Experienced headteacher Brian Walton says he is afraid and the system is in crisis.
“You see, it’s not workload that keeps me awake. It’s fear. Even knowing that I’m good at my job, there are now so many factors in which I am set up to fail within. I’m scared about:
Running a school with an ever-diminishing budget;
Being unable to meet the needs of the pupils or parents;
The safeguarding failures in a system that, let’s just be blunt, seems to not care;
Not meeting expected standards that are higher than ever;
Not being inclusive;
Not having a good enough curriculum;
Not having enough staff;
Providing a substandard education.
And the rest. The list is endless. It’s the ignorance of what is obvious to anyone working in education that cultivates this fear. The fact that those we entrust to represent us cannot do it.”
Read it in full: ‘It’s not workload that keeps me awake, it’s the fear’ (TES, 30 Nov 2018)