by our Education expert Linda Tanner
The front page of our local paper yesterday carried a life-sized photo of the face of a long-serving local head teacher who is leaving his post.
Sadly, it was hardly a surprise, as the school had been placed in special measures after an inspection a year ago. A recent monitoring inspection revealed that not enough improvement had been made and morale was low. Both these reports were front-page news at the time, as was a threatened strike.
Nevertheless, I was shocked by the coverage of this latest development; it seems to me that such treatment might be appropriate for an individual who had committed a crime but not for someone who has tried his utmost to do a challenging and difficult job.
It appears from the report that the individual concerned is departing before an academy chain starts running the school for four months from January 2018. Therefore, the question the newspaper – and the wider community – should be asking is why, when an academy order was issued in January 2017, it has taken so long for support for the school to be brokered?
If this head teacher had walked away when his school was first judged to be failing, who would have led staff, children and families through all those months? Such dedication, following nearly a decade of stability at a previously turbulent school in a disadvantaged area, should not be rewarded by pillory in the press.
Of course all children deserve the best possible education and low expectations must be challenged, but we must also remember that schools are run by human beings, who have flaws as well as talents. Those who don’t measure up, for whatever reason, must be treated with kindness – ironically, this paper came out just days after schools across the country took part in Anti Bullying Week and National Kindness Day.
Finally, another sobering thought: the paper’s front page today is an inquest report on a teacher under stress who took his own life.
High standards, yes, but not at any price.
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