What the Teacher Did Next

Since leaving the classroom a few weeks ago, I’ve been fortunate to be able to take some time for myself.  Removed from the chaos of trying to juggle family life with a 60 hour work week, I feel like I can breathe for the first time in months.  I’ve been taking better care of myself: swimming, running and even trying out Tai Chi, which I highly recommend to anyone searching for their happy place.  Cooking family meals, helping the kids with their homework and taming the household clutter into submission have all felt like a luxurious use of time.  I haven’t cried in weeks and I catch myself smiling, feeling relaxed at different moments throughout the day.  Life is good.

Unfortunately, the bills aren’t going to pay themselves, so this temporary reprieve will have to be short-lived.  I need to find a job.  And whilst I feel happy floating around in my alternate reality, it’s when I think about returning to real life that the anxiety starts to rear its ugly head.

The main problem for me is this. I am a teacher.  That’s how I’ve come to see myself.  I went into teaching for all the right reasons, I had the potential to be really good at it, and despite everything, I miss it.  I’ve looked at different careers, but nothing else seems to fit in quite the same way.  On the other hand, just picking up the phone to speak with the supply agency fills me with anxiety. So I’m faced with a dilemma.  Do I put my mental health on the line to give it one more try?

Last time around, I let teaching consume me whole like a giant Anaconda swallowing its prey. It digested me slowly until there was nothing left but bones and then spat out the remains in disgust.  To add insult to injury, it then complained about its meal, suggesting that it was lacking seasoning.  Sorry…a bit over dramatic I know, but you get the idea.  Anyway, the point is that having a bit of distance has given me a new perspective.  I can play it all back now and see how I let myself be consumed.  I understand the anaconda better, which means I can be better prepared to defend myself.

If I do go back, there are two important things I need to do better.

Self-Care

Not only do I need to prioritise self-care, I need to advocate it.  I need to be the teacher who proudly announces that they won’t be taking any work home because family comes first.  When other teachers tell me they worked until midnight, I need to announce unashamedly that I went for a swim and then enjoyed a long relaxing soak in the bath.  I need to do all of this without guilt, knowing that what I am advocating is right and healthy and sustainable.  Instead of making jokes about packhorses as colleagues leave school loaded down with books, I should question the hours they’re putting in at home and remind them that they need to take time for themselves.  Of course I’ll still work hard, but I’ll also allow myself to have a life outside of work.  I know what’s at stake now.  Teacher guilt is a powerful foe, and if I don’t want to be part of the problem, I need to be part of the solution.

Pushing Back

OK I’m prepared to take my share of the blame when it comes to self-care.  Going back into teaching without learning from the mistakes I’ve made in the past would very quickly end in tears, but I also know that there were other significant factors that contributed to my downfall.

I recently read an article Teacher Burnout or Demoralization? What’s the Difference and Why it Matters by Tim Walker on neaToday, in which he interviews Doris Santoro, author of Demoralized: Why Teachers Leave the Profession they Love and How They Can Stay.  Santoro argues that the term ‘teacher burnout’ is often misused and carries connotations of individual failure.  A teacher who is burned out may be perceived as weak, lacking resilience or failing to take care of themselves.  Essentially, this takes the focus away from the system and places the blame firmly on the individual.  Santora argues that many teachers leave the profession, not because they are burned out, but because they are demoralised.  This term addresses the lack of autonomy in teaching and the influence of factors such as high stakes testing, a narrowed curriculum and excessive administration tasks.  Most teachers go into the profession with a desire to help children and to make a difference, so when they’re asked to do things which are not in the best interest of the children, this results in an internal conflict which can be hard to overcome.  Santora suggests that reframing our view of burnout within the context of demoralisation can be hugely empowering.

Personally, I don’t think the distinction between burnout and demoralisation is clear cut.  In fact, I would argue that demoralisation is a contributing factor to teacher burnout, rather than an alternative explanation.  Nevertheless, the important thing is to recognise that whilst teachers do have a responsibility to take care of themselves, there are many problems that need to be addressed at an institutional and systemic level.

In their Summary and recommendations: teacher well-being and research report, Ofsted cite a number of factors which impact negatively on teacher well-being:

• Heavy workload
• A perceived lack of resources
• Poor behaviour (and a lack of support from leaders and parents in managing behaviour)
• Negative relationships with parents
• Lack of influence over policy and frequent changes to policy
• Stress caused by Ofsted inspections
• Lack of support from (some) senior leaders
• Lack of support from line managers 

In response, they’ve issued a number of recommendations both to the Department for Education (DfE) and to school leaders.  As teachers, we don’t have much influence over the DfE, but we do have a responsibility to start pushing back on senior leaders if they’re not adhering to these recommendations.  These include: the cultivation of a positive culture; reducing workload by following DfE guidelines; ensuring parents understand the appropriate way to raise concerns; granting teachers appropriate levels of autonomy; and supporting teachers in the implementation of behaviour policies.

Ofsted are also advocating a broader curriculum, with less emphasis on attainment.  Of course this has created its own workload as subject leaders busy themselves preparing for deep dives.  And in reality, many leaders are still using attainment as a means of measuring teacher performance. 

Sadly, when teachers start showing signs of burnout, there’s a tendency to advise leaving the profession; to prioritise mental health by walking away.  Instead of pushing back, we act as if our colleagues are disposable and we carry on as before.  But where does this leave our children?

The accountability culture in schools holds teachers responsible for pretty much everything; from the lack of provision for children with special educational needs to the behaviour of children with severe emotional difficulties.  And when a teacher burns out, who is accountable then?  The teacher of course, because they didn’t make time to eat their lunch, practise their daily meditation or get to the gym three times a week.  Teachers are amazing, but they’re not superhuman, and many of them burn out because they forget this simple fact.  Yes we need to take care of ourselves, but we also need to hold our senior leaders accountable for the unreasonable expectations, unnecessary workload and lack of support that is prevalent in so many of our schools.

So the choice I face is this: do I give up on teaching forever and write myself off as a statistic or do I put myself back together again, come back stronger than before and do what I wanted to do from the start….make a difference.  Because as teachers we know what is in the best interest of the children and what isn’t, and the biggest difference we can make right now is to push back on a system that is stopping us from doing the right thing.

Of course fighting talk is easy when you’re sat behind a computer and you don’t have any planning to do, but after years of being slowly digested, I’m finally beginning to feel whole again.  Maybe next week I’ll be ready to make that call.

Thanks for reading my post.  I welcome all feedback and would love to hear your views.  You can also visit What the Teacher Did Next on facebook to find other useful information and related articles.