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AIBU?

A very naive, sweet, and innocent teacher in an inner city comp?

60 replies

SweetInnocent · 05/09/2011 13:42

Do you think it is possible for an innocent mid twenties teacher to teach PHSE/Citizenship in an inner city comp?

This person is lovely and kind, but has not experienced many of the things that the subject requires the pupils to discuss. The teacher for example is a virgin and has never had any alcohol. Or obviously cigarettes or drugs.

The teacher has a very sketchy knowledge of how babies are actually made and almost no knowledge of her own body mechanics.

She can't bear swearing or any coarse language and finds it very difficult to hear. She gets very embarrassed at talk of sex and any kind of sexual language.

This teacher has her own subject to teach but some responsibility for PHSE too. I'm not sure if I am being a bitch in thinking her inappropriate to teach these pupils, but this is a tough area and I'm not sure that she will have the respect needed.

I would love to be told that I am being simplistic and that a good teacher can overcome these things. I just always assumed (bad of me, I know) that these days a teacher needed to be a bit more 'down with the kids' IYSWIM.

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gallicgirl · 05/09/2011 13:50

YABU - might be good experience for her.

Also, you don't need direct experience of a subject in order to teach it.

She might not be the ideal teacher but you never know, it could add a different dynamic to the lessons.

DontGoCurly · 05/09/2011 13:54

What is PHSE ?

I think the poor thing will get eaten alive though. She doesn't understand her own body mechanics .......uh oh.

Splinters · 05/09/2011 13:54

If she can hold her own and get respect from her pupils in her main subject, presumably she can manage it in PSHE too.

But a very sketchy knowledge of how babies are made? And she's in her mid-twenties, so received her own education in the last two decades? Can't quite believe she can really be so ignorant.

Are you sure?

TrillianAstra · 05/09/2011 13:55

Who is she to you? Your DD, or a friend? If she thinks she can do it then you have to let her, and be supportive if she finds it hard.

iMemoo · 05/09/2011 13:55

How do you know she is a virgin?

mosschops30 · 05/09/2011 13:57

Im sorry how can a grown woman have 'sketchy kbowledge on how babies are made or how her own body works'?
does she have special needs? Or some other issues?

LadyBeagleEyes · 05/09/2011 13:57

Is she a nun?

SweetInnocent · 05/09/2011 13:58

Its not me, its not an AIBU by stealth. Honestly I know she is a virgin. There was a discussion once about gynae issues and she had never heard the word 'cervix' and was unaware how to insert a tampon.

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fanjobanjowanjo · 05/09/2011 13:58

I'd question the teaching ability of ANYONE who had sketchy knowledge of their own body mechanics and how babies are made. Someone this ignorant/thick has no place teaching kids.

Dexifehatz · 05/09/2011 13:58

I was responsible for Personal,Health and Social Education and Citizenship in KS4 Pupil Referral Unit and I found it excruciating.I'm married with three kids and by no means naive or prudish,but I found it incredibly tough.This was one of the reasons I didn't go back after my last maternity leave.She will have a breakdown by Christmas guaranteed.

SweetInnocent · 05/09/2011 13:59

No special needs. Very religious family. (Christian)

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biddysmama · 05/09/2011 14:00

is she religious?

mosschops30 · 05/09/2011 14:00

Thats no explanation at all.

SweetInnocent · 05/09/2011 14:00

I am training to be a teacher and I am hardcore and I found the first day of a placement mindblowing. She blushes at any kind of minor swear word like bloody. I fear she will be eaten alive.

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midoriway · 05/09/2011 14:00

I have taught in some pretty rough areas. You don't need to be some world-weary, battle hardened character dreamt up by Hemmingway to survive, but you do need absolute confidence in what you are doing, an ability to connect with people, and a sense of humanity (and humour)

Building good relationships with students is the same as building relationships with anyone, it requires consistency, trustworthiness.

www.talktofrank.com/ the ask frank website has a mass of accurate info about drugs- I would rather a teacher used this info than relying on their own hazy memories of getting stoned at brothers wedding, etc. Kids generally know less about drugs than they pretend, which is why they always end up buying packets of chopped parsley.

If she has support from the school, an open mind, and some confidence in what she is doing she will be fine.

SweetInnocent · 05/09/2011 14:01

Mosschops, which bit did you want me to explain? Honestly, I was agog during the gynae conversation.

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sunchild77 · 05/09/2011 14:01

What fanjo said

How did she get to be a secondary teacher? Did she go to University?

Sorry find it really difficult to believe such a female exists.

biddysmama · 05/09/2011 14:01

surely she has to have some training tho?

naturalbaby · 05/09/2011 14:03

you're either writing about yourself or making assumptions. either way, unreasonable. if she has a job at the school then she's obviously filled in an application form, had an interview and been chosen as suitable and qualified.

i know a naive, sweet and innocent teacher who was eaten alive by primary kids in an inner city comp so my immediate reaction would be - you need to be hard as nails to teach in a school like that. time will tell eh?

SweetInnocent · 05/09/2011 14:03

Yep, she went to a small uni and really only had contact with people she met at a christian group. I was very surprised when she got the job. But she obviously exhibited some good skills to have got it.

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SnakeOnCrack · 05/09/2011 14:03

Well after her first days there she will either settle in or leave, so.. things will work themselves out.

SweetInnocent · 05/09/2011 14:04

I'm not making assumptions as to her naivety, I really do have first hand knowledge of that. But yes I am making assumptions as to her ability or inability to teach.

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mosschops30 · 05/09/2011 14:05

'very religious family, christian' is no explanation. Plenty of people are very religious, and/or christian, but to not know how babies are made or your own body is nonsense, unless she was raised in a commune with no education!
(btw mine go to catholic school and had a fair knowledge even at primary)

SweetInnocent · 05/09/2011 14:08

Mosschops, I was honestly stunned that she didn't know these things. She just said she had never needed to know them and she would ask her mum. I didn't really ask her why she didn't know them, the whole conversation was excrutiating as she was hiding her face with embarrassment. It was somrhting me and another person were talking about while she was present, she wasn't really in the conversation IYSWIM.

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maypole1 · 05/09/2011 14:08

sorry but youyr being a bitch

do you need to have had sex to tell others to put a condom on if your going to have sex and that just because you think others are having sex dose not mean you should

not sure also why which school she works at is relevant

unless you are trying to suggest you have to be " down with the kids" to some how get any respect or deliver any type of decent lesson any were with in the m25

i always find the teachers you think their down are usually the worst ones and often the ones who find them selves in bad situation s with students
we had a teacher who made us call him by his first name and use to drink in what was well know in town the student bar we all thought he was a div

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