Is the Accountability Agenda Putting Teachers Under Too Much Pressure?
According to the BBC recently, more than 50% of teachers in the UK are deeply unhappy and are planning to quit the profession in the next two years. The report suggested that moral is at an all-time low with many unconvinced by the accountability agenda that seems to have taken over teaching practice in the last ten years. The UK isn't the only country struggling to find the right balance between teaching practice and the need to demonstrate educational results.
More than any other profession, teachers are under pressure to produce the goods. Curriculums change, accountability needs to be addressed, there is the constant need to update skills, create innovative lesson plans, push the educational envelope and take on board new processes and technology. It’s no wonder that teachers are worried about keeping up and whether they are actually good enough in the first place.
What has led to this situation?
There are a number of reasons why teachers might feel less confident than in days gone by which may need to be addressed if we are to provide the right kind of education for our children.
Too Much Testing in Education
Many teachers want all their students to have the opportunity to shine but rigid educational policing confines them with over testing and strict curriculum guidelines just to meet an arbitrary set of targets. Even in the USA, where you might think there would be more innovative teaching practices, the emphasis over recent years across many states and schools has been on what they call teacher effectiveness and its impact on student performance.
Keeping Up with Technology
Some additional pressure, of course, comes from technology changes that teachers have to constantly keep up with in addition to providing an outstanding level of education for pupils. While the children are naturally used to new gadgets and tech tools that come onto the market, teachers are often in danger of being left behind. It’s not just the latest smartphone but the way we communicate through platforms such as social media and web forums.
News Travels Fast
We live in a much faster paced world than, say, ten years ago. With social media outlets such as Facebook information can spread like wildfire between friends and pupils across a school, putting teachers under added pressure. News stories can appear in an instance and the art of media management needs to be handled quickly and efficiently by both teachers and institutions.
School Ratings and Awards
Teachers and schools are also being pressured by the publication of ratings, awards for the best schools, not to mention the naming and shaming of poor performing ones. This can lead to unnecessary pressure being placed on institutions and teachers to keep up with the stats to prove their worth rather than concentrating on the most important aspects of providing education.
Greater School Diversity
There is much more diversity in schools that has led to some bigger issues surrounding religious and cultural sensitivities. Addressing these in schools across the world has been one of the major issues facing education in the last ten to fifteen years.
An Answer in Finland?
In Finland, the selection of teachers in the first place is carefully controlled (they all have to have a relevant Master’s degree) but beyond that the standardisation in education across institutions is not a priority as it is in other countries. They only take the best, and the brightest, and schools are seen as entire entities. The focus is put on total performance rather than on that of particular teachers. Many countries are now looking at this model rather than one which depends solely on providing a one size fits all solution.
So how do we deal with this challenge?
A Renewed Focus on Strong Leadership
Creating the right environment in schools where teachers and pupils can both thrive is key in getting things right. The importance of leadership in schools in this respect cannot be underestimated. That includes putting in the processes and conditions for staff to work more effectively, something that is obviously more difficult when there is an underlying ethos or strategy that doesn’t allow for any flexibility at all. Effective leadership includes setting shared goals that matter as well as creating the right environment for teaching and learning, for both students and teachers. New technology may also be able to help school leaders achieve better outcomes.
“With a hint of good judgment, to fear nothing, not failure or suffering or even death, indicates that you value life the most. You live to the extreme; you push limits; you spend your time building legacies. Those do not die.” - Criss Jami.
Embracing the Right Technology
While it may be too much to ask for governments to change their approach on teaching from a less data driven process to a more innovative and tailored approach any time soon, technology may well come to the aid of many teachers who feel they are overloaded with work. Technologies that can help teachers better organise their time and that of the school, including creating integrated management systems could be the way forward.
“The real power of interactive technologies is that they let us learn in ways that aren’t otherwise possible or practical.” - David Lassner.
The Teaching Solution
Perhaps institutions could take a step back and listen to Nancie Atwell who was recently voted one of the best teachers in the world. Her recipe for success might confound many an administrator in schools around the world. She forbids standardised tests in her school in Maine, USA, and her classrooms are designed to be places of ‘wisdom and happiness’. Her students read around 40 books a year and that’s well above the national average.
The lesson learned here, is that our honest intention to standardise education for everyone is in a real sense greatly flawed. Perhaps if we elevate teaching to the status it deserves (and our children deserve) and put more emphasis on the joy of learning new things rather than the data of results, we might have happier, more fruitful educational establishments and teachers who are more concerned about development than fearing they are doing the wrong thing all the time.
Form filling, target driven education is destined to failure according to many in the profession. Bringing more innovative leadership the fore, the use of effective technologies and having a better focus on the joy of learning and the desire to learn need to be embraced if we are going to give today’s pupils what they really need to succeed.