After the financial crisis of 2008, a phenomenon emerged in the business world that has continued to this day – the ‘zombie’ business. This is a business that staggers along, earning enough money to cover its debt but not enough to pay it off. It covers daily expenses but doesn’t make enough to invest in itself to grow and make it better. Often they are reliant on loans from the bank to keep going. Sooner or later, they fall and die. Normally it will be a poor quarter or some unexpected event that pushes them over the edge. A good example recently has been Debenhams but sadly there have been lots of recent examples hence ‘the death of the high street’ and the lockdowns have only accelerated the process of ‘zombies’ finally falling.
There is obviously an equivalence here with teachers. We can see in the data that there are many potential ‘zombie teachers’ out there. We are all aware of polls that suggest two in three teachers want to leave the classroom within two years and there is no doubt that the mishandling of education over the past year would have pushed many more into thinking about their career in teaching.
The constant criticism of teachers during lockdown when it was assumed we were all on holiday, the continual U-turns from government about a number of educational issues, the pressure from parents with regards the centre-assessed grades (CAGs) and the expectations about online teaching would have pushed teachers to the edge.
Clearly in the middle of a pandemic induced recession, this is not the time to quit teaching as you would find yourself in the middle of a hugely competitive labour market and like ‘zombie’ businesses, ‘zombie teachers’ have bills to pay and therefore they will continue in the classroom, feeling disgruntled, demotivated and disrespected. This can be seen in the data where there will always be a time lag with regards quitting the profession.
Obviously some of the responses in these surveys will be bravado or heat of the moment stuff but there seems to be something quite different about the way we are currently seen by this government and some of the more vocal members of the mainstream media. Long after Gavin Williamson has gone, there will be a need to heal the divide between the profession and Whitehall. This has not been helped by a Prime Minister who was prepared to put our lives in danger and a Chancellor that has already announce a pay freeze.
Therefore classrooms up and down the country might be swarming with ‘zombie teachers’. This might not be obvious to students, after all, we are a caring profession and on the whole will do our utmost to give them the best education possible but if you think you are going to leave the profession within a couple of years, then standards might start slipping in areas that you might not see as being worthwhile. There might be a lack of engagement at CPD events and an unwillingness to offer extra-curricular activities and other additions that come from the ‘goodness of the heart’.
This disillusionment will have to be carefully managed. It might be that after all the lockdowns are over and teaching becomes normal again, most of the past year or so might be forgotten but with pay freezes locked in and catch-up classes expected for another year or so, this is unlikely.
This is obviously another issue for SLT to deal with, who themselves are likely to be suffering. There will no doubt be plenty of ‘zombie senior leaders’ as well and this can be seen in the data also with over two-fifths of teachers, school leaders and support staff wanting to quit within the next five years. This was originally due to ‘workload pressures’ and ‘excessive’ accountability. Now imagine that over the next year or so and what we have seen recently! Clearly for many, the coronavirus will be the unexpected event that will push many over the edge. Let’s hope there is a safety net.
On Teaching... 