The teachers are working incredibly hard. The problem is that the pupils aren’t.” So ran the verdict of the school advisor and it always caused the same sinking feeling in my stomach as a chief education officer. The tell-tale comment, confirmed my worst fears that the school involved was in serious trouble, especially if, as was usual, it was accompanied by a despairing lament from the head: “Well what more can you expect from kids with backgrounds like these?”
Of course it immediately prompted measures of school support but you knew in your guts that the road to recovery would be long and tortuous and as likely as not involve a change of school leadership. After all if the head does not believe the pupils will achieve, very few of the staff will.
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