It has, all in, been a good week for History teachers. History has been everywhere. We all wanted to know about Ian Macleod, whose death in office makes him the only chancellor of the exchequer who spent less time in the role than Kwasi Kwarteng.
Then we all wanted to know about the Duke of Wellington, who lasted a month as home secretary in 1834. And now, finally, we all want to be absolutely certain that there was no shorter-serving prime minister than Liz Truss. (Also, discussion of short-serving PMs has thrown up the intriguingly named Bonar Law. Where’s a History teacher when you need one?)
Besides, today’s tumultuous news week is tomorrow’s history A-level question. Describe the events leading to the fall of the Conservative party, paying particular attention to the roles played by David Cameron and Boris Johnson.
It has, however, not been a good week for anyone else in education. Cue Jeremy Hunt, entering stage right at 11 Downing Street, playing the role of the superhead brought in to turn around the failing school before its next Ofsted visit. Britain Academy, he announced, needed to brace itself for tough times; in an upstairs classroom, Kathy, who’s been teaching History for 30 years, broke off from googling Bonar Law to check on the state of her pension.
She is not the only one worried about the anticipated cuts. Jonny Uttley, chief executive of the Education Alliance multi-academy trust, told Tes that the sector would face a crisis (he means a bigger crisis, surely?) if the chancellor was allowed to hack away at public spending like a toddler left alone with a pair of scissors.
“Trusts I speak to everywhere are preparing to eat into their reserves to get through this year,” Uttley said. “But what happens after this?”
But what happens after this? could, in fact, be the defining question of the week. “Well,” the teaching unions reply, “The answer may involve a picket line.”
The NEU teachers’ union this week revealed the results of its preliminary ballot over strike action. When asked whether they were willing to take strike action to demand a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise, 86 per cent of teacher members said yes.
The NASUWT teachers’ union has also said that it is to ballot its members about industrial action over pay.
Similarly channeling its inner Scrappy Doo – “Let me at ’em. Let me at ’em” – are the NAHT school leaders’ union, which for the first time in its 125-year history is to ballot its members about whether or not they want to go on strike over pay.
This decision follows a survey of NAHT members, in which 84 per cent said that they wanted to be balloted on action short of a strike, should a suitable agreement on pay and funding not be reached. Fifty-five per cent said that they wanted to be balloted on full strike action.
Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary said: “It is almost unprecedented for the relentlessly reasonable professionals I know our members to be, but we have no choice.”
But what happens after this? Well, it turns out that teachers aren’t the only relentlessly reasonable people in favour of strike action. More than six in ten parents would support teachers going on strike if they were given a below-inflation pay rise, according to the NASUWT.
The union’s survey of more than 2,000 adults revealed that 64 per cent of parents with children under the age of 18 believed that a strike would be justified. This figure rose to 72 per cent among those with children aged between five and 10. Let’s choose to believe that this is because these parents are particularly appalled at how grievously underpaid primary teachers are, shall we?
But what happens after this? With its staff threatening to walk out, Britain Academy is slipping further and further down the league tables. The attainment gap between disadvantaged secondary pupils and their better-off classmates has widened to its largest in a decade.
Provisional key stage 4 performance data shows that the disadvantage gap is currently 3.84: the widest it has been since 2011-12, when it was 3.89.
This finding is, however, the number-one concern of precisely no-one. The government remains blithely indifferent: it would rather flush billions of pounds down a giant sinkhole than stump up the cash for a decent post-pandemic recovery plan.
And the disadvantaged pupils themselves? Well, they have more pressing concerns, such as where their next meal is coming from, and why the government would rather flush its money down a giant sinkhole than fork out the £2.40 it would cost to give them a free school dinner.
But what happens after this? The Chartered College of Teaching and the charity Education Support have called on the education secretary to address a “crisis in teaching” (yes, another one. Call me back when there’s not a crisis: that would be truly newsworthy).
Education Support said that its helpline currently receives around seven calls a day from school staff judged to be at risk of suicide. And, they said, this situation would only worsen as the cost-of-living crisis (see what I mean?) bites.
But what happens after this? Yes. Well you might ask. Still, if all else fails, try googling Bonar Law. Apparently, he’s sometimes referred to as “the unknown prime minister”. Now imagine how history – or History teachers – might one day refer to Liz Truss. See: it’s not all bleak, is it?
Click here to read Adi Bloom’s This Week In Education column every week.
