Schools North East has regularly conducted surveys and roundtables throughout the pandemic on key issues and challenges our schools are facing in order to ensure that the voices of North East school leaders are heard as widely as possible.
Our ‘State of the Region’ surveys intend to monitor the ongoing impact of the pandemic across this academic year, looking at how the situation is developing each term. This will ensure education stakeholders and policymakers get an accurate picture of the environment and challenges North East schools are contending with. Our briefings are sent to a range of strategic stakeholders, including the DfE, Ofsted, and all North East Members of Parliament.
Before the February half term, we sent out the second of our surveys, to all CEOs and Head Teachers in our region. We received responses from all 12 Local Authority areas in the North East, representing all stages and types of schools. The school leaders that responded represent over 200 schools in our region. We compared these responses with those we received from our survey carried out in November.
Staff
Our previous surveys and roundtables have highlighted staff wellbeing as a key concern throughout the pandemic, as schools took on significant additional responsibilities and managed widespread Covid-related disruption, particularly towards the end of the summer term.
On a scale of one to five, with five being very good and one being very poor, just under 30% reported staff wellbeing as 2 or 1. 44.3% reported staff wellbeing as 3. This is marginally worse than it was in the November survey, as shown in the chart below.
87% of responses said that poor staff wellbeing was being driven by continued Covid disruption. 58% said it was being driven by Ofsted pressures, 51% said ‘catch-up’ related workload, and just over a third said Covid-related anxieties. Of those who responded more positively, 60% said that the mental health and wellbeing support offered in school was the main thing supporting good staff wellbeing, and 40% said being back in the classroom.
Staffing levels have improved slightly compared with November, however schools are still struggling to get above 90% attendance. Many of these absences are not Covid-related, with schools reporting absences relating to other illnesses, and also mental health and anxieties.
Last term we identified growing concerns about recruitment and retention. We held a roundtable on this issue in December 2021, and the feedback from these discussions can be read here. We asked about recruitment and retention in our State of the Region survey. Three quarters of schools reported problems in accessing supply staff to cover current absences, with most citing issues of both quality and quantity.
In terms of recruiting permanent staff, 42.4% reported difficulties. For these respondents, almost two thirds were struggling to recruit classroom support staff. Almost 30% said they were struggling to recruit teachers and catering staff, while a quarter were struggling with administrative staff and caretakers.
On retention, fewer than 20% were struggling to retain staff. For those struggling to retain staff, classroom support staff were the main concern (for 57%), with 50% struggling to retain teaching staff. A third of all schools said that current vacancies were above usual levels, with 60% saying that levels were about the same.
Students
On a scale of one to five, with five being very good and one being very poor, just under 50% said that student wellbeing was 4 or above. 44% rated wellbeing as 3, and 9% as 2. This is slightly worse than it was in our November survey.
Over 70% of responses said that time students had spent out of school was a top area of concern for student wellbeing. 46% cited ‘catch-up’ expectations, 37% exam anxieties, and a third Covid-related anxieties.
Over 80% of schools said that student attendance is below what it usually is for this time of year, with only 53% of schools having attendance levels above 90%. These levels are slightly below what was reported in our November survey. In January, national data showed pupil attendance rates declining across the country, however this is now beginning to improve. The most recent attendance data from DfE said pupil attendance in all state-funded schools was 90.3% on the 10th February, up from 89.1% on the 3rd February.
‘Catch-up’
Over half of responses expected ‘catch-up’ to take 5 years or more. This is broadly similar to the responses we had in November.
72% of respondents said that they were engaging with the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), with most of those (86%) using school-led tutoring, a quarter tuition partners, and 18% academic mentors. In November, 64% said they were engaging with the NTP, again with most using school-led tutoring (80%).
Those that are engaging with the NTP have found the school-led tutoring an effective tool in addressing ‘catch-up’. Where academic mentors and tuition partners have been accessed, these are also working well. However, others have had difficulties in accessing the tutors they need, with a complex system to navigate, with some saying that the process was incredibly slow to put in place. Reporting on the tutoring that has been done has created significant additional workload pressures. For leadership and admin teams, a lot of time has been spent on planning and accounting for impact.
Those that haven’t engaged with the NTP said that it wasn’t relevant to their communities, and lacked the flexibility to meet the needs of their students. Engagement was an issue, with schools preferring to use regular classroom teaching with staff members students are familiar with.
Top priorities
Schools are currently focused on preparing students for exams and assessments. Schools are concerned about the pressures of Ofsted, with fears of overloading the curriculum to meet pre-pandemic standards.
Schools are working towards ensuring a sustained period of working with all pupils to address lost learning. This means improving attendance of both staff and students, with wider planning to meet recruitment and retention challenges. Schools are working to improve mental health and wellbeing support for staff.
The work with students goes beyond academic attainment. Schools are trying to build foundations, re-establishing the confidence of students, their stamina for learning, and re-engaging those students with persistent absences.
Schools are concerned about the narrative that says they are ‘back to normal’, and the difficulties in meeting these expectations. Schools are continuing to face disruption, and expect that ‘catch-up’ will take longer than this academic year.
To better support schools, respondents said that they wanted to see a rethinking of expectations, and greater trust placed in schools and their staff to meet the needs of their students. Schools also need greater funding to support school improvement, on attendance, behaviour, and mental health and wellbeing. Respondents wanted greater recognition of the challenges beyond academic ‘catch-up’, with acknowledgement of the impact of the pandemic across all stages of education.
On Ofsted, they wanted to see a pause while schools are still dealing with Covid-related disruption, to give schools the space to ‘recover’. The Ofsted framework needs to recognise the challenges schools faced during the pandemic. Many responses wanted Ofsted to focus on what has and hasn’t worked during the pandemic, collaborating with schools to share best practice. Schools also wanted to see league tables suspended this year.
