by the lockdown. They may have little or no family and coping with social isolation and loneliness, they or a family member may have developed an addiction or be misusing substances. The list of possible life altering experiences our staff may be experiencing is alarming.

ASCL has reported that Heads and Principals have logged an increase in work hours since March 22nd and they are running provisions in schools that some people think are closed. They are facing new challenges that demand skills that could be new to them, making ‘big’ calls that could weigh heavily on them, keeping the educational and holistic welfare of their students at the front of their mind all the time. All the while they will be experiencing some of the challenges already mentioned. So, who is looking after our educators? How will we know that all our staff members are ready to return to work? Who will need support, and what form should that support take? Or do we just assume that everyone will be fit and able to pick up where we left off, in our high stakes, high accountability schools? 

It is vital that all our schools think about the care of their staff before reopening, and this needs to be our next big discussion for the welfare of our education community.