Teachers Deserve all the Recognition they Can Get – This is Why

It is no secret that the decision to close schools was not an easy one in the UK, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying last year that during the Coronavirus pandemic, schools would always be the last places to shut.

But what is it really like for teachers (and pupils) tackling online learning, teaching key worker’s children who are still allowed to attend school, and home-schooling their own children too? I spoke virtually with pupils and teachers from a primary school in East Yorkshire to gain an insight into what ‘schools being closed’ really means for teachers, parents, and pupils.

Aside from the lateness of the decision to close schools, Carole, a teaching assistant, told me that one of the hardest things about schools being closed for the majority of children is the ‘sheer amount of planning that needs to happen by the teaching staff’. Not only are staff having to plan lessons that can be delivered remotely or by parents, but they face the tricky situation of differentiation. This, I was told, refers to the learning ability of the different children. A lot of the children work to slightly different educational abilities, and therefore the teacher must plan for these, ensuring every child has the work they need and are able to complete – not an easy task when the children are not in the classroom.

Emma, a Reception teacher, agrees that one of the hardest things about school closures, especially in the first lockdown, was not only the amount of planning but also the adaptations to planning that had to take place:

‘Teachers will have spent many hours adapting their planning and are having to learn new ways of teaching…trying to ensure that it was supportive and parent-friendly’.

With this in mind, and given that the children of key workers are still able to attend school, and therefore be taught by professionals as normal, I was interested to know if teachers believe children who are learning from home with parents/via Zoom lessons are at any kind of disadvantage in their learning.

Emma personally believes that all children are at a disadvantage when it comes to schools being closed, because the children at home do not have access to their school’s resources or teaching staff. Furthermore, ‘parents are also working from home, so may not have been able to support the children with their work or understand new ways of teaching subjects such as long division in Maths or phonics in Literacy’. Conversely, children in school may be in mixed year group classes with different teachers, which can be equally as disruptive.

In addition, all children at primary level are ‘tracked’. This means that their progress in Numeracy, Literacy and Reading are monitored through small tests throughout the school year. Emma said that this posed another challenge during the last school closures because:

‘it was difficult to distinguish between children’s independent work and work completed with the help of parents, so tracking the children became very difficult.’

There is also the added worry that parents will not do the work with their children as they should, so when the children return to school their progress has noticeably dipped compared with other children.

So not only have the hours for planning and undertaking remote learning increased, but what about issues regarding technology, more specifically for those who do not have access to it? This is also an issue that can cause disadvantages to children’s education. It has been a topic of discussion since schools were closed in the first lockdown. In a pledge to assist the issue of digital division, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

‘the scale of (device) deliveries has now been increased, with a further 50,000 devices sent to schools across the country on Monday alone.’

Trustee of Bristol-based organisation Digilocal, Nick Flaherty, said: ‘it’s part of an education crisis and what the pandemic could provide is a spotlight on digital inequality.’

Another issue of school closures that is at the heart of debates over whether to close them or not is the impact on pupils mentally and emotionally. To children of primary school age, it is likely that missing out on time spent with friends and in the school environment is more significant than academic concerns.

I was lucky enough that Ella, a year two pupil, agreed to tell me about whether she likes learning from home, or if she prefers being at school, and what she is most looking forward to when schools are open again:

‘I am missing my friends but I like having my lunch at home with my little brother… I am looking forward to seeing all my friends and playing skipping games together. I miss my teachers too.’

Gavin Williamson faced backlash when he urged parents who felt that their children’s schools were lacking in remote provision to complain to the head, and then Ofsted. Angry people instead wrote to Ofsted praising schools and all they are doing under the circumstances. It is easy to see why; teachers are doing the very best they can to ensure all children are supported, despite not physically being in school.

For me, the bottom line is this: teachers, and parents, are doing an incredible job right now. So much work is going on ‘behind the scenes’ to negotiate difficulties and differences at all levels of education. Remote learning, staying at home and adapting life accordingly is uncharted territory for everyone, and I believe teachers deserve all the recognition they can get for their efforts.

Amelia Cutting

Featured image accessed via Pixabay. Image license found here. No changes have been made to this image.