Lockdown has produced some worrying developments. Reading the newspaper recently, I was concerned to discover that the spiny seahorses in Studland Bay, Dorset - which were initially thriving under lockdown, in the absence of human activity - were now “stressed out” at the presence of scuba divers, who would normally be diving in warmer waters abroad.

It seems that the seahorses can’t take the stress of this increased intrusion: diseases that lie dormant in their bodies will kill them off in the space of a couple of weekends as more motorboats render their environment hostile.

The parallel between these threatened creatures and teachers during and after lockdown is startling. Initially, seahorse numbers were dramatically up: the Seahorse Trust recorded 21 in an area where the previous highest-recorded number, in 2008, had been nine. And, initially, teachers were described as “heroes” and “brilliant”. 

These may have been empty words, and the praise even more hollow. But that brief period of grace did allow some breathing space for the teaching profession to gear up and get into remote learning, in whatever form it took.

Terrorising an endangered species

Unfortunately, the profession can never be left alone, and the clearer waters we briefly swam in have become increasingly muddied.

The noise from over 350 boats in Studland Bay is terrorising an endangered species. And the level of intrusion into schools from politicians, the media, researchers, current and former education ministers, former inspectors and government over the past four months is quite unprecedented. 

It’s been more than stressful. We were already growing accustomed to Ofsted “deep dives”, as well as the ripples and occasional storm surges that they caused. But, recently, every off-the-cuff announcement from Boris Johnson has had senior school leaders rushing for cover to avoid being drowned by demands for the detail the government forgot to include. 

Cancellation of exams and requirements for school-assessed grades; return of selected year groups and whole-school return by September, all with suitable safeguarding in place; the requirement for a catch-up plan for every pupil before September - all these have consistently churned the waters. 

The much-reported criticism from Lord Adonis of schools that had allegedly not provided online lessons sent many schools into overdrive. One neighbouring school sent out an edict requiring all its staff to be on site, delivering e-learning. Teachers were flushed out into full view. 

How much did this intervention achieve? Even if there was more work on the delivery side, what about the reception side? Online work is only useful if pupils have viable devices and affordable and accessible broadband.

Polluting our waters

As the economic threat to jobs and the country grew, so too did the demand for schools to restart, so that parents could return to work. Teachers’ unions became the new target, apparently responsible for holding back teachers from returning to their classes. The press became quite vitriolic. 

What has been most noticeable about these pollutants of our waters is how outdated their perception of union power is. If teachers are not shoaling back into schools, it is because they have a strong sense of self-preservation - an instinct common to seahorses and the human race. Unions are a rock to shelter them from incessant, often unworkable demands.

Further storm stressors came as concern was whipped up about children being left behind academically. Former Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw was wheeled out of retirement to stream from his home suggestions of extending the school day, and using weekends and holidays to help children catch up. 

While he mentioned remuneration, it’s more than possible that many teachers will be expected to do this catch-up work unpaid - after all, many are compelled to run revision weekends and holidays in normal years. Exhausted teachers saw their holidays under threat.

Invasion of the scuba-diver pundits

The issue of GCSE and A-level grades has also agitated our waters. The articles and research used to assert that teachers will be biased have been daunting, to say the least. 

And the suggestion that the grounds of appeal may be widened against centre-assessed grades threatens to embroil us all in lengthy proceedings, well into the autumn term. 

Research organisation NFER created another wave this week, when it asserted that just under half of Year 11 and Year 13 students had been given no work, and so had been left behind. 

The volume of press coverage and comment from outsiders has its parallel in the influx of scuba divers who, deprived of their usual exotic locations, have invaded the calmer waters. 

A rare and threatened species

Like seahorses, teachers are a rare and threatened species. Long before the pandemic hit our shores, there was a retention and recruitment crisis.

A depleted job market might throw in a few more teachers. But if the current experienced teachers are overstressed, they will burn out. New classroom recruits take time to learn to do the job, and will quickly vanish if the current pace of excessive expectation and criticism fuels yet higher workload.

Teachers, who have just about survived the pandemic and its early consequences, need time away from stressors to regroup. Because, with the autumn term already in the shadow of a possible second wave of coronavirus, there are more challenges ahead.

Yvonne Williams is head of English and drama in a secondary school in the South of England. She has contributed chapters on workload and wellbeing to Mentoring English Teachers in the Secondary School, edited by Debbie Hickman (Routledge)