Ever since the schools partially closed and my small battalion of children returned home to “learn”, I have become a put-er off-er. “In a minute”, “maybe later”, “I just need to …”, “maybe when I’ve done …” - all these phrases that buy me time have become my go-to solutions for trying to manage the precarious balancing act of Covid-19 lockdown.

The guilt of keeping your children in a constant queue for attention is overwhelming, so huge thanks to Jared Cooney Horvath. In this week’s cover feature (see pages 10-15), he explains how multitasking is simply impossible, and that task-switching - the process by which we attempt to dual-screen our existence - is highly undesirable. We’re stressed, because it is stressful. We feel as though there isn’t enough time, because there isn’t enough time. Making our children wait is, unfortunately, an inevitable consequence of our current circumstance and our brain’s inability to focus on more than one thing at a time.

Absolution feels good.

But what about teachers? Somehow, despite multitasking being impossible, they make it look possible. And this is the problem. Competence is a magnet: the more you show you can do, the longer your to-do list becomes. Of course, this is how teachers have ended up becoming the focal point of all government intervention: mental health, social care, safeguarding, childcare, financial assistance, legal advice, parenting classes, health advice … I could go on and fill the rest of this column with jobs now being funnelled through schools.

That the whole educational tower has not toppled over - as these roles have been added, Jenga-style, to a teacher’s core duties - is a huge credit to the teaching profession. For those who don’t want to see, this precarious situation is considered acceptable. But it really isn’t.

As Horvath explains, we aren’t built for task-switching of this nature. Every time our attention transfers, we pay a time penalty in which we recalibrate the brain to the new task. What’s more, these extra elements teachers are switching to are usually highly emotional and stressful - they stay with a teacher, sucking their attention away from whatever else needs doing.

What is lost in this arrangement? Sadly, it’s learning. Like the stressed-out parent, teachers have to say “in a minute”, “maybe later”, “I just need to …”, “maybe when I’ve done …” to teaching as they fight all the other fires. Has the coronavirus pandemic made that worse? No, it’s actually done us all a favour. It has shone a huge spotlight on the issue. It’s not just lost learning that worries policymakers and the public, it’s the absence of the social function of schools, the protection they offer, the safety net they place under society.

So as schools begin to add to the key- worker children they have been teaching throughout lockdown, we all need to be cautious. Cautious about expectations - with the added fear and social- distancing requirements in schools, the rules of multitasking state learning will surely be a struggle. Cautious about how much more is added to a teacher’s already full roster. And cautious about teacher mental health: parents and policymakers alike need to be kind to teachers, look after their wellbeing and cherish them. And that’s not “maybe later” or “when this is all over”. It’s now. Procrastinate and we will all pay the price.

@jon_severs

This article originally appeared in the 22 May 2020 issue under the headline “In a crisis, we can’t afford to put off caring for teachers’ wellbeing”