To ask teachers about disruptive behaviour in secondary schools?

There is nothing wrong with what you did.
Some posters are just looking for things to moan about.

Thank you, at least a few people understand what I did, nothing was said in front of anyone else. Part of a teacher's role is to prepare pupils for life beyond the school gates and that includes the good and the bad. As for 'pubic pelmet', that's something we tended to use about ourselves, back in the days when we were allowed a sense of humour!

Totally agree @DrRuthGalloway it’s so offensive to suggest that children who can’t pass maths are all failing to put enough effort in.

My son works hard but will probably only get a 5 in maths because he just cannot understand the more advanced questions. And I would argue that he is not “dim” just middle ability. He can do prime factorisation, trigonometry, gradients of graphs, probability trees and lots of other stuff that requires a reasonable degree of intelligence (by most people’s standards). He just cannot do the super hard questions which seem to take up a large proportion of the higher paper, hence only requiring a low percentage to pass.

Every word! You must be a teacher?

Years ago, when I was a teacher, my GP asked me what I did for a living. I told him I worked at a certain tough local school. He said: "Well, I'd call that a self-inflicted injury!".

Over promotion of often (too) young , inexperienced, self- serving, career-hungry individuals into positions of leadership that are beyond their capabilities adds to the overall toxicity of institutions and exacerbates problems discussed in other posts.

And you know what? Some kids are, in your words, "pretty dim" at maths. In fact about 40 percent of kids don't get a grade 4 or above in maths.

I hope you aren't a maths teacher with your poor understanding of bell curves of ability or facility with maths reasoning. Do you genuinely believe that every single child who doesn't pass maths it's their own fault because they paid zero attention since primary school?

This makes it harder for them to get a job and more likely that they will spend their lives reliant on the state.
😬

My child was attacked by a violent child when aged 10. She had schoolfriends around the next week and they were all telling me how bad it was as the bully had got away with it and nothing had happened. The school reassured me that the bully had had reflected on their actions with a pupil support teacher and promised not to do it again but to the class it appeared nothing had happened, there were no consequences and pupils could do what they liked,

Sometimes it’s important that consequences have to be seen to have been doled out, so pupils know that staff have their back. And yes the restorative conversation had no effect and the bully was attacking again in no time!

I suspect there is limited merit in engaging with this as you seem slightly obsessed with “policing what girls wear” but a) this issue has been a tiny part of the discussion on this 17 page thread, which has mostly been about disruption, forgetting equipment, backchat and weak school leadership, and b) those posters who have mentioned it have said very sensible things, principally that girls are not complying with the uniform rules and their parents (who chose the school, knowing the uniform rules) are complaining when they are sanctioned. No-one has mentioned parents buying their children thongs instead of pens.

It’s a very champagne socialist view, isn’t it - sounds incredibly principled, talking about not judging women/girls by what they are wearing, but in actual fact shouting “misogyny” at anyone who dares to suggest (however gently) that certain outfits are appropriate in certain environments serves to keep the less advantaged kids in their place by NOT letting them learn the rules most of society lives by. This makes it harder for them to get a job and more likely that they will spend their lives reliant on the state. Of course the champagne socialist’s child doesn’t need to worry about this because, for all their parent’s high and mighty proclamations, they know exactly what they should wear for an interview at medical school, at an art gallery, at a think tank, a hedge fund or wherever they want to work.

You read what you want to read, I guess.
And you ignore what you want to ignore, I suppose?

There* *are plenty of bitchy posts here about school girls. It's interesting to see classicism and internalised misogyny, probably from people who claim they're feminists and left leaning. The disgusted 'oh we can see sanpro under their skirts' and what about the chairs they sit on with things. Sounds like an immature teenage boy talking not women, many of whom have gone through childbirth. There are issues with behaviour in schools, due to a range of societal and individuals factors. There may even be an issue with unsuitable clothing and uniform. But the disgusted and sneery tone about teenage girls is pathetic.

Hardly any posts are about girls uniform. You read what you want to read, I guess.

This is spot on.

Funnily enough a thread about disruptive behaviour in secondary has a huge focus on ridiculing what girls are wearing as if girls and their chosen clothes are a major contributor to disruptive behaviour in secondary?

Of course then there are the feckless state school parents who don't care about their dc's education and just buy their DDS thongs instead of pens. And classy fee paying students who are a dream to teach and whose parents are so glad they don't mingle with the out of control state school students.

Ok 😂

@DrRuthGalloway shared the most educated and insightful contributions. It's very uncomfortable to read about middle class middle aged women focusing obsessively and unhealthily on what young school girls are wearing as if that's the actual problem in education today. But sure, let's blame girls and their short skirts. 😜Very clever. This thread has become rather silly.

Oh for goodness sake this isn’t shaming a girl for what she’s wearing. @JudgeJ was there to help with mock interviews. Surely part of that help is pointing out (as she did, gently and in private, so not humiliating anyone) that the girl’s outfit was not appropriate for a formal job interview. If the girl was only 15 and had never been for an interview she might not have known. I am sure @JudgeJ would have said something similar to a boy who turned up in tracksuit bottoms full of holes with his arse hanging out.

And sure, some employers wouldn’t care what you are wearing - but in the real world some would immediately mark you down for not coming appropriately dressed, and it would be remiss of @JudgeJ not to let the children she is supposed to be coaching know this.

I left FE teaching after 17 happy years mostly, never had many issues with the students. I did have some issues with a few students on lower level courses but management were reluctant to punish them as they got extra funding and wouldnt suspend them or take action so they carried on mostly.

We can thank Gove for making it so dull. And for killing Literature and reducing it to a memory test. And for getting rid of tiers in English, so some kids are doomed to fail before they even sit the exam. Shakespeare I will happily defend. But deciding that the only good novels to be studied by 20th c teens must be written by British authors before 1900, and that a huge number of poems need to be learned......

Definitely not designed to foster a lifelong love of Literature. Or maintain A Level numbers.

This would be understandable if it wasn't for the fact that pupils don't want to learn the skills that allows them to do the interesting or creative bits.
And yes I taught a practical subject.

*paying to win at life

It really is boring! It’s a competition - who can remember the most pointless facts. Completely overwhelming for the vast majority of student and not promoting a love of learning. The whole curriculum and system needs an overhaul. I teach secondary.

Primary teacher here, but my feelings may still resonate with high school.

There are two huge problems with the pupils in my school and their behaviour.

1- Parents who believe their ch are little angels and can do no wrong. I could write a book on all the times I’ve informed parents of bad behaviour and their parents make/look for excuses, Blame me somehow, or flat out refuse to believe it. A few months back I had an incredibly disruptive incident with a pupil where she swore and screamed and was violent to another child, causing injury. I called her mum, and to be fair mum was understanding, but didn’t seem that bothered, and when she picked her up that night she met her on the playground with a huge toffee apple. And I just thought… no!

2- Our SLT are a huge problem when it comes to dealing with behaviour. We as teachers tackle as much as we possibly can, but when things are bigger than the classroom and need further backup from SLT, they give children a soft talking too and they usually end up coming out of the office with a sticker. But the biggest problem is, really, really bad behaviour (I’m talking swearing at staff, hitting other kids, throwing things, acting dangerously, fighting) doesn’t get properly addressed. It’s just a lunch time detention and then move on. But the children see this as “getting away” with bad behaviour and then they know they can just do it again, knowing there’s no proper sanction. My partner teacher has a child in her class who was a bit cheeky at the start of the year but nothing major, but in a fit of rage a few weeks ago told the class TA to “just piss off” and nothing was done about it, and since then the girl has been so much worse, and my partner teacher fully believes it’s because she tested the waters with that sort of behaviour and got away with it, so now feels untouchable.

I totally agree with @DrRuthGalloway above, been saying it for years! In my subject, you have to get 2/3rds of the paper to get a 5. A 5!!

The offended generation is exhausting

Yes yes yes ( in spades)
My reasonably bright 16yo DS says the curriculum is boring with too much content and not enough choice at GCSE. School is putting him off going to Uni.
Micheal Gove has a lot to answer for. I feel sorry for those non academic kids who years ago would have thrived on a more creative and practical curriculum that isn’t designed to fail them.

Ex teacher.

LOL. How did you know?

Mostly down to parents wanting to be best friends with their kids.

If your kids don't learn respect at home, they won't respect anyone else.

Have said this to friends who are afraid of upsetting their kids as they answer back passive aggressively.

All this soft parenting leads to kods who don't respect you.