Us humans have become a distrustful bunch. As the amount of information we have access to balloons ever larger, our faith in the validity of any given statement decreases accordingly. In part, this is because we now have more experience of spotting outright lies, and thus have become more cynical about the truth of what we hear. But it is also because we are exposed to so much more detail and thus even “true” statements fall foul of nuance.

There’s a gotcha element when pointing out the latter. Rather than constructive additions of detail, a speaker is usually called out for hiding facts. At times, this can be extremely unpleasant: deliberate intentions to mislead are deposited upon innocent actions. That can deter people from speaking up and leads to the curious fact that more open data is sometimes making us less open as a society.

It also leads to polarisation: we are sorting ourselves into tribes so that we can better navigate the world. Are you one of us, or one of them? We don’t like uncertainty. Thus, distrust is rampant.

Unfortunately, suspicion is now a given. In her book Building Better Citizens, Holly Korbey quotes Mike Caulfield, of the Digital Polarization Initiative. “Students [now] have low trust in everything,” he says. “They don’t know how to sort true from false in an effective and efficient way, so their defensive strategy is to trust nothing.’

Looking back over the past 12 months, and specifically at the experience of those in schools, you can see all this at work.

For example, there are many people who simply don’t trust teachers when they say schools are open and that, yes, they are working in them. Even when teachers are Zooming into people’s homes, many still claim teachers are not teaching. Unquestionable evidence seems to make little difference.

Covid: Teachers turning against teachers

On the science of a school’s role in Covid transmission, people seek out the science that supports their view and call conspiracy on anything that disputes it. They call for more nuance on the latter and yet ignore the lack of it when considering their own views. Constructive discussions are impossible.

There are countless more examples to go with these.

Unfortunately, while much of this has occurred outside of the profession, some of it has snuck into it, too. Teachers have even turned on each other. Over the past month, we have seen more instances of teachers attacking teachers than ever before on our social channels. The vast majority of our content is written by teachers, who choose to share their experiences for the benefit of others. What they now face is distrust, abuse and a denial of their viewpoint. It has been distressing to witness.

What I have always admired about the teaching profession is its collegiality. Despite accountability pitting schools against each other, what I see when I visit is collaboration, sharing of best practice and a feeling that everyone is in it together. There is always a deep understanding of context, too, of how each school, each teacher and each pupil is unique. Teaching has always seemed a profession that pulls together - and that’s what makes it so impenetrable to political whims and so frustrating for those who try to influence it.

After 12 months of being battered by government and the press, and on the cusp of a return to full face-to-face teaching, those qualities are needed more than ever, but they appear to be more fragile than they have ever been. The world has become a beast of distrust, and it is clawing at the school gate. We should all hope that teachers manage to battle it back. We need to trust teachers more than anyone else. And we need teachers to trust each other, too.

@jon_severs

This article originally appeared in the 5 Month 2021 issue under the headline “Teachers need to support each other during an age of distrust”