Prince Charles gives teachers top marks for effort

It has long provoked ire among teachers that people in other jobs think they have an easy life.

But after months of home schooling they have found a supporting voice in none other than the future king who has declared that he is “enormously impressed” with their work.

The Prince of Wales said that parents now have a new-found appreciation for teachers, after spending prolonged periods of time over the past year attempting to oversee their children’s education while schools have been closed.

He said that teaching has “never been an easy job”, adding that this is something that “harassed parents up and down the land have found out in lockdown”.

Addressing a leadership conference run by the PTI, formerly the Prince's Teaching Institute , on Sunday in a video message, he will praise teachers for the “dogged determination” they have shown during the pandemic.

His remarks come as schools in England prepare to open their doors on March 8, with primary children due to return that day and secondary pupils expected to return during the course of the week to allow for mass testing.

Prince Charles, who is royal founding patron of the PTI, will tell the conference’s attendees: “I must say I am enormously impressed by everything I have heard about what you are managing to achieve – despite all the many difficulties you have faced.

“Last term the challenges were coping with teaching in a different way because of social distancing, at the same time as dealing with the mountain of logistical challenges of running a school with staff and student illness, remote teaching, bubbles, constant hand-washing, deep cleaning… the list goes on and on.

“Then, this year began with a new lock-down and with changes to arrangements for the Summer examinations."

He will add that while these are "unpredictable times for us all", the "dogged determination" of teachers to do the best for their students is "certainly not going unnoticed".

His encouraging remarks follow those of his mother the Queen who earlier this week said that people who refuse the coronavirus vaccine "ought to think about other people rather than themselves".

In her first comments on the subject, Her Majesty said it was important that people were "protected" by the vaccine.

Speaking to the senior responsible officers overseeing the delivery of the vaccine across all four UK nations, she said that her own immunisation, administered at Windsor Castle in January, was “very quick,” adding: “It didn’t hurt at all.”

She added: “Once you've had the vaccine you have a feeling of, you know, you're protected, which is I think very important.

“And I think the other thing is that it is obviously difficult for people if they've never had a vaccine… but they ought to think about other people rather than themselves."

The PTI was set up in 2006 to provide professional development for teachers aimed at instilling them with passion and enthusiasm for their subject.

Prince Charles was previously president of the PTI but following a review of his charities in 2017 he became royal founding patron of the organisation.