A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending one of Mr P’s CPD sessions in Leeds (www.mrpict.com/). My attention was first drawn to Mr P during lockdown, when he spoke candidly about education and the pressures of teaching during covid. Since then he has pioneered his unfiltered views of education through social media outlets, shared his expertise in using technology in the classroom, started a popular podcast with his brother and developed an impressive AI website to support and save time for primary school teachers (teachmateai.com/). As you can probably tell, I was a big fan before I attended the course, so the pressure was on…would he live up to my expectations.

Well yes, he did. It was a morning of funny anecdotes (comparing a secondary teacher going into a primary class to that of I’m a celebrity being dropped in the jungle), practical classroom ideas and brutal honesty. Here are some of the highlights that resonated the most with me:

• Lost Lockdown Learning –we did not continue what we learned in lockdown. Teachers significantly adapted and evolved during this time, especially how they utilised technology through streaming lessons, collaborative online learning and creative strategies to engage students. All of which were ceremoniously binned as soon as we returned to the classroom and the ‘old ways’.

• Marking – Mr P response to marking – don’t do it! Of course he did not mean this literally but instead ensure you ask the important and valid question of ‘why are we doing this?’. Why are we actually marking so much? Why does the colour we mark in make a difference to the feedback given (why does marked work have to look like a ‘unicorn defecated’ – one way to put it!) The problem is that we work in a “system driven by fear”, fear that without tones of evidence of up to date marked work, that we are in some way not doing our job properly. Marking is not for the students – feedback is for the students. Marking and feedback are different. Ofsted want to see impact of feedback (not marking) so instant oral feedback, whole class feedback and evidence of how feedback moved on the learning are best.

• Forced Wellbeing – Yoga is not the solution. Teachers need time, trust and a reduced workload.

• AI Technology – There is apprehension around AI due to a lack of understanding. We have gone through the struggle with technology (dial up, trojan horse virus, paperclip face) yet AI can make life easier. Things have moved on quickly in the AI world into ‘generative AI’ where it no longer just follows patterns but has creative powers. This will never replace the humanity of teaching but might reduce workload when it comes to planning, report writing and assessment marking.

• “Teaching is broken” – 40,000 teachers left the profession last year (not including retirement). What is the cause of this mass exodus? Well it could be many things from burn out, impossible work/ life balance or maybe it is the constant scrutiny. We need to find more efficient ways of working, where we are not doing the same job in three different ways. Stop gas lighting teachers and taking advantage of the view that this job is a ‘calling’ or ‘vocation’ and thus entitles the government to expect higher levels of commitment. This is not sustainable.

My final take away was more of a lingering question -when did teaching become like ‘hunger games’ where we are pitched against each other in some sort of performance squid game? Mr P talked about how teachers need to stop gloating over how hard they work, parading it around like a ‘badge of honour’ and projecting this onto others. What this does is creates a subconscious festering of ‘teacher guilt’, where you feel you are not doing enough and should be doing more. I feel that this is the pandemic driving teachers out.