The Secret Teacher: How pupils feel back in school may surprise

“I’m loving school”, says Anna. “And, until now I have always really, really hated it,” she added.

Over the past few weeks she has been truly thriving – and for the very first time in her secondary school years. The longer the restrictions continue, the more progress Anna will make.

She has OCD and this has blighted her at every attempt to be a normal carefree teenager. While we all rigidly adhere to restrictions, the world around Anna finally functions in a way that she has always longed for. Over a number of years her condition had crippled her into a visibly anxious state, from which she is now unwinding rapidly. For Anna there is now so little to be anxious about. She is relaxed in her communication and participates enthusiastically at a time when I am grateful for any input I can get. We are all finally dancing to a tune that Anna has been hearing for years.

Schools are safe. Full stop. End of story. No open and transparent dialogue of any opposing views allowed. Worse even, evidence that they might not be safe is reported belatedly. Parents have even had to resort to establishing an online community to transmit official information about where the virus has been detected in schools. A membership of nigh-on 120,000 at the end of October strongly indicates a hunger for factual details. And rightly so. It only makes sense that people want to know exactly where this virus is presenting itself.

Boy who painted elderly neighbour wins Texaco Children’s Art Competition

---

Colleges set to boost on-campus activity for students over dropout fears

---

My son studied law but doesn’t want to be a solicitor. Does he have other options?

---

Trinity and Richard Dawkins: Better to debate ideas than to ban them

---

Survey needed

Students are better off back at school; it is essential for their mental health. That’s what everyone is saying and what everyone is telling them. While I’m not suggesting that isn’t correct, the fact that we are well into our second half-term means it’s time we asked the students for their views.

I’ve been using my breaktime and lunchtime supervision to do so and it’s proving very enlightening, even informally and on a small scale. Imagine what we would learn by formalising a check-in with students via some national gathering of data. Or would that constitute more openness than we are comfortable with? It might even mean we have to talk about what being back at school is like.

John tells me he has been allocated a very poor seat in class. There is no moving around, swapping or exchanging, so he spends his whole school week in a seat from which he actively struggles to see the board. He’s an excellent student who really wants to see it.

Rob is in the same class right up the front, where he spends his time trying to hide the fact that he’s on his phone. John is as distracted by Rob’s antics as he is envious of Rob’s seat. Both students are massively frustrated and would be happier if they could just swap seats. As a diligent student John is doing his best to engage despite the limited visibility, whereas Rob would be likely to switch off entirely if given the opportunity. I didn’t share this thinking with John – he needed me to listen and so that’s what I did. As a result of what he shared I’m more sensitive to the seats our individual students spend their days in, and whether they are thriving in them or not.

Frank says he can’t get a grip on time management. He recognises the benefits of being back but says he finds himself exhausted after a school day. “I’m totally out of my depth, and the more things accumulate the harder it is to know where to start,” he says.

Stooped backs

Doing any additional work after school feels impossible, and the fact that different teachers have varying approaches to checking work makes it easy to skip work in some subjects. Motivation is a challenge for Frank anyway, so he knows he is cutting corners and getting away with it. This will come at a price in the long term, but not doing everything and getting away with it is a helpful strategy for Frank during his current struggle.

Backache is a problem for students who no longer have lockers and who don’t dare (or aren’t allowed) to leave some books at home. No student volunteered the backache information – seeing the bags and the awkward gait under them meant I specifically asked about it. In a couple of cases, students who live nearby and can go home for lunch said that even the weight of a half-day bag can be a problem. That is very alarming.

And imagine the additional frustration of bringing a book only for it not to be used in class. As teachers, we need to engage in a whole new level of thinking around the physical demands we place on our students for as long as Covid impacts on teaching and learning.

Anna’s experience offers one of the best lessons on perspective I have ever learned. She told me that she hated my class more than anyone else’s because of how much pair work and group work I do – the very reasons other students have given me for loving my classes.

Similar learning opportunities are available in all of our schools if only we were open to truly exploring them. Schools have successfully reopened and have remained open even now that the country is at Level 5. It feels safe enough to ask everyone how they feel about being in school now. Schools won’t close in the morning just because we all say what it’s really like there. What we say might even surprise you.