n my eyes as I type this’


the respect and trust of an entire profession in one speech”


“I have tears in my eyes as I type this, in pure frustration that this man is allowed to hold a job of such signifi cance and yet talk such drivel”


“Unbelievable. He’s clearly


out of touch” “I think Sir


chool leaders and support staff – all united in their anger at comments made by the chief ed chief said that teachers and heads ‘too often’ use stress as an excuse for poor performance. published the profession’s rebuttal to Sir Michael’s comments – but with so many passionate give the profession another chance to stand up against Sir Michael’s attack


I am immensely disappointed with Sir Michael’s


approach. He is either allowing this image of himself to be portrayed, in which case he should stop it, or he really thinks it will work. I guess history will be the judge, but I think his approach has the potential to do a lot more harm than good.


Headteacher – name and school supplied Headteacher – name and school supplied


Dear sir, I have been a head for 11 years – a real head working with real kids and their families, in a far from easy community. I work 10-hour days routinely, often 12. I have never known a period of stress in the job such as we are going through at the moment – at all levels of school. It is not so much the kids, the exams, the pressure.


It is the ongoing, vicious attacks, slurs and total lack of respect from those in power over us which is stressful. It is the frustration of reading what Mr Gove said to the Select Committee, that he does not accept that there are any students in this country who are not capable of achieving five A* to C grades with English and maths, and then trying to match that to Sir Michael’s statement that if students arrive at secondary school below Level 4 they cannot access the secondary curriculum. It is the frustration of watching school after school


fail under the new regime. If you put last week into the inspection search engine of Ofsted for secondary and primary, 15 out of 18 schools got a 4. It is the rage at being used as pawns in a political game waged for the benefit of those in power.


Dear sir, It is deeply worrying that the man who holds a Crown appointment as her majesty’s chief inspector of schools should so often and so volubly sound off in public as if he is in fact the secretary of state’s junior minister or “enforcer”. The suggestion that he personally has endured many kinds of stress, which no head or teacher today could ever possibly experience, is typical of a certain kind of egotism most often demonstrated by someone from the “charismatic” school of leadership. What the profession badly needs and the country


deserves is intelligent, objective and dispassionate oversight of education and schools by a chief inspector who is clearly and unequivocally independent of the government. A good first step would be for both Michaels to stop referring to each other so often in public. A good second step would be for Sir Michael to stop talking so much about himself. His particular style of leadership is not the only one and by no means the most successful in terms of sustainability.


Headteacher – name and school supplied


Anger: SecEd’s front page last week reported


Michael has hit an all- time low with this”


Furore: Chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw


Photo: Susannah Ireland/ Rex Features


the profession’s reaction to Sir Michael Wilshaw’s comments


DigitalAd strip new.indd 1 UK news  SecEd: On Your Side  Independent thinking  NQT diary  Union address  Managing ICT  At the chalkface 01 Frontpage.indd 1


SecEd The ONLY weekly voice for secondary education


Ofsted chief inspector says that stress is just an excuse for poor performance


SecEd’s readers hit back: “A lesson in how to lose


Issue 318 • May 17 2012 Price £1.00 www.sec-ed.com


“What is unforgivable to my mind is the general slur he is making about teachers. My staff could not work any harder”


"I work 10-hour days routinely,


often 12. I have never known a period of stress in the job such as we are going through at the moment”


“All around me excellent, committed teachers talk of needing to fi nd a way out of teaching because they know the stress levels are unsustainable”


“He is making the ‘rookie’


teacher's mistake of telling off the whole class for the misdemeanours of a few”


“Google 'Ofsted + suicide' and tale after tale of


teachers taking their own lives because of the pressure of Ofsted appear”


“Our leaders need to look


at themselves, their actions and their attitudes before denying the existence of stress”


“In any other setting it might be described as bullying”


"His remarks are disgusting and a slap in the face to teachers across the country,


many of whom are buckling under enormous stress”


Turn to page 2 As well as SecEd hard copy, you


can receive the latest UK education news, analysis and best practice via our free email updates. To register, email editor@sec-ed.co.uk


SecEdonline


Website: www.sec-ed.co.uk Twitter: @SecEd_Education


STRESS SLUR


The kids are not a problem. Teachers are great


to work with. The parents are often challenging but they are not the stress. It is what is being done to this profession and the students we work tirelessly to support which makes me, for the first time ever, wish to stop doing what I love. We are due Ofsted and live, as all schools do, in fear. Please don’t use my name or school.


Dear sir,


I start work at 7am, I teach for five hours a day and then have to plan lessons, organise my requistions, mark my eight classes of 30 to 35 students’ books with feedback so that they can improve their work. I do duty in the dining hall, sort out teenage


friendship issues, fill out forms for behaviour incidents, attend meetings with other staff to complete individual education plans effectively and run revision sessions so we can hit government-set targets. I leave work at about 5.30pm, usually with a laptop and pile of assessments, and will often work till 10pm at night as well as weekends – don’t forget rewriting schemes of work over holidays (repeatedly) because the government changes its mind on content and assessment every year. I suggest Sir Michael spends a week teaching in a


range of schools across the country before he opens his mouth and runs teachers down in the press.


Teacher – name and address supplied


Dear sir, I’m really angry about Sir Michael’s remarks. Morale in the teaching profession is at an all-time low and I am disappointed that the leader of Ofsted should want to denigrate teachers in this way. Google “Ofsted + suicide” and tale after tale of


teachers taking their own lives because of the pressure of Ofsted appear. I believe that by belittling the pressure that teachers face, Sir Michael is failing in the duty of care that he has to the teaching profession. Instances of suicide among teachers are now 30 to 40 per cent above the national average with the suicide rate among teachers doubling between 2008 and 2009 according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. As the union rep at my school, I am regularly called


in to support colleagues under such stress and pressure that they are being made physically ill. All around me excellent, committed teachers talk of needing to find a way out of teaching because they know the stress levels are unsustainable. I can think of one teacher, an excellent young


primary school teacher coming to the end of their second year of teaching. He is highly regarded at his school, yet he says he has considered suicide because of the stress, and wants to leave the teaching profession altogether.


Teacher – name and school supplied SecEd • May 24 2012


Dear sir,


I am 53 and have been a head for 15 years – the job has never been more stressful than it is now. A hostile Ofsted, far-reaching budget cuts, classes up to 32, more teachers off with stress than ever before, litigious parents supported by a compensation culture, violent students and unsupportive parents, and a threat to my hard-earned pension. A head I know is off with stress at the moment and


is one whose school (previously good with outstanding features) was plunged into special measures and given a 4 in every category under the new framework. She is never likely to work again. How is that good for the profession? I used to work 55 to 60-hour weeks because I wanted to do the best job I could, now I am cutting back – I refuse to ruin my health just to please Sir Michael and his Ofsted teams. I have never been more cynical, disillusioned and despondent than I am now.


Headteacher – name and school supplied


Dear sir, I think Sir Michael has hit an all-time low with this, and in so doing, demonstrates how little he understands about the importance and potential of inspirational leadership. He has the temerity to believe that he has the


monopoly of understanding as to what constitutes stress. While the circumstances to which Sir Michael refers were undoubtedly true, he was not labouring under an Ofsted framework, and the continual expectation that results had to be raised within five minutes. He almost certainly did not fear for his job, as probably around 40 per cent of headteachers currently do. Moreover, while head of Mossbourne, he had the


luxury of being able to build up the academy from year 7, one year group at a time, under a much more reasonable (though still demanding) political regime. As heads we are used to putting up with all sorts


of nonsense from a range of ultimately self-serving political masters. What is unforgivable to my mind is the general slur he is making about teachers. My staff could not work any harder, and his implication in the national press that the profession as a whole is indolent and complaining will do nothing to help us in the daily round of getting parents on board, let alone in helping to boost morale, which determines the success of any venture.


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