Who rules the classroom these days?
Anita Rani has been investigating the causes and consequences of teacher stress.
Our survey revealed that a shocking number of teachers have been the victim of a false allegation from a pupil. Watch the film below:
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Comments
It's not been long since I left school, and the way some students treat teachers is unbelievable. Teachers will respect you, if you respect them! Teachers are there to teach, they are only trying to give you options.
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Hi, i work in a primary school as a new class teacher this year. One parent wants me sacked and is spending all her energy to do so. The parents have all the power in state school and it is getting out of hand!!!!!!
Last week was a very upsetting week. I am lucky to have 29 supportive parents.
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the kids will alway rule in the classroom, but only since the goverment took away the cane !!
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I sort of agree with the cane comment, but I think sometimes it was took too far, well from stories I have heard. I'm wanting to be a primary school teacher. Just hope it's not as bad then! :)
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I work at an all Girls Comprehensive Secondary School - Our discipline problems are minimal compared to many places. And the point made about respect is valid. However in my opinion there is not just this issue with teaching - Bullying pupils may be one thing, but a good system can often work - however the major reason I know for people leaving the proffession is pressure from above - bullying SLT memebers - An unrealistic workload - and a lack of money to create a good climate. How can we tell pupils to respect their environment with huge holes in rooves and rooms that were exactly the same when the pupils parents came to the school????
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My wife, a teacher, was approached after school one afternoon by a female parent who asked the whereabouts of a teaching colleague.
When my wife said that she was sorry, but didn't know where her colleague was, the parent asked if she was a teacher. My wife said yes.
Whereupon the woman said "You'll do" - and hit her on the head with an umbrella!
But this didn't happen last week or last month. It was 45 years ago and such an isolated incident that we laughed about it.
However, the level of violence against teachers nowadays is no laughing matter!
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I am in year 7 and the respect from the teacher is overwellming and the children think they can take advantage of that...IO dont thought
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i love most of my teachers but my OM (Open Minds) teacher is horrible all we do is write in are books...it is only the 4th week and i am neally at the end of my book......Not Good
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I work in a Newtown school, alhtough behaviour in our school has improved there are still a large number of pupils who lack motivation and seek to use low level disruption to stop me from teaching and other pupils from learning. Language in our lessons is often foul and in the past I have been shoved out of the way, kicked in the shin and sworn at on several occassions. Although most parents are supportive there are an equal number who would rather be there childs friend and will back their son/daughter to the end. However In addition to the lack of respect as a school we are under constant scrutiny from the LA and have to prove and evidence everything we do! I currently work between 50 and 60 hours on a normal week!I would advise anyone going into teaching to think very carefully about it.
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I work in a Newtown school, alhtough behaviour in our school has improved there are still a large number of pupils who lack motivation and seek to use low level disruption to stop me from teaching and other pupils from learning. Language in our lessons is often foul and in the past I have been shoved out of the way, kicked in the shin and sworn at on several occassions. Although most parents are supportive there are an equal number who would rather be their childs friend and will back their son/daughter to the end. However In addition to the lack of respect as a school we are under constant scrutiny from the LA and have to prove and evidence everything we do! I currently work between 50 and 60 hours on a normal week!I would advise anyone going into teaching to think very carefully about it.
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Thanks for the slot on teacher stress. One part was untrue which is that teachers are considered 'guilty until proved innocent'. Each local authority has a designated officer for allegations and the principles of innocent until guilty are the same as any other walk of life.
A tiny minority of teachers are suspended (less that 5% in my authority) and only when there is a clear and immediate, unmanageable risk to children.
There is a lot of politics in this subject and it would have been a better report to have a balanced viewpoint presented. Balancing the duty of care to the adult as an employee and the duty to protect children is complicated.
The reality is that some teachers are under terrible pressure, it is also that some children are abused.
Balance is important when reporting these issues.
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Just to clarify the comment... I meant innocent until proved guilty.
also the 5% is 5% of allegations (not of all teachers)
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I used to work in a school as a technician. I worked in the school in order to see whether I would like to go into teaching eventually. I am glad I did. The job is not what it used to be like. The stress of the job is enormous. Everyone thinks that the teachers get such an easy job because it's 9 til 4 but it really isn't. Teachers have no social lives because of the paper work. Then on top of all this - the kids are getting worse.
I witnessed many scenes where many pupils have shouted at, sworn at and been inappropriate with teachers - and I worked in a nic girls grammar school!
I know far too many teachers who have had mental health issues, and have stopped work because of "breakdowns".
Something needs to be done to sort out teaching, the system is definitely not working at the moment.
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that's meant to say a nice girls grammar school.
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When I was at secondary school which was 40 years ago, the teachers were respected and gave us respect back...There was very few lapses of disipline and certainly no violence....one of the weaker teachers had an ace up his sleeve if he was cheeked, as he was a dead shot with the blackboard rubber...before I went to secondary school, I can remember getting up to mischief with a mate, being caught by the village bobby, receiving a clip around the ear and being frogmarched back to our parents.....and we still respected the bobby, unlike todays youths. I wish that political correctness hadnt destroyed respect towards authority
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Your report only scratched the surface. Ive been studying teacher stress at York university and have written a thesis on the subject. There is so much more to this subject than pupil / parent stressors such as increased demands on teachers' roles, funding to name but a few. A huge issue you didn't include was the relationship between schools and local authorities. In truth schools are reluctant to explore stress within their school as they dont want the info to be used negatively. Also if they uncover stress they dont have the resources to deal with it. Sadly all teacher stress is not just about school life which makes this profession in the top 10 most stressful occupations so we need to look at these and identify commonalities if any improvement is to be made. I've been so shocked by what my research uncovered I am now working as an independant with schools to offer confidential assessment and support. This report was interesting but there's a much more interesting story here!
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Having worked as a mainstream secondary Science teacher for 10 years and a supply teacher for the last 2 years, I have to say that I think Teaching is the last profession in which an environment where foul language is systematically tolerated due to the difficulty and shear overwhelming amount of it to be reported. I was a highly respected teacher who was known amongst my many pupils to be someone upon whom they could rely on and would always do my best for them.
However, that still did not prevent the increasingly foul language and awful use of derogitarry vile sexual comments about each other's mothers being bandied about in the classroom - not a pleasant environment to work in.
I think that teaching is the last profession that still "tolerates" such language and behaviour - despite challenging it every time. However the recording of this, when the "f" word is heard every 30 seconds during an hour, 5 hours a day, 5 days a week is absolutely unachievable - certainly not if you're also trying to teach a lesson!
As a supply teacher, when I visit secondary schools, my main objective is to keep the students under some sort of civilised control - they have absolutely no respect for themselves - let alone anybody else!
Senior management tell you to record every incident, but there are so many, that you simply can't do this!
These young people are our future - what are we to do? They are the ones who are always believed - how can any teacher remember the full details of every interaction between what may be 200 different pupil interactions every day?
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I spent some time working in a high security prison teaching young offenders. Would rather work there than in a school - more back-up. Re the youngsters (14-18yr olds)themselves, treat them firmly - but with respect you'd be OK.
The line I took was they could talk to you about anything, crack a joke, have a laugh etc, but they knew they weren't even to DREAM of crossing you, if they did, they were jumped on with 'both feet' - only verbally. If things got physical - same as with doormen - you'd got it wrong. Follow those guidelines and you could all sorts with them - all they want/need is to know where they stand.
If you knew some of their backgrounds you'd think there but for the grace of God go I.
Trouble with kids/society (same thing - todays kids = tomorrows society) I think, is people are so worried about being 'PC'/human rights we've gone too far with it. Things have become very 'wishy-washy' - so kids now don't know where the barriers are - so to find out, they push their luck to see where the barriers (if any) are = trouble / 'dis-respect'... etc etc you name it.
First thing the kids did in that place was weigh you up. Their eyes go straight through you - but you do the same back, but in a nice way, then test them/push them - you'd be amazed at some of the talent there is behind bars. But their talent is like money - depending on the upbringing it can end up being used for good or evil.
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In my experience the comment in the video about how schools handle false allegations is true; the comment by courteousmarkf is wide of the mark.
I was falsely accused of a serious but vaguely specified criminal offence involving a pupil at another school. I was summarily dismissed from my own school. After considerable campaigning I was allowed a disciplinary hearing but not allowed any legal or union representation, nor access to documentation to enable me to find out what the allegation details were or to organise a defence. The hearing terms of reference required me to recant for my "errors" and to explain how the matter was now behind me and why I should be re-instated. On legal advice I refused to attend the disciplinary hearing. Subsequently a state-sector inquiry found that a police inquiry at the time of the allegation had immediately found that the pupil had never made the allegation and knew nothing of it: it had been entirely invented by the management of both schools for complex reasons of local government and internalpolitics, but the police never told me this at the time, and said they could not prosecute any school staff for malicious false allegations.
Confident that my name was clear I then applied last year to a third school in good faith and was accepted. But I was then dismissed again some after a term because I had failed to disclose the allegation during the application procedure. The allegation had apparently been passed to the third school and/or ISA via an unpublicised "unfounded allegation letter" route from the police which enables a false allegation to reach my employer without being visible on the CRB disclosure. (This route exists even if the allegation resulted in an acquittal, or the case being dropped by the CPS, or, as in my case, the police themselves found that the alleged incident had not taken place.)
The whole process from first allegation to latest dismissal took four years during which time I resorted to menial work. I have now given up teaching in schools altogether and the LGO refuse to handle the case as it was "so long ago". The way that false allegations arise and are handled in the state sector is secret, incompetent, corrupt, an abuse of power, contrary to the concept of a fair trial and completely out of control.
With respect, courteousmarkf, you are wrong, at least in my case: teachers are assumed guilty and the onus of proof is on them to show otherwise.
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It is a sad fact that abuse does happen. It is also a sad fact that innocent carers and teachers are falsely and maliciously accused of abuse and they are left to try to prove their innocence.
For information go to www.factuk.org
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I am a newly qualified teacher and in the classroom if you are having a battle with behaviour etc then there are loads of things you can put in place, teacher training has never been so good. In my own experience I found that if you start off with a balanced relationship with your students there is no battle and it can be the teachers and students space where learning CAN take place.
Its the extra activities we are now asked to do in our role that causes the biggest stress, such as break duty etc. Give teachers and students a break and instead concentrate on what's going to happen to the students who will be let loose in a world or work which is going to be very different from the one we know now.
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I completely endorse the comments from Madmowerman. See my posting on "What's the answer to child crime?"
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Before congratulating ourselves at having a 65% rate of bi-lingualism in the UK, we ought to deduct those for whom English is a second language.
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