When I was at school, my passions were art and sport. It was where I was able to gain my self-worth as a boy.
My school reports glowed in these areas.
Inevitably, this had a lot to do with the teachers. My art and PE teachers loved me, and I loved them too.
This condition is the holy grail of teaching, and so we must aspire as school leaders to create this dynamic in any and every subject.
I recently posted this tweet: ‘I spoke to a cover supervisor the other day and they told me that they covered the same two lessons for each teacher in the school. What two lessons do you think they were?’
It referred to the fact that, in primary, it tends to be the same subjects that are handed over.
In contrast, there are some areas that are rarely selected for cover. These are high-stakes lessons where you want the best teacher, and that’s the person who planned the lesson and knows best how to deliver it.
As a headteacher, my priority would be to cover PPA, and put the rest up for discussion. But what are we saying about the subjects that end up being casualties from these arrangements? These are the questions that require consideration when seeking to create subject equality.
The replies to my tweet presented a consensus. From over 50 responses in just over an hour, most got one subject correct and over half guessed both.
What does this say about these subjects and more importantly, are we forgetting that for some children, these will be their reason for coming to school? I wouldn’t assume they are badly taught, but they have been handed over for a reason.
We all want to offer an exciting broad and balanced curriculum, but are all subjects really of equal value?
I’m guessing that by now you’d like me to share the answers. The common and correct responses were RE and music. The other suggestions were PE and MFL. Otherwise, there was little deviation.
For both of these subjects, I see the challenges. I’ll start with RE. A subject that I now understand and love, but didn’t as a teacher and can’t remember as a pupil.
This is a lesson, like MFL, that can end up being rolled out via the photocopier and yet it’s such a special and significant subject - and one of the few places in the curriculum where the word ‘love’ gets a mention.
If you were to ask me, as a teacher, which subject I would hand over for PPA cover, it would be music. And I play both the guitar and drums.
This is because I’ve always found the source of the subject problematic, with references that were often irrelevant to me and to the pupils.
Also, I can’t sing. How can I demonstrate how to perform a ‘solo ensemble’ using my voice? I’ve tried. The children either laugh or visibly feel sorry for me.
All of these reflections may be honest and typical, but they inevitably require investigating and challenging before seeking to transform, support and inspire.
It’s important to evaluate how staff feel about every subject for us to be in a position to truly capture all hearts and minds.
It would be well worth asking the children where their talents and interests lie, too. As headteachers, we may be distracted by solving the short-term logistical PPA issue, but if the same two subjects are taught this way in the long-term, we could see collateral damage.
This may be a primary issue, but the implications for secondary are obvious.
There is no doubt that there can be subject inequality, and we can only provide solutions when we acknowledge that the problem exists.
David Rushby is a former headteacher and director of Nautilus Education
