07/04/2023
Such a brilliant post describing the crisis brilliantly. So many children out of school, struggling to stay in education. They have changed, the world has changed but the system has not. These children and families need our support.
Ghost Children (with Missing The Mark)
What about the ghost children? The newspapers are full of them. The radio is discussing them. These apparitions who have apparently disappeared from our schools. Invisible children, calling us for help, tapping on the windows and wailing at night.
These children are terribly at risk, weāre being told. They may be being abused, being neglected, they may be dealing drugs or being radicalised. They must get back into school ā where apparently, they can become real children again. Theyāll get their bodies back. The risks will be over, back in the safety of school. Phew, we can all breathe out. School will work its magic.
Itās a gripping story. No wonder itās all around us.
Except itās not true. No children have disappeared. They are not drifting round the village green, or haunting the multi-storey car park. They are mostly at home, with their parents. They are known to GPs, to their local communities, to their relatives ā but they canāt return to school.
In many cases, their parents would like them to be at school and in every case, their parents would like them to be receiving an education. Parents want help, but when they ask for it, they are told that their childās difficulties donāt meet threshold. They are told that whatās required is ātough loveā. Theyāre told itās up to them, and some of them are given fines or threatened with court. Thereās no talk of ghosts then. The demand letters are real.
Covid changed many things for ever. Many more adults now work from home. Events have been āblendedā. Attending online is so much the norm that when Iāve run in-person events Iāve had people cancel at the last minute because they had thought it would be virtual. In the adult world, flexibility has become a standard.
Not so in education. Itās back to bums on seats. Improving attendance has become a stick for schools and families. Weāve ignored the many social and emotional ways in which covid affected our young people. Itās āget them in at all costsā ā and the costs are clear to see. Our children are showing us that this doesnāt work, that they need more than āback to normalā. School doesnāt feel safe to all children. Being in the school building isnāt enough for a child to be learning.
Parents tell me that they are faced with ghost services when they look for help. Years-long waiting lists where CAMHS used to be. They are told āWe used to have someone to help with this, but theyāve been cutā. They ask for flexibility and are told that isnāt possible anymore. They ask for ways to help their children but theyāre told that thereās no money for that. Instead of support, they get threatening letters.
There are no ghost children. There are children who need something different to what is being offered. They need help before they are in crisis. They need opportunities, not sanctions. They need flexibility, safety and relationships. They need adults who will help them learn, where ever they are. They wonāt get that whilst we talk about them as if they donāt exist. As if their very bodily reality depends on them being in a classroom.
Say it loud for those at the back. Ghosts donāt exist.
Children donāt need school to make them real.
