Tag Archives: 150th Anniversary

Morale matters

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Earlier this week the NHS as an organisation were awarded the Nation’s highest civilian award; The George Cross. This was in recognition of the huge efforts staff made, and indeed continue to make, during the on-going covid pandemic and the direct and indirect effects upon all the staff working within the service created as a result of the pandemic.

The award, created in 1940, sits at the top of the UK honour’s system joint with the military Victoria Cross and is the highest civilian gallantry award. It is given for acts of the greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger.

NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard and May Parsons, a matron for respiratory services who delivered the world’s first Covid vaccination in December 2020, were presented with the award by the Queen at Windsor Castle.

This is only the third time the George Cross has been awarded to a collective body, rather than an individual. It was previously awarded to Malta in 1942 and to the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1999.

Should some sort of collective thank you is also due to our schools, and those that staff them, for remaining open throughout the pandemic. A signed certificate for every school thanking everyone for their ‘service’ during the pandemic and signed by the Monarch as Head of State might not come amiss.

Using the Platinum Jubilee to create some Regis Professors of Education to celebrate both the 150th Anniversary, in 2020, of 150 years of State Elementary Education and its successive expansion into the present system, and in 2022, the 210th anniversary of state funding of the education of children for the first time would have been a nice gesture. Yes, I know that they were children of soldiers that were funded, and it was The War Office that paid for the education in 1812, but it was still the start of state schooling.

The 150th anniversary of the 1870 Education Act, as a milestone, disappeared in horrors of the pandemic, but should not be forgotten. The ‘thank a teacher’ movement has raised the profile of teachers at the individual school level, and since the Blair government more school leaders, but not classroom teachers, have received awards in the Birthday or New Years’ Honours lists. But, do we need to do more to raise the morale of the profession?

As an employer, I know the importance of motivation, and of saying thank you for working through trying times. I can award a bonus, something not really available to the public sector as a whole, especially in this time of fiscal challenge.

Morale, workload and pay are the three key areas that support the successful staffing of any organisation. Managing morale is the cheapest and most overlooked, possibly because it is difficult for politicians to seem genuine. But, missing key anniversaries is a sign that morale isn’t taken seriously enough amongst senior decision-makers and those that shape the policy of our education system.

With a week to go to the end of term, there’s still time to wish everyone the best for the summer, and to say a Thank you to everyone for their dedication to the cause of education. So, from me, at least, a great big THANK YOU to everyone in our education system.

Reflections from a round table presentation

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Foundation for Education Development Round Table

Part of 150th Anniversary of the 1870 Elementary Education Act

A synopsis of my presentation

Education workforce

Teacher supply over the past 150 years, and certainly since World War Two, has been a perpetual cycle or more accurately a sine wave, moving from shortage to surplus to shortage, mostly governed by the coincidence of the economic and demographic cycles.

 All schools are often only fully staffed when pupil numbers are low and the economy is in recession. A buoyant economy; rising birth rates and increases in length of education have created shortages that have most affected schools serving our more deprived communities.

The current situation

What are some possible issues within the workforce? Here are three dichotomies to consider:

Career Development

Personal Goals v System Needs

At every stage there can be tensions between the career goals of teachers and the needs of the system to fill vacancies at every point in the system from classroom teachers to head teachers in schools and the many roles beyond schools that need expertise in teaching. For example, the tension over seen in supporting candidates for headship when a school may lose a highly able deputy.

However, schools with a good track record of staff development attract staff that want to work in such environments and the turnover is more than compensated for by the staff attracted.

Teachers need support at every stage of their careers and currently CPD is not treated with the attention it deserves.

Where to work

Market v Direction

England has a very market-based approach to teaching jobs. A teacher is in charge of their own career and there is still little advice available. When should you seek more responsibility? Is it ever too late to look for a new post? Is there hidden discrimination in appointments?

In some countries, teachers are civil servants, and are directed where to teach. New teachers may serve early stages of their careers in challenging locations that contain posts that are otherwise hard to fill.  Governments in England have dabbled with the idea of ‘direction’ from Fast Track to the coalition government’s desire to parachute heads and middle leaders into certain schools and the discussion of ‘super-heads’, but the market system has so far triumphed. That triumph has been at a significant financial cost to schools and teachers. 

Both approaches have advantages and challenges. As noted, one approach is expensive, with schools spending millions of pounds on recruitment advertising for a process that should cost less than £3 per vacancy. (TeachVac data) The other takes away freedom from individuals – that freedom was a reason I became a teacher not a civil servant. But, as teaching is becoming a global career, can we afford to lose large numbers of teachers overseas?

Making teaching an Attractive Career

Intrinsic v Extrinsic Factors

Teachers don’t usually join just for the pay, but there are few other ‘perks’. Teachers work an ‘employer-directed form of flexitime and on balance have seen other workers catch up on the holiday front, This year has revealed how important teachers are as key workers and how well regarded they are by sections of society. Their workload needs to be constantly monitored and the implications of the changes in technology on re-training are not insignificant.

Finally, the importance of both

Morale and Accountability

These are not alternatives, but essential considerations for an effective teaching profession. Overload accountability and create low morale and there is a problem. At present we need to ensure teachers and leaders feeling drained by their efforts don’t leave the profession because they feel under-valued, especially by government.

To end with a personal plea: To celebrate the 150th anniversary of State Funded Schooling

Make ‘TEACHER’ a reserved occupation term

And as a bonus, create some Regis Professorship of Education as well, to demonstrate the status of the profession.