“I feel like a performing monkey:” staff survey at Astrea academy lifts lid on concerns about professional autonomy and alleged “culture of fear”

Teachers at a controversy-beset academy in Cambridgeshire have spoken of living in a “culture of fear,” with two thirds of those responding to a union survey saying they did not feel valued in their jobs by management.

A lack of autonomy at Longsands Academy, as the Astrea trust which runs it seeks to ensure compliance with the pedagogic textbook Teach Like a Champion, were among a host of concerns raised in a survey of National Education Union members before Christmas.

The details in the survey seem to raise further serious questions about the quality of an Ofsted report on the secondary school last spring, which improved its rating to “good” but without giving much indication of any unhappiness among staff.

The news comes with a further tranche of teachers having left the comprehensive at the end of last term, but with Astrea – whose strapline is “Inspiring beyond measure” – continuing to promote its work as improving standards for pupils.

The detail

The recent staff survey at Longsands, which has been featuring in Education Uncovered articles for more than a year, was carried out in November. Some 71 per cent of NEU members at the school at the time responded.

The survey report was widely distributed, I understand.

A string of negative findings featured in the statistical section of the report. Nearly half of all responses – 49.2 per cent – strongly disagreed with the statement: “Senior leaders promote a happy, secure, and stimulating environment in which all staff are valued.”

A further 18 per cent disagreed with the above statement, meaning 67.2 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed with it.

Similarly, the proportions disagreeing or strongly disagreeing with the statements “I feel supported by senior leaders”; “communication from senior leaders is timely”; “senior leaders provide opportunities for staff to share concerns in a supportive environment”; and “senior leaders respond proactively to staff concerns” were 46.7 per cent; 83.6 per cent; 70.5 per cent; and 68.8 per cent.

Perceived lack of autonomy

A perceived lack of autonomy was one of several themes within the survey report - putting Astrea’s highly centralised policies on teaching and classroom management in the spotlight again.

Some 67.8 per cent of respondents to the survey disagreed with the statement “senior leaders value professional autonomy,” of which 44.1 per cent disagreed strongly. Only 8.5 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement, with none agreeing strongly.

Astrea requires its teachers to teach to Teach Like a Champion (TLAC)– the textbook of teaching techniques written by the American educator Doug Lemov which has proved popular among some schools and teachers in England.

The survey report, which included a host of free text comments, suggested that senior management at Longsands sometimes used what were in some cases very frequent lesson observations to check whether TLAC techniques were in operation. The implication of some comments was that TLAC techniques had to be seen during an observation, and that teachers might be marked down if this was not the case, even if the technique had featured at a point in the lesson which the senior leader had not observed.

One survey respondent said: “I feel that my professional autonomy has been taken away due to having to ensure everything is TLAC related, I find that some of these strategies are not what I would normally do, so feel at times out of my comfort zone.”

Another said: “Autonomy is diminishing. I suppose having a script for things is good if you are inexperienced or new but quite soul destroying if you are neither.”

Another quote in the survey report said: “I do feel though that when there have been formal drop-ins that we are being monitored to ensure we are using TLAC.”

Another respondent said: “The elements of participation and 'teaching and learning' or behaviour procedures that SLT [senior leadership team] constantly expect to see and hear do not always befit the context of the lesson, for example, you won't hear 'focus 3-2-1' at any point when I have already set my students off on a silent solo written activity for 20 mins. There appears to be little flexibility or understanding of this among SLT. I feel like a performing monkey.”

Another said: “I feel like we are not allowed to teach using our training, experience and subject knowledge and instead have to teach exactly how they want or we will be put on a support plan/disappear.”

Finally, on this theme another comment was: “Middle leaders and all teaching staff have had all autonomy stripped from them. Individual experience and skills to deliver effective teaching from both a subject specific or unique teaching style that has proven effective is not only stifled by expectations but discouraged by leadership. The one size fits all approach is not fit for purpose.”

Multiple comments were made about lesson observations being used to check up on teachers, rather than as support for them. Some two thirds of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement that “the purpose of lesson drop-ins is to assist with behaviour,” with the same proportion agreeing or strongly agreeing that their purpose was “to monitor staff”.

Workload

Some 24 per cent of the respondents agreed with the statement “my workload is reasonable” – none of them strongly – as opposed to 54.2 per cent who disagreed, including 20.3 per cent who strongly disagreed.

One respondent said: “I work 11 hour days Mon - Fri, throughout half term, and a few hours on the weekend and will still have more to do.”

Another said: “Too many priorities not enough time to do my job and support students so much focus of behaviour which I feel has not improved despite the new regimes. It’s purely unsustainable at this pace.”

Concerns about a “toxic” atmosphere

The survey also found, sadly, concern among respondents about the overall workplace culture.

One respondent said: “Staff are scared for their jobs and fear consequences of raising concerns about their own and others’ workload and wellbeing. Staff are scrutinised and intimidated by SLT and therefore struggle to find the passion needed to deliver engaging lessons which is to the detriment of the students.”

Another said there were “Issues around a culture of fear have not been addressed.”

One said: “I feel sick coming to work every single day,” another saying: “I have felt physically sick at the thought of coming into work on many occasions.”

Another comment was: “What was once a vibrant staff community is now a body of staff who simply work in the same place with many staff hiding away in solitude to avoid repercussions of the toxic environment we now work in.”

Communication from senior leadership was another point of concern. One respondent said: “It is frustrating to try to provide consistent lessons to students when things keep changing.”

Another said: “Communication from SLT is usually very late or with very short notice.”

Another said: “Much the same as last year, communication is still an issue. Briefing notes are too long and aren't always available before the start of the week. New staff noticeably struggled with the induction process being so intense.”

There were some positive comments highlighted in the survey report. One said: “There are certain senior leaders that I think are excellent in their roles.”

Another said: “I feel strongly supported and heard by some members of SLT but not others.”

Another said: “Certain members of SLT are extremely valued in pastoral.”

Staffing picture

Education Uncovered reported just over a year ago how Longsands lost eight per cent of its teachers at the end of the autumn term in 2023. The pattern has sadly continued. https://www.educationuncovered.co.uk/news/167816/school-run-by-controversial-traditionalist-academy-trust-loses-eight-per-cent-of-its-teachers-this-week.thtml

Last month, ITV local news reported that 48 members of staff had left Longsands between July 2023 and July 2024, with the recently-elected local MP, Ian Sollom, having joined two teachers quoted in that report in expressing concerns about this.

Former Longsands physics teacher Sam Blake told the programme that his experience at the school had made him question his position as a teacher, and that he would have left the school last year even if he had not found a new teaching job.

Education Uncovered understands that 67 members of teaching staff at Longsands have left since January 2023, including six who were announced as leaving just before Christmas.

Latest Department for Education data suggests Longsands had 157 staff members at the latest count, including 100 teachers. So these departure numbers would be high proportions of those totals.

I also understand that even the core subjects of English and maths have had a high proportion of non-specialists teaching lessons, as these departures affect provision. Recent months have also seen the departures of heads of sixth form and special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs).

Ofsted report says very little on staffing difficulties

As Education Uncovered reported over the summer, Ofsted upgraded Longsands to “good” from “requires improvement” following an inspection last February, despite nearly half of surveyed staff saying it had got worse. Nearly nine out of 10 parents who completed online forms for the inspectorate said they would not recommend the school to others.

The inspection report said virtually nothing about how staff were being managed by leadership, with its only comments in the main text* of the report relating to workload, and being positive.

The report said: “The trust and school have worked to address staff’s workload and well-being. Most staff are positive about the progress the school is making with this.”

It is hard to see how this statement squares with the finding in the NEU survey that more than half of respondents disagreed with the statement “my workload is reasonable”, 20 per cent of them strongly.

As Education Uncovered reported in July, findings in Ofsted survey data that 80 per cent of responding pupils would not recommend the school to a friend, and that nearly one in three children there said they “never” or “almost never” felt safe there did not make it to the report.

Astrea has also admitted to sending 25 extra members of staff to Longsands for the inspection.

The NEU survey findings seem more evidence underlining a sense that Ofsted inspectors did not get to the truth, in their report, about the lived reality of the school for at least a substantial proportion of its staff, and its pupils.

NEU members were on strike at the school for a day last July.

Astrea has not responded to recent requests for comment about goings-on at the school.

*A bullet point under the main text of the Ofsted report states, under “What does the school need to improve?” that “Changes have have been made have not been supported by some parents, pupils and staff. This leads to frustration towards the school.” However, this is couched as a problem of communication, rather than the more substantive issues suggested by the NEU’s staff survey, Ofsted saying only: “The school needs to continue to ensure that all stakeholders receive clear and effective communication, so that they are well informed about the reasons why decisions are made and actions are taken.”