{"id":22116,"date":"2018-04-28T15:19:32","date_gmt":"2018-04-28T14:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/?p=22116"},"modified":"2023-05-30T23:59:01","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T22:59:01","slug":"secret-teacher-i-fear-for-the-wellbeing-of-students-under-pressure-to-perform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/2018\/04\/28\/secret-teacher-i-fear-for-the-wellbeing-of-students-under-pressure-to-perform\/","title":{"rendered":"Secret Teacher: I fear for the wellbeing of students under pressure to perform"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My school is working young people into the ground, and failing to give them the support they need to deal with mental health issues.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><!-- GUARDIAN WATERMARK --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/teacher-network\/2018\/apr\/28\/secret-teacher-i-fear-for-the-wellbeing-of-students-under-pressure-to-perform\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardian.png\" alt=\"Powered by Guardian.co.uk\" width=\"140\" height=\"45\" \/>This article titled &#8220;Secret Teacher: I fear for the wellbeing of students under pressure to perform&#8221; was written by The Secret Teacher, for theguardian.com on Saturday 28th April 2018 06.30 UTC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>As exam season looms into sight, the stress is ramping up. This is nothing new, of course, but the way students are being treated at my school is a cause for concern. We\u2019re showing a complete disregard for their mental health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail\">\n<p> <span>Related: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/teacher-network\/2018\/apr\/18\/test-anxiety-can-be-debilitating-but-schools-can-help-students-manage-it\">Test anxiety can be debilitating. But schools can help students manage it<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The school\u2019s leaders seem to have no reservations about working our young people into the ground. The school day has been extended for some year groups, while a huge number of regular sessions outside school hours have been made compulsory. Students who don\u2019t turn up can expect detention and a phone call to their parents. Teachers, under pressure from leadership, are using fear to motivate students in lessons. Students are frequently told exactly how many days or hours of study time are left until exams, and some less-experienced teachers are directly transferring the pressure they feel on to students through frustration and anger. As a result, pupils are appearing increasingly anxious. <\/p>\n<p>The stress is showing in some worrying ways. Fights, erratic behaviour and even self-harm are becoming more common. I recently found one pupil sitting catatonic in the playground after it all got too much. It\u2019s clear that students aren\u2019t really learning under these conditions. My school seems to have forgotten that these are people we\u2019re working with, not robots who can be programmed with all of the information needed to pass the exams. PE lessons and extra-curricular clubs have been cancelled, and students are timetabled instead to do extra work for academic subjects. It seems ludicrous to take away such important outlets for combatting stress. Even PSHE and tutor time sessions have been cut.<\/p>\n<p>My concern for my pupils\u2019 safety and wellbeing is exacerbated by the fact that I don\u2019t feel confident addressing some of the issues they\u2019re facing. Although we have safeguarding training, we\u2019ve not been given the tools to adequately deal with mental health problems. There is a counsellor on site who will take on cases of huge concern, but what about the majority?<\/p>\n<p>Pupils aren\u2019t given advice and strategies to help them cope, and staff don\u2019t have the capacity or time to focus on the bigger picture. The school\u2019s leaders don\u2019t seem able to see that good results are the product of happy, emotionally resilient students.<\/p>\n<p>With the former headmaster of Harrow suggesting that teenagers should be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/education\/2018\/mar\/30\/advice-to-revise-7-hours-a-day-for-gcses-over-easter-unbelievable\">revising for seven hours a day<\/a> during the Easter holidays, it\u2019s important that we think about the pressure we\u2019re putting on our young people. There are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/healthcare-network\/2018\/jan\/08\/mental-health-support-in-schools\">schools doing lots of great work<\/a> on mental health. I just wish my school would recognise the importance.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail\">\n<p> <span>Related: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/teacher-network\/2018\/mar\/21\/guardian-teacher-network-newsletter-sign-up\">Join us: sign up for the Guardian Teacher Network newsletter<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p><strong>Follow us on Twitter via <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GuardianTeach\">@GuardianTeach<\/a>, like us on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GuardianTeacherNetwork\/\">Facebook<\/a>, and join the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/teacher-network\/2018\/mar\/21\/guardian-teacher-network-newsletter-sign-up\">Guardian Teacher Network<\/a> the latest articles direct to your inbox<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Looking for a teaching job? Or perhaps you need to recruit school staff? <a href=\"https:\/\/jobs.theguardian.com\/jobs\/schools\/?INTCMP=gdnwb_copts_editorial_jobs_SchoolsArticle_\">Take a look at Guardian Jobs<\/a>, the education specialist<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>guardian.co.uk &#169; Guardian News &amp; Media Limited 2010<\/p>\n<p>Published via the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/open-platform\/news-feed-wordpress-plugin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Guardian plugin page\" rel=\"noopener\">Guardian News Feed<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/extend\/plugins\/the-guardian-news-feed\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Wordress plugin page\" rel=\"noopener\">plugin<\/a> for WordPress.<\/p>\n<p><!-- END GUARDIAN WATERMARK --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My school is working young people into the ground, and failing to give them the support they need to deal with mental health issues<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/profile\/the-secret-teacher\">Read more from the Secret Teacher<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10220698900476085_349663338397715":"","twitter_1370559253_1370559253":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[61,29,425,424,411,145,423,422,448,421,232],"class_list":["post-22116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-article","tag-education","tag-exams","tag-gcses","tag-mental-health","tag-schools","tag-secondary-schools","tag-teacher-network","tag-teaching","tag-the-secret-teacher","tag-uk-professional-networks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}