Teachers urged to take good care of their most important teaching tool: their voice

A classroom may well be the perfect incubation vessel for viruses and bacteria. Every weekday it`s filled with an assortment of children, who cough and sneeze and splutter, wiping their hands on papers and books, which are passed around the room, before finally making their way back to the teacher.

In this kind of environment infections can spread like wildfire: a child sneezes onto their hand, which they use to turn the page of the textbook they are sharing with the pupil next to them. At the end of the lesson the book is passed back to the teacher, who is then exposed to a menu of pathogens. It`s hardly any wonder that teachers very often find themselves becoming ill. Some of my friends who are in the profession say they would never enter a classroom without ensuring they have a bottle of sanitising gel, which they use to disinfect their hands and the surface of their desk. Other teachers tell me they pass distribute Dettol wipes to the children, ordering them to scrub down their desks at the end of every lesson. `I also ensure that door handles are cleaned, along with stationary, shared calculators - basically anything the kids might have polluted!`

Despite these precautions, it is very common for teachers to come down with some kind of bug by the end of term. `It`s almost like your body has been holding out for the last few weeks,` my friend went on to tell me, `and just when you cross the finishing line, it just gives up and you get ill!`

Besides the plethora of germs teachers have to contend with at work, there`s another health-related issue they have to suffer: losing their voice. According to a new report from the National Education Union, teachers are eight times more likely to suffer from voice problems than any other profession. For a footballer it`s their feet, for a pianist it`s their hands - but the voice is the most import physical tool for a teacher. Besides being used to impart information to the pupils, it functions as a tool of discipline, ensuring any unruly pupils are kept in line, and the lesson can run smoothly. A good teacher will use their voice to instill interest and drama to their lessons - much like a great actor or orator, modulating their tone to enrich their words, and captivate their audience.

Teachers use their voices as much as actors and singers do, putting their vocal chords through all kinds of stress and strain during each and every lesson. Those on the stage are at least prepared in advance for when they have to hit a high note, or voice a loud and angry scene - a teacher has to improvise their way through each lesson, and at a moment`s notice might have to produce a booming censure to a recalcitrant pupil.

One of my friends, who is a teacher in a rather `difficult` school, informed me she does vocal exercises before her lessons. She explained that this consists of making a `mm` sound (as in hum), along with a sound `ng` (as in wing), and slowly and gently sliding these sounds up and down in pitch. She also ensures that she`s well hydrated, and tries to give her voice a break by utilising no verbal disciplinary cues, such as clapping her hands instead of shouting.

These precautions might sound excessive, or even theatrical, but with teachers taking more than 2 million days of sickness, which equates to 51,000 days a week over the school year, anything that can help bolster their health has got to be applauded. The cost of these lost working days amounts to an astonishing £15 million per year in the UK, according to a RNID publication of 2008, cited in the National Education Union, 2019.

Despite the very clear strains placed on their voices throughout their careers, there is no real training or guidance offered to new teachers to help them learn how best to protect themselves.
A survey conducted by the Royal National Institute for the Deaf in 2008 found that vocal problems amongst teachers are widespread, with their report making clear the scope of the problem:

`Teachers in around 60 per cent of schools complain of vocal problems.`

`A third of head teachers report that it has caused teachers to have taken time off.`

`The cost to schools is calculated at around £15 million a year.`

The report said that teachers should be `alert to the signs of vocal difficulties,` and that vocal problems will generally be the result of overuse or infection. Teachers were encouraged to warm up their voices at the beginning of each day, utilise pauses and silences to stress meaning, facilitating a short respite for their vocal chords, and to be vigilant as to any symptoms of vocal fatigue, and be sure to contact their doctor at the first sign of any troubles.