Conservative-led governments have consistently underfunded schools, providing meagre resources to all public sector institutions. As a member of the National Education Union, I fully support the campaign for increased funding as an election issue. However, both Conservative and Labour governments have been meddling with education policy, resulting in disastrous effects.
Having taught English to secondary school pupils for 30 years, I found it to be my vocation. My objective was to instil a love for literature that would last a lifetime in my students. Staff appraisals recognised my efforts, rewarding me with labels such as “inspirational”, “outstanding” and “excellent”. Despite this, one year ago, I had to quit my job due to declining health.
The reason behind my departure was the continuous revolution of change, be it school structures, curriculum, or the ethos of education. This unending storm prevents teachers from imparting the education that children deserve, making it impossible to serve their students effectively. Even with this perpetual revolution, the state of education has not improved.
Students are now succumbing to a clamorous individualism that demands success without effort. When I started teaching, my students understood that their success or failure was linked to the amount of effort they put in. Though the teacher’s job was to inspire, it was the student who had to exert effort. However, today, many students and parents believe that it is the teacher’s responsibility to secure good grades for their child, regardless of their effort. Unfortunately, this transfer of responsibility leads to students deliberately taunting and humiliating their teachers.
Furthermore, the curriculum has become an obsession with league tables encouraging schools to play safe. As a result, teachers are forced to forsake creative learning in favour of exam syllabus requirements. Though schools should have the liberty to choose what and how they teach, this is no longer the case.
If things are to improve, we must allow our teachers to get on with the job. We need to stop politicians from interfering with education and give good teachers the freedom to inspire their students without unnecessary regulations. Unfortunately, this seems unlikely to happen. It’s not surprising that the average length of service for teachers in the UK is only five years. I left after 30 years of service, and it seems like the system isn’t changing any time soon.