The World Turned Upside Down on March 20th 2020. This was the day that schools closed and as teachers we said an indefinite "See you later" to our students. We didn't know what the next step was, and neither did they. For two weeks prior to the national partial closure of schools, as teachers we continued to teach in an environment where we were the space for children and young people to express their fears, worries, ask questions and get some clarity about what was happening to our world. We became the ones who could translate the news and we tried our best, in spite of our own uncertainty, fears, worries and concerns.
Some of us didn't get to say a goodbye to our students and it felt like falling off of a cliff edge. We build relationships with our students, some from the start of the school year, others for longer. I had a class of year 10s who were a mixture of this. The last lesson I had with them was introducing a new topic as we had just finished Politics and The Media. We were starting the topic that would help them make sense of the politicised response to a global pandemic, and as we know "knowledge is the key". If I had known this was my last lesson with them (possibly as year 10s) I would have said so much more, encouraged them to challenge what is presented as 'fact' and why we need to question.
Of course I miss my classes, but there also individual students I miss as well. Those relationships are built on so many different factors, from a joint appreciation of the subject, humour, perseverance, confidence and in so many cases, basic humanity.
One of these students, is one I taught since year 9. I am sure they wouldn't mind me saying they had a 'difficult' relationship with school that had started at primary and followed through to secondary. By the time this student got to my class in for the first year of GCSE Citizenship, the student had a lot of pastoral support and I was so lucky to start seeing the green shoots of confidence starting to come through. We worked out a way to work in class that meant we could leave the outside at the door, this was a relationship built on trust and when the trust was tested, we both worked hard to rebuild i. We developed a rhythm where I was able to see the best of this student.
I have always been honest with my classes at the start of the year about my role as a trade unionist, it gave us a chance to talk about how we can stand up for rights, our responsibilities to the community and how the law should work. My students were just as excited as my colleagues when I was elected as National President and as we got closer to April they were more interested in seeing Miss popping up on TV.
However I wanted to share this journey with a handful of students in particular and I asked 2 of them to contribute to my speech. The remit - if you could say anything at all to a room of teachers from across the UK (and the world) from different sectors, stages in their careers - what would you say to them? the students went away and started writing. I gave no more parameters than that, this was a chance for their voices to be heard.
On the 3rd of March, I received an email from my year 10 with her contribution and it brought tears to my eyes. This speech, was honest, balanced, emotional and spoke with the honesty of youth. When I shared it with colleagues who had supported this student (with her permission of course) they were also moved to emotions. This was a student who they didn't gave up on, even when it would have been easier to let them continue down the path that was laid ahead of them.
And then March 20th happened, our annual conference was cancelled and the moment of speaking to a room of teachers went like a puff of smoke.
For that student, for all of our students who have something to say but don't always find the voice to say it - I am sharing their words here. To those students - Thank you for putting your trust in us, and as you find your voice we will try our hardest to hear what you have to say....
I became a teacher so that I
can give young people a voice, before I end my time at the podium I want to
share some of what my students have to say:
On my first initial thought when miss Codrington asked me
to write a part of her speech from a student’s point of view, I was first off
extremely grateful that Ms Codrington offered me this opportunity, but I also thought about a number of issues in schools not just in Oxford
but possibly across the whole of the UK. The one that was most striking and
attracted my interest the most was the lack of attention wellbeing gets, for
students and teachers. Fair to say that some schools are trying to incorporate
student wellbeing into its academic curriculum and pastoral support, but
unfortunately, it is not taught much in enough schools.
With the stress of GCSEs starting in
students from the age of 11 and accumulating progressively each year, students
are not always being taught to handle this amount of stress. So we cannot ignore
the number of students that drop out of school or become school refuser.
Whether that be secondary students or sixth formers. According to the ‘The
Telegraph’ a fifth of British teenagers drop out of school at the age of 16.
Undoubtedly, some caused by the constant stress students have been put under.
And when students are stressed and teachers are stressed, it causes an
atmosphere that is hard to learn in.
Having experienced 3 secondary
schools in Oxford, I can confidently say that the teaching of student wellbeing
in schools should be more looked at openly and taken into consideration.
Teachers [not all teachers but teachers in general] have fixated into the minds
of the students that having good GCSEs is the only way to succeed in life. When
truly, that is not true, it is unarguable that having good GCSEs does make it
easier to get a job and have a stable income, but it’s not the only way.
And as a collective we need to stop
portraying this as the only message to students because in extreme
circumstances it can having unforgivable consequences for the students effected
by this
approach.
Students are dealing with exam stress
and just the stress of school as a whole often have to do it in the only way
they know how to, which has an impact on their health and wellbeing. Teachers
need time to learn a bit more about their students so they can spot when
something is ‘off’ because sometimes you are the only ones who can see it. We all need to think about how much pressure
is in education for all of us students and teachers. We might all be struggling
even if we don’t show it.
In conclusion, as a student who as
struggled in school I ask you as teachers rethink the way you are showing the
importance of a standard education and take into consideration that there are students
struggling with the amount of school work sometimes even if they don’t show it.
While having little ways to deal with it. Thank you for listening.
