Emily 🗣

Teachers are getting in touch to tell me about their experiences of high-control school environments. The most striking part of it for me is that they tell me that they are scared of speaking out and so they won't post in response to my posts for fear of the professional consequences. They tell me that this punitive culture we hear of for our young people also applies to them. Their behaviour is also being micro-managed and they are being prevented from developing relationships with young people in their care. They are being made to do things which they think have a negative impact on young people - immediate detentions for uniform infractions for a young person who they know has really struggled to get into school, for example. They say that their school environment has become increasingly negative for both them and young people. They tell me that they feel that their professional autonomy is being taken away from them and they are being told that the way to be a good teacher is to follow scripts and use high control strategies. They say they are having to give children behaviour points for entirely normal, childish behaviour. Many of them are telling me that this was not what they went into teaching for. They, like our young people, want something different.