To ask teachers if you are scared

I heard this on the news earlier. She was 13 years old ffs!

Bumping this thread to say that the girl has been charged with attempted murder which suggests she went in on purpose to attack a member of staff.

The first generation to grow up obsessed with social media are just starting on their child-rearing years. I am profoundly grateful to be old.

Where is the option to bring back the stocks and the dunce caps? I am obviously being facetious but until there's a willingness to use humiliation to sanction intolerable behaviour, then there's no effective sanction that isn't cumbersome, costly and slow.

The whole point of punishment is that it has to be quick, cheap, unpleasant and yes, humiliating. Public shame for violence, vandalism, criminal behaviour and malicious acts. No lengthy investigations, no appeals, no excuses. Misbehave and face the rest of the day being laughed at as a loser.

As a PP said, there's no shortage of qualified teachers. Just a general commonsense decision by teachers that as individuals they are not prepared to do contortions around the arrogance and entitlement any longer.

Social media will make sure the miscreants are photographed, named and shamed. And afterwards, they may toe the line, to avoid it happening again.

It is 100% parenting, or the total lack of it. People so obsessed with their own phone that they are letting Tik Tok and You Tube bring your their kids.

Today I had a student day he wanted to kill teachers and another mimicking me behind my back to the whole class. Have been sworn at twice today as well. But apparently it doesn’t count because they weren’t swearing about me. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This is not every kid but the badly behaved ones are starting to get me down to the point where I can’t do it anymore.

I don't think any government can be blamed for children's behaviour. It's parenting.

My db is a teacher, has been for 15-20 ish years. He was assaulted by a 12yo girl (kicked punched slapped etc) because he told her to stop destroying school property in the classroom (which she was doing because she argued with another child). He is a rugby player, so wasn't physically at risk from this girl. He pinned her arms to her sides. Having been physically immobilised, she went with verbal: "I'm going to tell everyone you're a paedo then". Very fortunately for him, another teacher witnessed the whole thing.

It was under the last labour govt.
Blaming the government for students attacking teachers is absolutely ridiculous.

I agree with this. All young people hear these days is there's no hope. They get told you'll never be able to buy a house so why bother trying to get a good job. Climate change means you have no future anyway. No matter what job you get you'll never have enough money to live. It's all everyone else's fault. Government. Boomers. Teachers. Covid. Whoever.

If you hear this from birth then you will think what's the point. People on here say that obviously young people will have no hope because look at the state of the world. But surely by just giving up then there really is no point. Why aren't people saying well right now things aren't great but if you work hard and make changes the world could look very different in 20 years. But obviously if no one bothers it will only get worse. Everyone seems to want everyone else to fix things for them. But EVERYONE needs to change in order for change to happen.

I think problems in schools are symptoms of the wider problems throughout society. For so many people today there is a lack of respect for any type of authority, empowered by hand-wringing and weakness from those in authority. Crippling fear of saying the wrong thing and being punished for having the wrong opinion limits your ability to correct behaviour.

It's become acceptable and even popular to have this doom and gloom attitude that nothing matters, everything's in inevitable decline, and there's no hope, which is taken as an excuse to do whatever you like. Why not let people get away with horrible things, rather than standing up to the behaviour while addressing its underlying causes? The world is going to hell, anyway, so who can blame them? Too many have lost all sense of proportion and knowledge of history. They're are all too happy to claim victimhood (because anyone can be a victim, if they look hard enough) and set it all on fire.

@JudgeJ so you don't think 13 years of tories has made anything worse? What or who is to blame then in your opinion?

@MrsMurphyIWish I was also pushed down stairs when heavily pregnant with zero consequences for the boy responsible.

I work in FE now. I’m not scared for me. I’m scared for DP who still works in secondary. He’s constantly threatened, squared up to, spat at, accused of being a racist or a paedophile. And he’s classed as a popular teacher.

I’m really scared for my lovey DS who is in year 5. He’s a big lad but a gentle and kind soul. He loves learning. He’s got hfa so he finds social interactions a bit confusing. I know what secondary school is like and I’m so frightened he will face violence and bullying.

It's so interesting to read this thread, increasing numbers of good teachers leaving the profession due to threats, unfounded complaints and unsupportive parents. Then I see another thread with a parent questioning if it's acceptable for her DC to be taught by a HLTA.

spiral of poverty and fundamental lack of hope, breakdown of societal structures and social mobility, cuts to services left, right and centre. The blame is with the government for designing and presiding over this (and partly the electorate for allowing it to happen by repeatedly voting the conservatives into power).

Older teachers will tell you this has been going in since the mid '60s and cannot conveniently be dumped on any one government. We noticed a deterioration in standards after '97 when it became the norm to find excuses for poor behaviour rather than tackling it and a strict teacher was vilified.

Schools should be able to ban certain breeders from the school premises and from a certain specified distance around it.
The situation yesterday sounds similar to one in which I found myself over twenty years ago, a known thuggish teenage girl chased another girl along a corridor. The chased girl ran into a classroom and the first tried to get passed the teacher standing there, with a blade in her hand. I grabbed her from behind and we managed to restrain her. The outcome was that we had to explain why we put our hands on a 'child', that emotive word, and I had over a year of shoulder pain that was ignored.

I think teaching unions should support schools in excluding way more pupils and just make this a government problem. Teachers are so socially motivated which is laudable, but I think it’s time as a profession they took collective action to protect themselves and the kids who want to learn. Yes it makes a problem elsewhere, but if these kids are unreachable what’s the point of them being in school? No the services elsewhere don’t exist but that’s not the fault or problem of our dedicated teachers.

So sad and unnecessary. You should have pressed charges…

Indeed. I am gutted that I felt I needed to take the decision to leave the profession but I felt that being unable to protect my unborn child was one thing but the fact the there were absolutely no consequences is just something I can’t get over. We are not helping pupils by teaching them (and the whole class that witnessed it) that it is okay to assault someone and there won’t be consequences. We will be seeing the consequences of this lack of discipline and consequences for a long time to come…and that is probably what I find the scariest.

Day to day, no. But there are certainly times that I have felt scared, both of children and of parents. Working in a primary school shouldn't be a 'scary' job, but at times it is - and I've been on a battlefield!

Im also scared for some of our children who lack resilience or confidence. This has become a huge issue and I sometimes look at children who are 10/11 crying over very small things ("X said I smell") ("Y told me to shut up") and I think "You are going to get slaughtered at High School"

I work in a school and twice in 2 weeks have witnessed violence from year 9/10 boys...both over 6 feet tall....towards female staff. I have just handed my notice in...I don't feel safe.

I don't feel scared, but I think it would be hard to carry on if I did. I do currently teach in a school where the behaviour is brilliant though. I started teaching in 2006 and previously have always come across some violent behaviour and kids carrying knives, so I don't feel like this is new behaviour (worst was breaking up a fight in the classroom and getting squashed between two fighting boys, one of whom was found to be carrying a knife). I'm definitely more scared for the pupils (and society in general!).

@AiryFairy101 don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of Keir or his party and I don't think they are going to magically turn the country around.

I do think though, that the tories have and always will systematically and deliberately shrink the state and that has enormous consequences.

100% agree with this. I work in mainstream primary and have done for years. I'm genuinely either walking on egg shells every day or scared of being hurt. I've had chairs and tables thrown at me, non stop verbal abuse and threats of much worse violence. This is all from 7-10 year olds. Never any consequences put in place if the adults are hurt, threatened or verbally abused. If we worked in a special needs school we would be given training and more support to deal with these things but we are given absolutely nothing and expected to just get on with it. Most parents of these kids have told them that they have ADHD or ASD so it's not their fault, which is what the children will now say on a daily basis. It's like a get out of jail free card.

There’s a bit more to it than this, I’m sorry but I fear Keir and his band of woke Labor warriors aren’t the answer either….
Not sure who is?! 🙈🙈🙈
Today, everyone needs a problem and has to be on social platforms telling everyone about it….it’s not normal to NOT have one.

I’ve posted before that I was pushed down the stairs heavily pregnant and there were no consequences for the boy until DH involved himself (even then the boy was only moved classes).

I don’t feel scared for my life. I don’t worry about DD either despite there being a teen murder last year on her route home (the boys who lose their lives by me are all in gangs and target each other).

Personally, my worry each day, is how precarious my job is and how much power is in my pupil’s hands. I know I could be “investigated” over anything. Our Head reminds us to “watch our tone” (not even our language) as we have so many complaints that a harsh tone will trigger complaints from both pupils and parents. It’s like some pupils are actively looking to take offence so they can write a report - its amusement and sport for some.

I am not a teacher and my kids have had a wonderful experience at school. But I believe these stories 100%.

I think it’s a reflection of society in general. Increased hostility and a sense of entitlement and refusal to accept responsibility. I am front-line nhs and we see it too. Very few sanctions for abusive patients or relatives. Regular threats. Never makes the headlines. We have to help the sick etc.

I know a lot of it is due to government cuts and poverty. People feel unhappy and unsupported. The pandemic made everything worse. There is less hope for many. People have lost faith.

My kids went to a large London private school and had a pretty amazing and almost perfect experience with wonderful teachers. The friends they chose were lovely and decent and respectful. They have just left. So being in a privileged bubble clearly plays a part. We were lucky and my kids know that.

But there is something else, isn’t there? People just being unpleasant. Does social media play a part and encourage bad behaviour which spills into modern life? I don’t know.

Yes, I'm scared, but not for my own physical safety. Kids squaring up to me is still rare and in 20 years of teaching I have (thankfully) not been hurt yet.

I am scared for my children, especially the youngest, who is yet to experience secondary school. My teenager got bullied for being a nice child who engaged in learning and my little one will likely be the same, but with them it's likely they will cease to engage in learning to fit in with others as they are much more easily led.

I am scared that my male child will experience violence; it's statistically a lot more likely. With both, I am scared of the world they are entering when so many of their peers have had no boundaries. I see the number of fights, the number of children who dish out casual violence (hitting each other over the head with books is common), the number of children involved in verbal abuse and that does make me scared to what he is and will be exposed to.

I am also scared of children knowing where I live (I am reasonably close to my workplace). An ex colleague had a number of experiences with harassment, house egging and attempted burglary once kids found out where they lived.

I am scared of false allegations. They are becoming more common, as are petty complaints about things we say which displease the children as in my school there seems to be a culture of children reporting their teachers to safeguarding all the time over tiny things.

I am scared for the future of this country on a wider scale. I see this year's Y11, conscious they will be released into the world soon and so many of them have few social skills but a huge amount of arrogance, the likes of which I haven't seen on this scale in my years of teaching. I see how unprepared they are for the world of work, for the harshness of real life and I wonder how many of them will turn to petty crime once they realise they are currently unemployable. Schools have failed them by not showing them that their actions have consequences and many will be in a sink-or-swim situation. I wonder how many will sink.

With the way that kids are around here (moving around in gangs, having knives and putting peoples windows through with bricks without any kind of provocation) I’m worried. DD goes to a the same Grammar school that I went to. She's in year 7 but has been threatened that she'll be "jumped" several times, even if it's just a case of not handing over her pencil case when another girl told her to. I have raised every threat with school but one girl lives on our estate and goes around with the idiots wearing balaclavas.
We have cameras but when the gangs walk past they spot it straight away and pull their hoods so tight around their faces I’m surprised they can walk in a straight line.
I’m sick with worry about escalation.