Teaching is definitely not the same job it was 10 or 20 years ago. The increasing complex demands on teachers’ workloads are eventually bound to impact the quality of teaching and learning, negatively. I am worried for the future of the education system and for teachers who want to teach those ‘out of the box’ lessons but are so swamped with admin paperwork that their mind fogs up at the end of the day and all they can do to keep going, is just switch off.

To come up with exciting, engaging lessons, one needs time, calmness and inspiration. There is a need for teachers and children to work at a slower speed for meaningful interactions to occur with the children and not constant AfL strategies and tricks to bedazzle to show ‘WOW’ lessons.

Many times I long for good ‘old-fashioned’ teaching, when children could take the lead and teachers were allowed to break away from the dreaded, clinically dissected lesson plans; when teachers didn’t cram information down children’s throats but worked with them and encouraged them to grow in a humane, natural way, without action plans and raw data becoming a priority to prove that they are merely teaching. Did you know that back then, children never had to write each lesson objective in their books, yet, in an extraordinary way managed to learn and grow up to becoming valued members of society. I know, what a shocker!

What happened to the days when one could just teach and not have to answer a myriad emails whilst trying to teach a lesson? Back then, teaching was enjoyable; it was more than just a job. Teachers still spent time working after hours but the teachers’ energy was spent creatively, trying to find ways to spark children’s curiosity and love for learning, not filling out mundane paperwork for administrators or outside agencies.

The education system is killing teachers’ creativity and passion for their occupation by drowning them with unnecessary paperwork so it can tick its boxes and assess them. Is this truly the best way for teaching and learning to improve?

I leave you with a conundrum that has been troubling me for years:

How can teachers teach children to think outside the box when the system itself is suffocating them in that same box?

Leave a comment below with an answer. I’d love to know how…

Dreaming of a future filled with inspiring teachers, inquisitive children and encouraging parents.

Till next time…

Photo by Christa Dodoo on Unsplash