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What would happen if we put people first?

Government policy
You only need to look at our working hours and student attendance figures to realise that our education system is not putting people first. Helen Osgood considers what might happen if we changed focus
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Watching television last night, I was struck by the phrase: “This is our vocation – it is our privilege to help people.”

This is a common perception in many public sector jobs – teaching included – and while it is true that working with children is a real privilege, that does not mean that workers can be treated unfairly or taken advantage of.

To take just one example, teaching assistants are increasingly employed to work only while children are in school – so around 8:30am to 3:30pm for 39 weeks. However, it is often expected that they will arrive before the children and remain after they have gone home – sometimes attending meetings and events into the evening. This is the nature of “goodwill”.

Similarly, the Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders research (DfE. 2023) shows that teachers and school leaders are working up to 70-hour weeks – meaning that teacher pay is effectively as low as £11 per hour, perilously close to minimum wage. But again it is often expected that teachers will work long hours, often well into the night and through weekends.

Is it any wonder that we are failing to recruit and retain both teachers and teaching assistants when they can secure comparable pay and better working conditions elsewhere?

But there is a solution – put people first.

Increasingly, schools are run as businesses. The language from government is all about the education budget rising, but it is very rarely about the staff – about their wellbeing or happiness.

The annual Teacher Wellbeing Index (Education Support, 2023) notes that the overall wellbeing score of the education workforce stands at 43.6.

To put that into context, according to the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, those with scores of between 41 and 45 should be considered at high risk of psychological distress and increased risk of depression, and scores below 40 suggest an individual could be at risk of major depression and should be advised to seek help.

We need to put people first at all levels.

Teachers can, and do, put their students first. But the system could do more. Attendance figures (DfE, 2024) show that one in five (20.1%) students were persistently absent during the autumn term 2023, rising to one in four secondary students (24.6%). So let’s make schools more welcoming places, rather than accepting that some students see their schools as oppressive institutions.

Children are naturally curious, so let’s make our schools a comfortable space, where they can explore new ideas and expand their knowledge, a place where they will want to be.

Maybe we need opportunities for more students to shine, rather than an unending focus on preparation for assessment and data collection. Let’s give teachers the agency to determine what is best for their students and give schools the flexibility to meet those needs – with a greater focus on carrots rather than sticks.

But teachers need to know that someone has got their back. We need school leaders to put their staff first – to be trained to be leaders and not just managers. And we need those leaders to be supported by governors and able to explain in detail why what they are doing is right when an inspector comes to call.

We need to trust leaders and local authorities to support their schools and to fight for them.

I am astonished that I don’t hear academy trusts campaigning for more money, for healthier budgets, for better support services from local authorities, for improvements to SEND funding and provision. We all need greater government support.

Many of our schools are welcoming, warm places – because staff and leaders work hard to ensure that they are, but at great personal cost, sacrificing their own time and often their own money.

So, rather than sniping at staff for taking industrial action for better pay, rather than fining parents because an increasing number of children are not attending schools, let’s consider what we can do to make some of our schools more attractive, more welcoming, less stressful places to be.

Because if children want to come and learn, that makes things easier for teachers and support staff. And if they are valued and supported, then they will want to stay in the profession. That is the prize that is attainable for a sector that puts people first.

 

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