Whole class punishment

[morticiiiaaddams]

Does anyone agree that whole class punishments are a crap and unjust way to deal with just some children misbehaving in the class?

My 8 year old has been upset many times recently because apparently the teacher is shouting a lot in class, and when some children aren't listening or doing what they should the whole class loses time off break time or choosing time on a Friday.

I've bitten my tongue and said see how it goes, but I feel like it's the last straw tonight. They've brought several certificates home saying what a great job they've done on various subjects , yet they are stressed to blazes because they are worried what will happen tomorrow if other kids don't behave again. Why are children who work hard and behave being punished because of other children?

Why not reward the children who are doing as they are asked, and take away from those who aren't?

I don't want to be that parent. I get that teaching is hard especially at the moment, but I can't let my poor kid keep feeling anxious and deflated because no matter what they do they are at the mercy of other kids when it comes to class treats and getting their full break time.

My child would be distraught. They find it hard enough if the whole class is told off. I would forget it if it was very occasional but not if my child was getting constantly stressed about it. It is absolutely unfair and demotivating and I would definitely be “that parent”. We don’t accept the concept of collective punishment for adults, it’s really not on to impose it on kids.

Whole class punishments are counterproductive imo. I was 'that parent' and objected to them, on the grounds that they teach kids that no matter how well they behave they'll be treated the same as kids who don't.

Id object (and did when an hlta did this more than once. It really isnt our schools' policy.)

This has such an effect on some of the other children and mine would have been anxious too.

Thank you for reassuring me that I'm not being over sensitive I will ask for a chat about it and find out what's going on.

I don't doubt that kids can exaggerate or over think things, but they are frequently getting upset about the mood in class and the worry that they will miss out because of other kids.

I’m a secondary teacher and agree, whole class punishments are rubbish unless it genuinely is the whole class which is rarely the case.

It's not acceptable for teachers to shout at children - if email the head, copying the chair of governors and lodge a formal complaint so it's documented and if they don't do anything then escalate to offstead

No child should be subjected to that and children that are struggling or don't engage for whatever reason will not respond to being shouted at

Speak to the head. Whole class punishments are completely inappropriate and can lead to bullying as well as stress and upset. They are a shit and lazy solution for a teacher who can't be bothered.

Ds is autistic and really struggled with this because he knows he has done nothing wrong

I could have written this about my 8 year old. His class have exactly the same thing going on at the moment. Always missing play or choosing time or something. The other day, Because of the behaviour of a few kids at break, the entire class had to spend time writing out how we behave at play time. Never mind the fact that some in that class have never once out a foot wrong in break or wouldn’t say boo to a goose. I think it’s awful

I would contact the school. We had this in year 7 with DS and he was regularly close to missing his bus due to the class being kept behind. When I contacted school I was told it wasn't school policy to do this and the teacher would be spoken to. Said teacher contacted me directly to apologise and apologised to my son in class.

It's not acceptable for teachers to shout at children - if email the head, copying the chair of governors and lodge a formal complaint so it's documented and if they don't do anything then escalate to offstead

This is rubbish advice. Sometimes shouting really is necessary.

However whole class punishments as a regular thing aren't acceptable. The only time I ever use them is if I cannot pin point the students misbehaving. This is very very rare and usually they grass each other up!

I could be wrong, but I think part of the psychological aspect of it, is so that the class will close rank to influence the behaviour of the ones misbehaving, so that they will hopefully will behave better.

I agree with contacting the school. Those who are neurodiverse may not have yet had a formal diagnosis so may be suffering in silence as it were.

Seems very unfair. Not surprised this goes on though!

If the teacher just punished the disruptive child(ren) you can bet their mum would be on here getting sympathy for her child being singled out for punishment for being disruptive even though they apparently can't help it.

It must be hard for teachers. Definitely worth pointing out the effect it has on your child though, it should be considered! And my not have occurred to the teacher what a bit impact this sort of thing has.

No, and no, and no.

My DC attended the best comp, academically in a large county.

I went to several open days before deciding; and one of the things that swayed me was how the SLT had responded to the student council (ie kids in the classrooms) complaints about how unfair and demoralising mass punishments were.

Teachers, do your job. Identify the miscreants. Deal with them, but a) don't punish all the kids, expecting the quieter, less confident kids to do your job, to 'deal with it' for you; or because b) you'll end up with a Lord of the Flies scenario.

Teachers, do your job. Identify the miscreants

Mostly this is possible and what I do. At times I don't know who has misbehaved. Either I haven't witnessed an incident, or kids are making noises when my back is turned. Those cases lead to whole class detentions while they write witness statements.

Ah. Witness statements.

I'm not sure where to go with this!

So what's your suggestion for when I havent seen something happen? Or when children are making noises when I'm writing on the board?

Can you come up with a better one?

That would (quite rightly) not be allowed at my kids school.

@Namechercanged

So what's your suggestion for when I havent seen something happen? Or when children are making noises when I'm writing on the board?

Can you come up with a better one?

If you feel you need to issue sanctions to a whole class because some of them are making noises when you're writing on the board, then I think you've lost control.

Whole class punishments are shit.
There is almost always at least one child who is doing what they should be.
"Well done for sitting nicely, David" is much more effective than telling everybody off for not sitting nicely.

If you feel you need to issue sanctions to a whole class because some of them are making noises when you're writing on the board, then I think you've lost control.

Are you joking? Or do you have no experience of teaching?

then I think you've lost control

Nope, large class sizes are difficult. Dealing with tough behaviour a lot of the time is not the same as losing control.

I think it's very unfair on the kids who are behaving. Or even the kids who weren't even in the class at the time, and were at a music lesson. That's what happened to my ed. She was in her cello lesson, came back and found out there was a whole class detention. She was furious, still makes her cross now, the injustice of it all.

Always unacceptable and indicative of poor classroom management. Why would you punish someone who has done nothing wrong?

Peer pressure and ' grassing up' are not helpful. Who are you meant to believe (once the chaos has died down and you've wasted half your lesson)?