I love the Rocky series of films. This is not a film review, but they are by far some of the best work ever made for cinema (don't @ me!).
What I love about them is the common theme of love, resilience and rock-solid determination. I have never seen a man get punched in the head so much and still come back wanting more. In Rocky, Apollo Creed can not believe it when Rocky gets back off the canvas after being knocked down in round 14. Rocky's face is a mess, his eyes are swollen, Micky implores him to stay down, but the simple act of standing up and saying "Come on" is incredible. How does he take that punishment and keep going? What keeps him going forwards and driving on when all hope seems lost?
It may be glib of me to say, but this is the type of resilience schools are showing at the moment. Every single "round" we seem to be punched in the face over and again, and we come back for more.
Round 1 - Historical underfunding - but we somehow keep schools going, providing a great education for the children, but this is becoming harder each year.
Round 2 - Ofsted Inspections- The overbearing beast comes in with an uppercut, which floors most schools, but we get back to the corner and dust ourselves down and prepare for round 3.
Round 3 - League Tables - After Ofsted have done their worst, we are subjected to illogical comparisons between other schools and get ranked "best to worst", destroying the morale of the "worst performing" schools.
Round 4 - Assessment changes - With the new curriculum in 2014, the assessment processes changed, resulting in even more pressure on schools to come up with solutions about how to teach the curriculum and then prepare the children to be assessed with much more difficult tests.
Round 5 - Over testing - Children are overly tested in this country, adding yet another layer of stress on already overburdened schools.
Round 6 - Local services cuts - Schools are picking up the pieces after years of austerity. Social Care is wiped out, support for mental health has gone, family services are decimated.
Round 7 - COVID-19 - Working through this crisis is damaging school staff - we are worried, tired and stretched thin.
Round 8 - DFE incompetence - Leadership from above has been appalling. Non-existent, contradictory and late guidance has made this crisis even more difficult to manage. I won't even mention the laptop fiasco!
Round 9 - The Press - We are vilified and ridiculed in the press and nobody sticks up for us lazy, work-shy wasters.
Round 10 - Free School Meals - The incompetence from the DFE continued with the flawed Edenred scheme and the roll out was terrible. The constant u-turns meant schools struggled to support the families that needed it.
Round 11 - More underfunding - We may be miracle workers, but how the hell can we keep going and keep our schools safe without being given the resources to do so?
Round 12 - Gavin Williamson - The most incompetent moron who does not have a clue about education but is brilliant at irrelevant soundbites, is in charge!
Despite taking this punishing beating over this 12 round fight, guess what? We are still here. We are still standing. We are still holding our gloves up ready to fight on. The reason why? We care for our communities. We want our children to do well. We will stretch every sinew and take every punch to the face to ensure we do what we can.
Is it exhausting? Yes.
Are we running on empty? Yes.
Are we close to having that final knock-out punch? Most definitely.
However, the words of Rocky in Rocky 4 are poigniant here, after Adrian tells him he can't win against Ivan Drago.
"No, maybe I can't win. Maybe the only thing I can do is just take everything he's got. But to beat me, he's going to have to kill me. And to kill me, he's gonna have to have the heart to stand in front of me. And to do that, he's got to be willing to die himself. I don't know if he's ready to do that. I don't know."
This is us as a profession. We are willing to take everything that is thrown at us for what we know is right. We need to celebrate ourselves more. We have been beaten to the ground and we are still standing. In my eyes, that makes us champions!
Comments