Anger after teachers told of phrases to avoid using
TEACHERS have reacted angrily to new guidance from the Department of Education about certain words and phrases they should avoid.
Ahead of the proposed return of pupils, they were advised not to use terms like “catch up”, “missed work” and “lost time” to minimise anxiety to children.
Advice sent to schools ahead of the March 8 return of P1 to P3 said certain phrases could increase anxiety. Instead, schools have been asked to enable pupils to have “recovery conversations” about their experiences.
But one principal hit back at the Department. Diane Dawson, principal at Braniel PS, said she was livid, adding: “How dare the Department make our amazing staff the perpetrators of this language. It is totally unacceptable.
“The advice is sound but it’s politicians and the media who use this language to scare monger and politick and need to take this advice. Not teachers. I’m really disgusted at the lack of appreciation of what teachers really do and how and why we do it.”
Dr Graham Gault, the president of the National Association of Head Teachers, said he hoped those in the political arena would
make use of their own advice. But he said the engagement was still encouraging.
“Whilst some teachers will irk at being told how to suck eggs, it is, in fact, an affirmation that the department are now on the same page as the profession in relation to what our children will need when they emerge from lockdown,” he said.
“The message about avoiding the narrative of ‘catch-up’ and ‘lost learning’ is one, of course, that needs to go to our politicians, some of whom would like to harness the fear that it generates to support empty populist gimmickry.
“A very healthy development would be if our politicians and our profession held dialogue about what is actually of value at the heart of education.”
The Department’s advice to schools, reported by the BBC, said “children will want space to talk about their Covid-19 experiences but they also will need time to think about other things and get away from the Covid-19 outbreak,” but added the “current unprecedented disruption on learning is difficult to estimate”.
“We equally recognise that the ‘catch-up’ narrative can place unnecessary pressure and anxiety on children.”