Hello, Tappsters!
And back to school we all go!
How much inset did everyone get? 32% have one day, and 58% will have two inset days before students return.
Prizes for our Mystery Tappers
Today the FINAL lucky Tapper has a special message in their app telling them they’ve won a prize – we can now reveal it is a £400 gift card 🤑
We hope all of our Tappers have enjoyed their prizes – here is a message from last week’s winners:
“I really love Teacher Tapp because it so often helps to validate my experiences in school and reminds me that it’s not just my school that faces certain challenges. It’s reassuring to see the wider picture and feel part of a bigger community of teachers.
“I’m also really delighted to have won the gift card – it’s such a lovely and welcome treat, especially at this part of the holidays when you start to have mixed feelings about the term ahead. It has certainly brought a big smile to my day!“
Full terms and conditions here.
This month – it’s all about referrals – read more about that here.
And now, for our best edu-data findings…
1. So glad to be back!
Some teachers are more excited than others about returning to the classroom. That said, just 6% said they strongly agree that they were looking forward to going back after the holiday.
So, who are these teachers eager to return?
It’s not about family life—teachers with children at home were no more likely than those without to say they were looking forward to returning (both at 6%). Nor is it really about role or age: 5% of classroom teachers versus 8% of senior leaders strongly agreed, and the figures were similar across age groups (5% in their 20s, 6% aged 50+).
But there is one striking difference. Teachers who feel their teaching has improved are far more positive. Those who reported their teaching is much better than last year were almost three times more likely to say they were looking forward to the new academic year compared with colleagues who felt their teaching had stayed the same (11% vs 4%).
That’s powerful. It suggests that when teachers believe they’re improving, their motivation grows. And it’s something leaders can nurture—by giving staff time to reflect on their practice, celebrating progress, and making end-of-year appraisals as much about teachers’ growth as about student results 🙌.
2. Teacher readers
If getting your students to read is a challenge – it seems that adult reading is also on the decline.
Back in 2018, 61% of teachers were reading an edubook over the holidays, but this summer that number has dropped to 27%.
It’s not just edu-books that teachers are putting down — reading of any kind (fiction, non-fiction, e-books, audiobooks) has also fallen. Back in 2017, 91% of teachers said they read over the summer. This year, it’s down to 85%.
So what else has shifted?
📶 Broadband is booming: In 2019, 77% of teachers had fibre at home. Today, that’s risen to 85%.
🛠️ DIY is on the up: 55% were doing home improvements in 2022, compared with 62% now.
This summer, we also experimented with some new types of questions. Did we ask the right ones? We’d love your feedback—drop us a line at england@teachertapp.co.uk or send us a message through the app!
3. Holiday sleeping
Do teachers sleep better in the holidays?
The answer is a resounding yes! For the first time we asked about sleep during the summer break, and the results were clear: 18% of teachers reported very good sleep. That’s far higher than at other times of year—just 5% in January this year, 5% in April 2021, and 4% in January 2021. In other words, summer makes snoozing around three times better. Now… if only we could bottle that feeling for September!
Sleep and upsetting emails
But do some teachers sleep better than others? We wondered whether reading upsetting work emails might spill into the night. Interestingly, it didn’t make a huge difference. Around 17% of teachers reported very good sleep regardless of whether they’d opened a stressful message or not. Where we did see a small edge was for those who avoided emails entirely—20% of them said they slept very well. Perhaps a reminder that sometimes switching off really does mean switching off!
+ Bonus finding
Teachers don’t just fill their classrooms with lesson plans and stationery; from family photos to cuddly mascots, these personal items help make the workplace feel more homely. 17% of Tappers say they bring lucky items into their rooms.
This week we asked about these items – and a HUGE 833 wrote in to tell us about what they put in their rooms to make them more special.
Many teachers said these objects remind them why they do what they do, whether it’s a picture of loved ones, a gift from a child, or a quirky “positive potato” to raise a smile. As one teacher put it: “They give me a boost as to why I do the things I do.”
Student connections are especially powerful. Notes, cards, and small tokens from pupils are treasured reminders of impact — like one teacher who keeps “a box of all my best teaching memories. Cards, pictures etc.” Another told us simply: “It reminds me that you don’t always know what impact you have on a child.”
These personal touches help turn classrooms into a home away from home, bringing encouragement and joy into everyday school life.
Daily Reads
Whoop – we had LOADS of Teacher Tappers clicking on our blog about slang – a massive 17% of you read about the most common slang in the classroom.
Have you seen a great blog you think would make a great daily read? Let us know by emailing england@teachertapp.co.uk and we will check it out!
