Are Primary School Kids at Risk? Yes.
74% of schools in England face cuts, as unions, parents and governors describe a 'desperate' situation in schools - according to the National Education Union.
This statement hit a nerve. The more I read, the more I want to research and dig deeper into what's going on behind closed doors in primary schools across the UK. I have 2 primary aged kids myself, and this worries me...allot. Personally, I have noticed the changes in the system and in children recently. The parents "what's app" group seems to agree. So, I wanted to delve in to understand what's really going on. Yes, I decided to get a job in a local primary school to see things first-hand.
Here's what I found.
1. Classrooms Are Busy & Understaffed
I supported a year 4 class. The class consisted of 30 children. One teacher was responsible for all of the children in class and I was responsible for one child who hadn't been diagnosed with anything just yet, but was signed off to receive additional support at school due to severe behavioural challenges. When I looked at each year group and class, this seemed to be the norm. Large number of pupils in each class, with one teacher and no support staff, unless there was a child with severe learning difficulties or behavioural issues.
2. A Large Number of Students Had Special Educational Needs
Out of the 30 children in class, at least seven of them had special educational needs. I personally don't remember this when I was in primary school, so I did some research online to see if this was across the board. The answer was YES, there are several studies and articles online stating that there's a significant and continuous increase in special educational needs in UK primary schools, with numbers rising sharply over the past five years. These include autism, speech/language challenges, ADHD, social/emotional needs to name a few. Sadly, the school didn't have enough funding to help these children or support them with a one-to-one. Looking at other classes, this seemed to be the norm.
As an example, in our class, a few of the children had either been diagnosed with ADHD and some were showing major signs but weren't diagnosed (and weren't being flagged). A few others had been diagnosed with autism of various spectrums, but had no additional support in class. The child I was working with, who hadn't been diagnosed just yet, but had severe behavioural challenges and who had newly been given funding to help support him. It was great to see the additional funding for this student, but it was really disappointing to see so many others neglected. This was due to lack of resources and funding.
3. Children Were Anxious
There seemed to be a negative impact on the children who were exposed to the students with behavioural challenges. For example, I noticed several children in class were severely anxious. Common signs included sudden movements to check over their shoulder to ensure the child with behavioural challenges wasn't about to hurt them, biting fingers nails whilst looking around and picking at their fingers and finger nails. Many of them seemed to be on edge. Some of the children were dealing with it in a different way, staying overly quiet to avoid attracting attention and almost disassociating themselves from the situation, a form of coping mechanism. I totally understand both sides but I felt these children were being let down by the system. This would have a huge impact on their mental wellbeing in both the short and long term.
4. Violence Was A Regular Thing
Now this was hard for me to write. I kept writing the word 'violence' and deleting it, but decided I would appreciate the truth if I was the one reading this. I came across several children with overly angry outbursts. Digging into this and taking part in several training sessions, it was clear to me that these children had suffered with some form of trauma growing up, this was very hard to see and watch. What did this mean for them and for the children at school? The children found it really hard to regulate their emotions, leading to sudden outbursts of anger and violence. This violence wasn't directed to certain places, as they were very unpredictable, so you would see these sudden outbursts take place throughout the day. As an example, one child had an extreme level of this. He would be calm one minute, the next we would hear shouting and screaming in the corridor outside class, then sudden smashing sounds. It was loud and scary. As an adult, I wasn't used to this, I was shaken. When we saw him, it made me emotional. He had one one-to-one support with him who had to ensure children were evacuated from the area asap, to ensure they wouldn't be hit or hurt. This happened frequently.
Many of the children were exposed to this behaviour, creating worry and anxiety. It breaks me to say that I had also seen some of these children touch other kids in the playground in places they shouldn't. This was flagged with senior management at the school. Overall, a big red flag which was reported several times.
5. A Lack of Enthusiasm & Motivation
With all of this additional pressure being put onto teachers, I could really see most of them lacking that sparkle in their eyes. Many of them missed the days where school settings flourished, it seemed as though many of them had given up. They had no hope left, almost accepting the situation. Many of the teachers I spoke to said they missed how it used to be and that they had really seen a shift in children's behaviour and attention spans over the past 3-4 years. Children, mostly boys were really struggling with sitting still for even a minute, easily distracted and unable to focus.
Personally, I found the experience to be an eye opener. Primary school seems to be much different to what I remember it being when I was a kid. Sadly, it seems the fun has been lost somewhere along the way. The lack of funding has meant that more and more schools are at a deficit, the money they do receive seems to be prioritised towards only a small fraction of children with special educational needs (it rightly should be), but nothing else. The growing number of children with special educational needs are being neglected and so are the children without special educational needs.
Teachers are left in a very difficult position. Due to the lack of support staff, they aren't able to help support children who may need that little nudge to get them to standard. Instead, these children are left to decline to the point they are way below what is expected of them.
Action Points
So what next? What can we do? I propose we put immense pressure on our government to take notice and action asap. If we don't speak up today, we're just accepting a system which is letting our children and future generations down. Our schools need our help and they need it now.
I'd love to hear your thoughts and feelings below.