Secret Teacher: I see trouble brewing between teachers and parents again

Life is returning to normal just as schools are about to close

It takes a village for each of us to lead healthy, happy lives. A village is a million different things: it’s knowing the name of the person in your local shop; it’s trusting your neighbour to check your garden plants when you’re on holiday. The smallest details of our lives carry the weight of its meaning.

Covid reminded us of that. Who will ever forget the rainbows pasted on our windows in deep winter? Or the support WhatsApp groups, the parcels at our doors, the letters, the postcards. As a species, we’ve re-anchored ourselves, just as our ancestors knew to do, in our communities.

Covid changed us. The ESRI and Trinity College Dublin recently launched the results of a special survey of Covid-19 experiences for children and young adults participating in Growing Up in Ireland. Many parents of 12-year-olds reported enjoying time with their family (63% said this). Parents were also the most frequent source of information about Covid-19 for 12-year-olds (80%). Parents stepped up across the country, bringing their children to the park at lunch time, fitting them in.

But the tone is set to change. Life is returning to normal just as schools are about to close. Kids are going to be at home again, after a year of being home far too much already. The strain on individual families is intense. I feel it myself. And inevitably, I see trouble brewing between teachers and parents again. At the centre of it, as always, is our government, pitting families and schools against one another.

On May 11, Norma Foley and Josepha Madigan announced the provision of expanded summer education programmes for pupils with complex special educational needs and those at greatest risk of educational disadvantage. However, instead of working with schools in a collaborative manner, they threw the cart before the horse, telling the public that the usual 20m would increase to 40m. Their message was simple: this Government wants to help children. But behind the scenes, guidance is yet to be shared with schools. Most significantly, no one bothered to gauge staff availability before making the celebratory announcement.

Shouldn’t staff be available? This year of all years? As a parent, I can’t help but ask this myself. Children need extra support and educators should care about learning and wellbeing. But this is where it gets complicated. I’m also aware of how exhausted school staff are, not by the hours worked necessarily but by the toll of continuing to work without public support, vaccinations, or adequate safety measures. The media is often quiet when reporting cases in schools, but they remain high. 

Covid is now a young person’s disease and while the rest of society breathes great sighs of relief, school staff retain their vigilance.

Schools have felt isolated in their experience of Covid. Research from Maynooth University at the start of this year found that seven out of 10 teachers reported feeling more stress and six out of 10 reported a decline in wellbeing during the first six months of the pandemic. More recent research focusing on principals found that two out of 10 principals were experiencing symptoms of severe and unsustainable stress. One principal taking part referred to the extra pressure of contact tracing as “unbearable” when a Covid case occurred in the school. The fact that some staff weren’t told of cases in their own classes left a bitter taste in mouths, especially for people with vulnerable family members in their care. The secrecy also placed an awful emotional burden on management.

There’s also a sense that this is a publicity stunt by the Government. While Norma Foley sings to the rafters filled with parents, she turns her back on the advice of educational professionals calling for long-term supports, particularly for those with special educational needs. Anyone who works with students knows that ‘boosters’ and other short-term supports look great on paper, but the best support is the daily support, across a school year. Despite Covid, this isn’t happening.

Summer provisions are run on goodwill. The pay is poor, the paperwork is tiresome, and the money doesn’t land in your pocket until the following winter. But every year volunteers step forward. We need to thank them for that. Blaming teachers for an inadequate system will only make matters worse.

It’s my hope that schools manage to provide something for children who need continued support. They don’t owe anything to the Government or the loud teacher bashers, but they care about the children in their schools, and this will hopefully be the biggest draw if their personal circumstances allow. Schools shouldn’t be the answer to everything. But these are exceptional times; we all need to act exceptionally.

Parents must do the same, putting their children first this summer and setting boundaries, where possible, with employers. This might not be manageable for some, but it will be for others and they need to be generous with their time and their community. Last weekend, I passed a group of families playing a game of football in the park, organised by the parents. It was so lovely to see such happy faces. In recent years we’ve started to assume that we need to pay someone else to train or entertain our kids. As communities, we must not forget the greatest assets we have. Each other.