Being a Bird in a cage, with wings that long to spread, but finding no room to fly, puts me in a rebellious mood. I may feel trapped, but causing trouble almost always ends in tears so, before I ruffle my feathers, I remind myself that I’m just lil ol’ Mrs Bird navigating her way through the day-to-day even, if beyond the classroom walls, the global polycrisis escalates by the hour. I’ve recently started to borrow the weighted blanket from the Learning Support Suite which helps curtail the physiological flight or fight reaction and reduces my palpitations. Initially this caused Mrs Y, the SENCO, to raise an eyebrow but she knows that, despite my sharp beak, I’m softer than eiderdown.
Handcuffed to… the grindstone
Working in school can make teachers feel institutionalised. We’re pressured to conform to the expectations of a rigid educational system and teach an overfull, outdated curriculum. If we don’t give young people an education designed towards a sustainable future we may as well teach them to bury their heads in the sand like an ostrich. Being pedantic, this would be erroneous as ostriches don’t actually bury their head in the sand, when they feel threatened they lie down with their heads flat against the ground to blend in with their surroundings. So, if flight or fight are not appropriate, playing dead is also an option.
Teachers are instructed to follow a set of methods to lead students towards predetermined exam-oriented goals, often using pedagogical strategies that come in or out of vogue like the turning of the tide. In school in the past year we’ve had CPD on active learning, flipped classrooms, differentiated instruction, collaborative group learning, project-based learning, retrieval practice, and technology integration. The last one made me smirk as some of our school computers are only a generation ahead of the old ZX Spectrums or is the plural ZX Spectra?
Two of our fledgling Early Career Teachers have already announced they’re leaving at Easter. They won’t receive the financial incentive they were almost due as they didn’t stay the course. Golden handcuffs should probably be offered to mid-career teachers who may be getting a serious case of the wobbles but are somewhat more embedded in the system. I’m not hanging out for the offer of ‘early retirement’ although I know I’m like a battery hen approaching her end-of-lay stage of profitability.
In the corridor this morning a pupil said ‘Miss, you look like a corpse’. Out of the mouths of babes! As I’ve run out of blusher I briefly thought about using gravy browning from Food Tech for a bit of colour on my cheeks improving my deathly shade of white to that of a fake-tanned embalmed body in the morgue. Admittedly I’m no spring chicken but that might have made me feel like a roast bird so I used a touch of crushed iron oxide (Fe2O3) from the chemical stores instead. Hey presto, rosy cheeked once again.
After being caught resting my eyelids in the back row of a twilight meeting last week it’s been suggested I should boost my commitment. I wanted to reassure the HT that, as the planet burns, my pupils will be able to recite the symbol equation for the combustion of methane so it’s all fine but thought better of it. Back to the weighted blanket.
Handcuffed into… systems that exacerbate inequality
Education could raise young people to be falcons but they won’t fly if they’re tethered by a jess. Social mobility varies across different regions and demographics. Youth in the South East tend to have far better prospects compared to those in the North East. We have a mountain to climb before we create a United Kingdom where the circumstances of birth do not determine outcomes in life. That mountain also seems to be getting higher and it’s not due to plate tectonics.
Social mobility won’t happen if young people are hungry. This week Pupil G declared that setting him homework on a healthy, nutritious diet was a challenge as he is regularly served frozen ready meals from the budget supermarket. I know his mum, she’s a single parent working three jobs, they live in a rented house and struggle to keep the bills paid. He’s entitled to free school meals but at home the cupboards are often bare. Because of education, he knows what a healthy diet is, for both people and planet, but expecting him to avoid unsustainable palm oil to save the orangutans in far away lands goes beyond the pale.
The country’s money tree, which could have been used to reduce social inequality, has now been picked clean and then burned to the ground. It’s okay though as the Chancellor of the Exchequer has just offered to soften non-dom tax changes in order to woo the rich for a growth push so they can continue to accrue wealth while some wonderful folk work their three jobs round the clock to make ends meet.
Handcuffed… to the idea of perpetual growth?
To address serious funding issues across all aspects of society the government is focusing on unlimited growth such as building a gazillion new houses and runways, ahead of the action needed to deliver Net Zero or any environmental issues such as air we can breathe, water we can drink, bees to pollinate the plants we eat, and floodplains to store storm water or provide newt habitat. The PM now wants to block legal challenges to infrastructure plans. There may be a call across the pond to ‘Drill Baby Drill’ but here we have ‘Grow Baby Grow’. Squawk! Blanket?
Oh, to be a fly on the wall to hear the corporate CEO’s lobbying for relaxation to legislative red tape that might protect the planetary systems that support life on Earth. Be under no illusion, the government is backtracking on environmental commitments as, in the words of Rachel Reeves, “Growth is the No 1 mission of this government, because growth underpins everything else, whether that is improving our schools and our hospitals, or indeed being able to get to net zero.”
TBH I’m getting mighty sick of the growth ideologue. Do they understand what Net Zero means, how vital it is and that leading by example is the best option? I could send my Eco Committee as an envoy to do their own lobbying in Westminster. We might not have hard cash but we do a mean cake-bake with oat biscuits to die for. It may be naive but surely other economic paths are possible and even involve sweet treats such as the Doughnut model for sustainable economics. Is it cockamamie to think taxing the rich or rejoining the EU could result in more financial security?
Handcuffed into…climate breakdown?
The future is not yet written and we are absolutely not locked into climate collapse. Although 2024 was, once again, the warmest on record some climate scientists are suggesting by 2100 we’re now less likely to hit 4oC of warming and might even stay below 3 degrees. But we can’t get too comfy in the nest and staying below 2⁰C is really quite important (understatement of the decade).
Preventing climate breakdown requires collective action and commitment. My pupils know transitioning to renewable energy sources cuts emissions and that improving energy efficiency in buildings, transportation, and industry reduces energy consumption. However, according to a recent report commissioned by DfE on climate literacy in school leavers in England, 49% of them don’t think climate change is going to affect them personally. It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic, a dozen or more schools were closed in the county due to Storm Eowyn.
Education is vital for a transition to a more sustainable future, and not just for kids. At a parent’s evening recently I talked to a couple about their child. At the end of our conversation the father said he had an issue with my science lessons suggesting that I’d said we should go vegan, and that, as a beef farmer, he didn’t appreciate it. I know I’m outspoken but I’ve never told a child any such thing even when discussing healthy diets for a healthy planet. What I actually said was that we could eat less red meat and ensure that it is from a good supplier. Somewhere my lesson was lost in translation but, given the lack of government advice (hello DEFRA?) I’ll sing like a canary in a coal mine if it helps reduce emissions.
Handcuffed… in a climate protest
We might not be locked into climate collapse but this is no time to preen our feathers. As I write this article Hubster is checking the polytunnel after Éowyn but the Climate and Nature Bill, which was a plan for a new law to address the root causes of the climate-nature crisis was rejected in Parliament. It could be a game changer but Labour had used the whip against it. Even MPs are metaphorically handcuffed.
Handcuffs themselves are supplied in a range of materials from metal to plastic, they’re flexible so can be worn at the front or back in a range of fittings between very tight and tight. They seem to be all the rage during police crackdowns and, for climate activists, they are definitely the fashion look of the decade.
I wear the tag ‘woke eco-zealot’ with pride but it’s no wonder more activists are reluctant to join the flock in demanding change. Civil disobedience is not just about environmental advocacy; it is a stand against the increasing erosion of a fundamental pillar of democracy, our right to protest. Labour don’t seem to want to repeal the Public Order Act 2023 and there’s a worrying number of activists, 40 at last count, including a GP, musicians, students and pensioners, currently serving sentences for peaceful protest. We’re losing our democratic rights and putting our environment up for sale. Is it time to flip the government the bird yet?
Handcuffed onto… the bedposts?
Lol – obvs not going there. Hubster and I wouldn’t dream of sharing what goes on in the Bird master bedroom with anyone who might read this diary. I also definitely don’t feel caged by our relationship and I’d be lost without him. We approach life from different perspectives but our thoughts on the climate crisis and need for action are as aligned as the planets. Anyway, he’s a wise old owl and knows I’m usually right. If he wants to say something different he can share his own diary!
Note to self: My neighbour says ‘a creaking door hangs longest’ but check if there is a medical explanation to feeling increasingly unhinged? Maybe it’s time to pick the lock and fly or shall I just reach for the blanket?
