I COULDN’T agree more with the recent letter commenting on the current state of our schools and the education system in general.

My wife has been a primary school teacher for more than 10 years and the institutionalised bullying by head teachers and the Local Education Authority at the school has worsened year on year.

Last year, after years of poor management, the staff at her school, with help from the NUT, managed to have the headteacher removed.

Now, with a new headteacher trying to find his feet and staff trying their hardest to put the school back on the straight and narrow, the LEA has upset the applecart once again by forcing a review on the school.

They see this as a necessary payback for simply finding the gumption to speak out over a working environment that had become not only detrimental to the health and welfare of the staff, but the education of the children.

Just to put the icing on the cake, Ofsted is due for a visit very soon, when I’m sure they won’t miss a perfect opportunity to kick them while their down. I’m struggling to see how anyone benefits from this.

It is not unheard of for teachers to take full school terms off through stress or other illnesses related in no small part to the nature of the job and the workloads they are expected to deal with.

The idea that teachers benefit from a lot of time off is also a myth.

Entire school holiday breaks are spent planning and preparing for the next term, while attending training days.

Their working day is a damn sight longer than the 9am till 3.30pm perceived by the man in the street.

School meetings, after school clubs, parents’ evenings and other events can often stretch out the working day to 12 hours.

It’s an appalling state of affairs that the wider public needs to be aware of, for the sake of everyone involved.

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