THE REASON FOR INCREASED SCHOOL ABSENCES

Roughly a fifth of all secondary pupils in England are now persistently absent; that’s more than double the pre-Lockdown level.

I remember saying to colleagues in March 2020 that we shouldn’t be shutting schools, since the appalling consequences would take years to recover from. Mine was an unpopular and reviled opinion. The most support I ever got was one person saying it was an unwelcome but vital step. Most teachers felt we shut down too late and went back too early. A fair few were fanatical pedants for every ludicrous aspect, showing absolutely no common sense or even basic humanity.

I’ve heard boys screamed at for picking up footballs, with claims they were endangering lives. My own daughter was told by a teacher that she was to blame, for this idiot not being allowed so see her aging mother. This to a little girl whose own grandmother was sliding into irreversible Alzheimer’s, imprisoned in a care home - someone she saw only twice more before her death.

What struck me about pupils post lockdown was their lost trust in teachers, as adults. Understandably, I saw this in my 14-year old. They witnessed too many teachers behaving in a panicky and irrational way, clearly more concerned about their own safety than in the long-term effects on their pupils. They saw teachers as selfish and cowardly, since many were.

I recall my parents saying how little - if anything - was made by teachers of the outbreak of war in 1939. It was business as usual, with no sense of panic or silliness. I use that word deliberately. One buffoon science teacher at my school walked around in a hazmat suit, clearly enjoying himself, without a thought for how terrifying and stupid he looked.

Pupils are incredibly good at sniffing out bullshit. They knew that school shutdowns weren’t done with their interests in mind.

It’s small wonder that many now see bunking off school as normalised. Doubtless some see the ‘working from home’ fraud first-hand, and draw their own conclusions.

None of the above will feature in any ‘discussions’ teachers have, about this catastrophe. Instead, they’ll demand more money, ‘support’ and understanding for their difficult role. For a profession which drones on about ‘reflective learning’, there will be zero analysis of how they behaved and the message it sent.

Sadly, many have lost the respect of that most vital group - their own pupils.