I am unrelenting in my conviction that teachers mark too much, and I’ll bang on about that fact to anybody who’ll listen.

Whether it’s in the staffroom, on Twitter or down the pub (yes, I often drink alone), I frequently blab on about what I believe is a wholly misinformed and misguided practice.

Last week, somebody told me that they finally agreed with me on this point. Interestingly - and infuriatingly - this same person also saw fit to tell me that their view on ticking, flicking and dicking about (can I get that trademarked, please?) wasn’t prompted by my own vehement sermons on the subject, but by reading a blog post on the subject, written by someone else.

“The problem with you, Matt,” they helpfully explained, “is that you’re always banging on about the impact of marking on teachers. It’s all workload, workload, workload. This person, however, sold their idea to me because they were constantly referring to the impact on students. You never mentioned students; they did.”

This led me to reflect on a meeting I’d had some years earlier in which I suggested some strategic changes to the assessment model and mentioned Ofsted, only to be (again, helpfully) informed, “Matt. You know it’s not about Ofsted, right? It’s about the kids.”

I’m fed up with people telling me, “It’s about the kids.”

I know it’s about the kids. In fact, when I signed up for this thing we call teaching, I did so on the underlying and widely held assumption that teaching would involve “doing stuff for kids”. I never felt the need to proclaim this fact loudly from the rooftops. 

The children’s best interests at heart

I put a lot into ensuring that my students get an educational experience they’ll cherish. But I’ll admit it, I’m no saint. I hate freezing my balls off on playground duty “for the kids”. I hate humiliating myself in staff shows “for the kids”. I hate limping around the running track like a flabby slug with a parachute on its back in the staff race on sports day “for the kids”.

But this doesn’t mean I hate kids.

In fact, it’s because I don’t hate kids that I’ll mention Ofsted in meetings. Because in my experience, a negative Ofsted judgement doesn’t do a lot for the confidence of the kids I do my best for.  It’s because I don’t hate kids that I’ll bang on about the importance of teacher wellbeing because no kid deserves a teacher who can’t do the job to the best of their ability because they’re at breaking point.

So please, can those of you who aren’t human, stop telling the rest of us, that we’re in this for the kids. Your energies would be better spent asking yourself why it is you need to repeatedly to tell us what we already know.

Matt Pinkett is a head of English in the south-east of England. He tweets at @Positivteacha

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