The profession is on its knees after two years of working on the front-line of the pandemic. And unless action is taken on workload and wellbeing, the supply of school leaders risks running dry, says Diana Ohene-Darko


With the pandemic still dominating our professional lives as school leaders, we remain in unprecedented and unparalleled times.

However, while most other professions can do the job they have been trained for, my colleagues and I are working against a backdrop of a lack of professional agency, autonomy, and independence.

We have kept education going for our children and communities – often despite the onslaught of last-minute updates to key guidance delivered by ministers on a Sunday evening, or indeed the now infamous spring term 2021 when we opened our doors only to be told after just one day that we were to shut them once again to a majority of pupils. And it is no understatement to say that given the vague nature of much of the guidance, we have often been operating on our own, making incredibly difficult decisions day-in, day-out.

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