So Theresa May has been quoted recently as saying “Being a great teacher requires resilience, ingenuity and a generous heart.” I couldn’t agree more.

We need resilience and resourcefulness in the face of this government and their continuous assault on the education system. And the “generous hearts” of which she speaks? Well, they are basically keeping schools afloat right now, along with the “generous pockets”, although she predictably forgot to mention those.

As I enter into my 10th year of teaching, it seems more apparent than ever that this government has zero respect for the health of schools. Financial health? We are dying a financial death. Mental health of teachers? Hanging on by a thread. Mental health of students? Severely threatened by the endless conveyer belt of creativity-bashing testing. Physical health? Clearly not a priority either, given that they just happily waved through sweeping cuts to free school meal eligibility.

I hijack this column, then, to ask a simple question. This “generous heart” of which Theresa May speaks: does anyone in her party have one? Is it a pre-requisite for teachers, doctors and nurses to have this, but not of anyone in her own cabinet? The irony isn’t lost, is it?   

Downright cruelty

To be clear, I work in an amazing school with a fantastic team who are supported by a brilliant head and deputy. There is still a huge amount of passion, spirit and hardiness in our workforce and we love our children. We do worry about staffing and the intolerable obsession with data but we do still laugh and have fun. I just think it’s crippling that this is in spite of the government and not because of them.

Our school, along with schools across the country, is having to behave more and more like a charity in the face of cuts, relying on the kindness of parents, hard-working PTAs, local businesses or the familiar supermarket token schemes. Headteachers shouldn’t have to be making the decisions they are being asked to make and teaching assistants across the country shouldn’t be up at night worrying about their jobs. It’s downright cruelty.

So to Theresa and all those who seem to want to reduce the availability of free school meals, I just wanted to say one more thing: I’m really glad you didn’t train to be a teacher. You wouldn’t have cut it.

Sophie Seery is a teacher in the UK and daughter of Tes columnist, Colin Harris 

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