Most schools in England and Wales re-open today after effectively being closed for two months.
There are talks of school days being extended and the summer holidays being cut to allow those students who need it to catch up.
The problem is, are teachers going to cope with this? When stress levels are already a historic highs:
Being a teacher during the Pandemic has been a horrifically stressful experience for most teaching professionals. Whether schools are closed are open, it means more work for teachers than pre-pandemic, even without extra catch up lessons.
While schools are in full lockdown, teachers still have to manage online lessons for as long as they did while in school, knowing full-well that some students would be paying minimal if any attention during said lessons, which creates a demand/ need to chase such pupils.
And surely things are worse when back in school – if some students are isolating, teachers have to manage the classroom AND those students who can’t attend in person, juggling yet more tasks.
And then there’s having to deal with not just the academic side of things, but the social and mental health problems that come with dealing with a Pandemic overall.
Teacher stress is at an all time high according to a recent survey by education support, so it’s all very well and good putting in place plans to help students catch up, but this might break some teachers.
