There was a huge reaction when we published an open letter written by “Debbie”, a single mum to a nine-year-old boy, “Charlie”. It touched a nerve by speaking to a reality that teachers across Scotland - and beyond - are increasingly seeing in the classroom. For that reason, Debbie is Tes Scotland‘s Person of the Year. 

Debbie wrote about the things she’d like teachers to know about the life that she and Charlie lead outside of school, in a cold one-bedroom flat. She couldn’t find any employer willing to take her on and was battling with debt collectors and her mental health.

Certain details lingered after reading her letter: the ice on the inside of the windows; Debbie taking care only to cry where her son couldn’t see her; Charlie not being able to have friends sleep over because he shared a bedroom with his mum.

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Schools and teachers are probably more aware than they’ve ever been of the difficulties that pupils might face in their life away from school. They tell us they’re seeing the signs of poverty more and more often - pupils in shoes others would have thrown out months ago, children who are irritable and struggling to focus because they’ve barely eaten since they were last at school.

The impact of child poverty

But Debbie’s letter still felt like a wake-up call.

After we published the letter, which had been shared with us by Save the Children, people got in touch, offering all sort of help to Debbie and Charlie. But Debbie, we were told, was insistent that she only wrote the letter to raise awareness and had directed the offers towards a small charity she was involved with, One Parent Families Scotland.

In this era of austerity, when child poverty is on the rise for the first time in a generation and cruelty seems to be becoming more acceptable in public discourse, our Person of the Year is Debbie. With unerring clarity, she reminded us that education is not the sole responsibility of schools - that there are fundamental choices made by society, by governments, that decide how Charlie’s life will pan out.

It’s a lesson for all of us.