Teacher’s dogs in classroom?

I agree - demand to see the risk assessment - this should cover all of the potential H&S issues of having a dog in the classroom; a child having an allergy, the dog using the 'toilet' in the classroom, the dog displaying aggressive behaviour, a child being injured. They should then specify the control measures in place to prevent these.
As a dog is not essential to the childrens education, they need to eliminate all of the risks, not just reduce them - otherwise the control to eliminate the risk is to remove the dog

And somewhere between 77% and 95% of car drivers will have at least one accident.
The hysteria on here is unfounded. And yes, I’ve been bitten by dogs, both as a child and as an adult. I learned to do things differently. How do we expect children to learn, to develop resilience and independence if we assume the worst about every possible scenario and….remove them from said situation? They won’t.
It is a Dashund, not a T-Rex. Teach the child safe behaviour around the dog. A dog that size can’t do any real damage, teach them and they will learn. Alternatively, molly coddle them to within an inch of their life then come back on here when they are 20, wondering why you have a “failure to launch” issue.

This thread reminds me of one of my primary school teachers bringing 3 sheep into the class room... on the first floor too. She put up some board and kept them in the book corner.

Yep.

You wouldn't get my son through the school door if he knew a dog was in there.

Which sounds very different to a teacher randomly bringing her own dog to class.

It sounds like you might be able to avoid the schools with dogs if that's not want you want for your child at school such as allergies, fear etc.

‘Teachers have to go through training’ is the key phrase here. This teacher doesn’t sound as if she’s undergone any.
I also presume in this setup there is a risk assessment and insurance in place. And I wonder how they manage allergies.

You don't seem to get that for loads of adults and children, this wouldnt be fun?

Lots of people dont like dogs and thats their prerogative. Lots of people find dogs annoying and smelly and hate them bounding up and putting their feet on you, claws digging in.

Why are some people so determinedly blind to the fact not everyone fucking likes dogs?!

School dogs are common in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Teachers have to go through training and the dog is part of class community. Extremely useful for social inclusion, helping kids who have difficulty controlling emotions and nervous reader can read aloud to the dog.

Its a great thing

Higher amongst young children, actually. I’m guessing it might be somewhat higher again amongst poorly supervised dogs trapped in a room with 30 4yos who are also getting less than the usual amount of supervision.

Around 1 in 4 of the UK population has been bitten over the course of their life time. I have a lot of sympathy with a parent not looking to accelerate that journey for her own child.

A risk assessment sounds like a good start.

Perhaps they can “write to the head teacher” about that too.

So around the same percentage as those who are transgender.

Yet people utterly freak out about transgender people.

The risks will be much higher in the current situation surely. Much of the population doesn’t interact much with dogs at all. Here there will be 2 (untrained?) dogs in a classroom of small children.

So 0.28% of the population. Tell me, do you take your DC in a car? Risk assessment needs to be sensible and proportionate.

I think it's hugely unwise with 30 4yo's and can't imagine it would be positive for the dogs either. I like dogs, we have one of our own, I would never have let grandson have unsupervised access to our dog at 4 even though I trust the dog. Even at 7 I watch him and he knows the rules don't wake the dog, don't feed the dog and don't disturb the dog even if awake if in her bed.
Four year old's are unpredictable, they don't have the ability to read how a dog might be feeling, they might inadvertantly hurt a dog and two adults cannot hope to supervise 30 children and two dogs sufficiently to ensure all are safe.
My own dd has terrible allergies to animal fur. I imagine ther may well be other children for whom a dog's presence could exacerbate their asthma and ecxema. I think I would be very unhappy at this.

I wonder this too.

I don’t understand how this works with insurance. You can’t possibly guarantee the safety of the children even with a trained dog. I love dogs and prefer their company to most humans but I’m surprised they are allowed in schools; we can’t even have them in my HE office due to allergies and other risks.

Good idea

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn808lg5j33o

Somebody should call the police.

This is what you said @Samysungy:

Agree it doesn't need to be [in the classroom] as all in the classroom apparently are going to be allergic at some point ??
Not sure what I will develop an allergy to in the future....it is coming though....
so says mumsnet! ha ha!

You said ‘all in the classroom were going to develop allergies at some point and then denied saying that when you were told nobody had said that would happen. I’m assuming you were being facetious but that is what you literally said and allergies aren’t a laughing matter in my opinion.

People had said a child or two in the classroom would likely already have allergies or would develop them. It’s a new class and it’s unlikely the teacher has considered dog allergies in her students at all if she’s thinking of having her dogs in the classroom. There seems to be a lot she hasn’t considered imho.

She also said that if any parents were uncomfortable she’d try and work something out. Well that makes it sound like she's trying to guilt trip the parents. Also "oh I'll have to try and work something out". No. She should have a robust risk assessment in place including immediate action to be taken if there is an incident with a dog, allergies, phobias, parent complaints etc. And it's unfair on the dogs, she needs to sort care out for them, not make it a problem for everyone else.

Nope I said if there is a class and 0 kids have an allergy to dogs I was told that I couldn't say that as someone would have one it just hadn't happened yet.

If there are no children with dog allergies in a class then there are no children with dog allergies....

0 means 0....

Basic maths of a 4 year old child.

Since when does 0 mean 'some'?

Agree.
I love animals and can see the positives in having "meet a dog" moment with a therapy dog or whatever if they choose.
But having two dogs in all day is just plain unprofessional and inappropriate.
Also, the teacher should be focussing on her work when she is at work.

Yes, people can develop allergies at any time, but 100% of a classroom population will never be affected by dog allergies and nobody said that was the case. It’s likely at least one or two children will be affected though.

So your statement

‘as all in the classroom apparently are going to be allergic at some point’
was just as I said…you willfully missing the point!

This sounds like it could cause all kinds of problems. I know some schools do have pet dogs, to help some children with emotions and such, but they aren't confined to one particular classroom as far as I know. There will be some children who are frightened of dogs or allergic, not to mention the teacher's attention being divided even more than usual. Sounds like she is using 'therapy dogs' as a way of avoiding paying for dog sitting.

They did.

I said if there was no one with allergies then that is ok. Apparently we can never say there is no one with allergies as allergies 'develop' meaning we can never say no one has allergies.....

I currently do not have a Maccies in front of me....but it is wrong of me to say that as it may 'develop' later.....so right now it is incorrect, I just cannot see it! Right?