You report that Nadhim Zahawi plans to encourage former teachers to help fill the gaps left by staff shortages (Omicron leads many UK schools to close early for Christmas, 16 December). How will that encouragement read? Might I suggest:
“Dear former teacher, we have made such a complete mess of protecting our vulnerable children and adults in schools, with no masks, distancing, air filtration or adequate ventilation, that many teachers are now absent from school suffering from Covid after repeated exposure to both the Delta and Omicron variants. Please would you, as a former teacher, sacrifice your own health to replace them, even though you probably left the job you loved because of our government’s educational mismanagement and contempt for your professionalism since 2010?
“We are especially appealing to retired teachers, as you are of course especially vulnerable to this coronavirus and have probably tried hard to keep yourself safe and healthy for the last two years, not even seeing your grandchildren as much as you would wish. You will be on a zero-hours contract, through an outsourced agency that will take more than half of what the school pays you. We can guarantee that teaching is nothing like the profession you left; you will not be expected to care about the mental health of vulnerable children, but you will be blamed for their attainment in exams failing to reach Ofsted’s arbitrary standards.”
I am sure Mr Zahawi will be inundated with applications.
Doreen Worthington
Lincoln
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