I'm a TA in a unit for teenagers who have been excluded from school AMA

[BitchyHen]

I've worked in a key stage 4 pupil referral unit for the last 7 years. People often ask questions about my job - after they have told me they couldn't do it. So I thought I'd make a thread if anyone's interested.

Do you think schools are too quick to exclude, or too slow?

Do you feel you get good outcomes considering and help turn pupils around, or is it more containment?

Do you get physically threatened regularly?

In my area schools are too quick to exclude. Our LA has one of the highest fixed term exclusion rates in England and Wales, which is probably due to most schools being academies. Our outcomes are not as good as they could be, but most of our students leave with GCSEs or functional skills qualifications and go on to college, work or a training provider.

I think we do help them to deal with what holds them back, eg. appropriate ways to deal with anger, assessing them for dyslexia or referring to other agencies like CAMHS.

I don't get threatened regularly, it has happened occasionally, but when you know the young person, you realise that mostly they are not serious threats, but a way of displaying their anger/fear/frustration at a situation.

Why do you think the schools should do with disruptive pupils?

Do most of the kids come from chaotic families

Is there hope for them ??

I bloody hope there is

Do you think the kind of intervention that you do would have been better done when your pupils were much younger? Or have they a history of repeat exclusions?

I'd like to see more intervention at an earlier stage. Many of my students have difficulty reading and writing, however screening and support is expensive and out of the reach of most mainstream schools. A lot have poor mental health, so I'd like funding put into services like CAMHS. Many have also suffered abuse/neglect, witnessed domestic violence, or been exploited or sexually abused. More social workers and specialist counseling would help. However I am realistic about the funding situation for schools and other services.

I think that academies can be too quick to exclude without getting to the root of why a student is misbehaving. In my area pastoral staff have been replaced by behavior managers, whose role can be to gather evidence to support a permanent exclusion rather than support the staff and student to improve behavior.

I've heard some shocking stories of schools excluding by the back door by encouraging parents to deregister their child from school and home educate. I'm one case a parent who was illiterate was tricked into signing the paperwork.

What proportion of your children end up in the criminal justice system?

I suppose I wonder whether finding school a challenge behaviourally also reflects a problem with behaviour out of school or if it is school specific.

What is the one single thing that makes the biggest difference to them when they get to your unit?

Have you ever come across a pupil for whom there were no mitigating circumstances to excuse the poor behaviour?

Ie came from a good background, no mental health issues, no SEN, no bereavement trauma etc?

Stop - a lot of them do come from chaotic families, but most of those parents are trying their best. Sometimes the parents are just worn down by the poor behavior of their child and the constant complaints and criticism that can come from mainstream school. We try to build a lot of positive interaction between school and home so that we have a good relationship when we have to talk about poor behavior. We try to support parents as well and will refer them to other agencies for support and encourage them to seek help.

I always worry the kids will lead each other astray. Do they?

Panda - I'm not sure exactly, but when I was shown figures a few years ago, the numbers involved in the criminal justice system were split pretty evenly between victims and perpetrators.

Martha - I would say it is that we have a very high staff to student ratio. I see everyone every day so I know if they are unhappy, unsettled or angry. As a TA I can spend some time talking with them and giving them the opportunity to be heard. Even if I can't fix the situation, they know that someone cares about their welfare and happiness which is really important.

Assassin - I can only think of a few, sometimes those children have everything they want in terms of material posessions, but what they really want is the time and attention of a parent. Behaving badly gets them lots of attention, which is very rewarding. Also some young people find behaving badly fun, and it gains you a lot of kudos from your peers.

What do these kids need?
What do they respond best to?
How are anger issues treated?
How many are boys in comparison to girls?
Do you think a lot of them are misdiagnosed anxiety/adhd or misunderstood ?

NC4Now - sometimes they do lead each other astray. We have had a spate of silly pranks at break times where they have egged each other on. More seriously we have had concerns that children involved in CSE may groom others. We do have specialist social workers we can contact about this.

What happens if a pupil is also excluded from your unit?
What kinds of incidents would you exclude for?

What do these kids need?
Someone to listen to them and offer support. Diagnosis of conditions that may affect their learning or behavior. Specialist support where it is available.

What do they respond best to?
Kindness and relentless positivity. Most of them have really low self esteem and constantly expect to be rejected. In fact they will deliberately push people
away to test them.

How are anger issues treated?

A lot of talking. After an incident we go through a reflection process to help them understand the emotion behind the action. More specialist anger management is needed.I would like to do some more training on anger management.

How many are boys in comparison to girls?

Mostly boys. About 20 boys to each girl. Interestingly the year we had a lot of girls, the behaviour in the unit was a lot more volatile.

Do you think a lot of them are misdiagnosed anxiety/adhd or misunderstood?
Yes. A lot of anxiety is displayed as anger.It's thinly disguised fear. Many of them have undiagnosed ASD, or social and communication issues. These young people have often managed fine at primary school but really struggle at secondary.

I have a lot of contact through work with young people with alcohol, drug or criminal behaviours. Exclusions and so on.

What I've noticed is how able and capable they are compared to cosseted young people. And funny, so funny.

What strengths do your young people have? What are their unrecognized assets?

Can I just say you sound amazing OP, and just what these troubled young people need. Thank you for you hard work

It must be a challenging job, but must be so rewarding to be able to turn some of these young people around. Life changing stuff.

What happens if a pupil is also excluded from your unit?
What kinds of incidents would you exclude for?
We do use fixed term exclusion for violence, threats, or deliberate damage to property
If a young person does not settle down and modify the behaviour we do use alternative provision. This can be for a short or longer term placement. Our students don't really like to go to alternative provision as we are on a good site with lots of facilities, and the alternative provisions are smaller buildings with fewer options for lessons (mostly just English and maths) These students remain on our roll and we are still responsible for their progress.
If none of this works, we can ask the local authority to find a place for the student elsewhere. This has only happened once in the time I have worked at the PR U and was due to a serious threat to use a weapon.

Just to say, TAs make a huge difference because you have the time to talk and listen. My son has a specialist LSA and she has literally changed his life.

What strengths do your young people have? What are their unrecognized assets?

Their negotiation skills are amazing. Many of them have a fantastic work ethic, and are enterprising eg. Setting up their own gardening or dog walking business. They have a strong idea of respect, and although they are not always respectful, they will pull each other up if they think it is needed. For example I'd a student is rude to me, there will be a little chorus of "don't be harsh"
They are so quick witted and funny, they make me laugh so much.

Sealsong - It is an amazing job. It is incredibly intense, rewarding and challenging in equal measures. The whole staff team are brilliant, so supportive. I often have to offload stuff before I go home and I do the same for them. We try to celebrate the small successes and stay positive.

Thank you Martha, making a difference is why I do the job.