Ramifications of teacher lying about a training course?

[kedavra]

For the past 6 months I've had the most horrendous dealings with a primary school after withdrawing my son. We have a disability discrimination tribunal next month, and have recently submitted all our evidence for the deadline.

One of the teachers has said in their statement that they have had training for the medical condition my son has.

I'm calling bullshit.

I sent a SEND7 for their response, and got a very quick response from their solicitor saying that it was a generic video so no certificate. The hospital team have confirmed that the online learning course they, and many other trusts, use is made of modules, assessments and CPD certified.

Surely this has to count as gross misconduct?

I don't get it. You think they have committed gross misconduct because they said they have had training... even though they HAVE had training?

I'm a teacher. I have had training in loads of things, usually in my own time. Sometimes it was just a one hour video.

Jesus teachers really are protected angels on this site aren't they? Can't possibly do any wrong whatsoever.

Training can mean different things though.

Watching an online video can count towards CPD even if they don't have a certificate at the end of the course.

From the little you have mentioned, they haven't lied at all. They just don't have whatever paper you think they should have to say they're an expert. Are you trying to get them sacked?

What has the teacher done wrong?

They said they did training and the op doesn't believe them. There appears to be no proof either way.

I’m a teacher in a special school and teach students with complex health needs. I’ve had training to work with the complex needs of the students I work with but in most cases I haven’t received a certificate or any qualification. I’ve had training to manage health conditions in children I teach such as epilepsy, gastrostomies, tracheostomies, oxygen, diabetes, dysphagia etc as well as training around specific conditions such as autism, Down’s syndrome or cerebral palsy but I very much doubt this is to the same standard as hospital trusts are training their staff, certainly most of my training has had no modules, assessments or CPD, in most cases it was delivered either by the school nurse, by a guest speaker during an INSET day or via online learning courses.

Unless the teacher has lied and said she has a specific qualification in the condition which you can disprove I don’t think you are likely to be able to raise this as an issue. Obviously if she mismanaged your child’s health condition or went against what was outlined in his health care plan/ risk assessment (assuming either document existed) you may be able to argue for some level of misconduct but I don’t think you can argue with the term ‘training’ as this can honestly just mean watching a video or a quick 15 minutes with the school nurse etc for teachers.

So are you saying you think the teacher HAS committed gross misconduct then? Why do you think that?

The OP is here too, but giving more info.

www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/comments/10ztz3i/ramifications_of_a_teacher_lying_about_a_training/

No-one has said this. Literally. Posters have clearly pointed out the reality of Training as it exists in schools, given the very limited information given by the OP.

Wow, a very informative posting history.

I had a feeling this was about diabetes , and if it wasn't managed properly in school, that is a massive failure of SLT. At the end of the day it's their responsibility to ensure that staff are properly trained(no ,the videos aren't enough and they state so on the slides)confident to deliver treatment and that they've read and understood the child's care plan.

Ok from looking at the information provided on the Reddit site, we're talking about diabetes.

This teacher probably had Diabetes Awareness training. That is quite standard. It likely covered what diabetes is and how it affects the person. It won't go in to great depth about medication. It won't teach how to administer medication. If the child is going to need help with managing diabetes at school that should really be the job of a nurse. If you want nonmedical people to be involved, then they will need specific one-on-one training catered towards that individual child with a strict care plan.

Scary

I'm a nurse, and that is what practically all our mandatory training is. The only way to prove you e done it is to take a screen shot of the page that shows how compliant you are with all your training. We don't get certificates for any of the courses. Which is extremely annoying if you do agency and want to transfer the training across!

Sorry, but does that mean staff can be told that it is mandatory as a teacher that they learn to test blood sugars and give insulin like humelin IM? What if the staff dont feel confident with this task?

@MichelleScarn no, it’s not and it can’t be. We are teachers, not medical professionals. I’m a secondary teacher so different because they are older, but there is supervision only. I think the standard is that you don’t administer, but obviously if you have a very young child who is type 1 that will be harder.

As an aside, and completely anecdotally, the amount of children in year 7 and 8 we have had diagnosed with type 1 diabetes this year is massive. 10 years ago it would be rare to have 1 child, this year we’ve had 6 diagnosed. I know they’re looking into a link between Covid and type 1 so the issue of this in schools might become more prevelant.

Pleased to read that @PotteringAlonggotkickedoutandhadtoreregister
Had opened thread at daft o'clock due to insomnia and thought 'bloody hell what next for teachers to be landed with!'

we've had the same surge in young teens with diabetes, and the same questions about whether it is covid related.

"Training" consists of knowing when to send to the office, or when to call a first aider.

Actually, most "training" about diabetes isnt for individuals with a diabetes diagnosis at all, it is about being aware that we may have undiagnosed cases, and need to be monitoring children's locations in the school more carefully now than ever before, someone missing from assembly now isnt a truant to be dealt with later, but a potentially unconscious person needing to be found immediately

I think there is a real difficulty here in that schools have to provide reasonable adjustments, they have to provide access to education to everyone and they have to be able to provide care when needed.

BUT

if you are in a mainstream setting and that involves complex medical care (which type 1 diabetes can be) then it relies on trained teachers who are, by definition, not trained medical professionals being willing to do that care.

i would refuse, because of the legal implications if it goes wrong. But everyone can’t refuse, because schools are legally obliged to keep those children safe and have them in school. And schools cannot afford to pay medically trained professionals to be in school with them.

I don’t actually know the answer. I think the scary thing is that there probably isn’t one. Everyone just muddles along and hopes it will be fine. And, in the main, it is. Until it isn’t. And then parents sue you.

Oh, it's about diabetes.

Interesting. We had "training" about diabetes (similar to that the teacher in this case seems to have had) but the parent wanted us to physically attend sessions at the local authority in order to medically intervene if her child had a problem.

The union was called and the parent's request/complaint didn't get further than that. Conclusion: we are teachers not medical professionals (as many on this thread have said) People like the OP would have us in the Tower awaiting the guillotine if, heaven forbid, we did intervene and something went wrong.

The student is still with us. Designated first aiders are called if necessary (hasn't been in the four years I've had the class) and take the appropriate action.

@kedavra your energy may be best suited to helping your child understand their condition, its restrictions, and ultimately their own responsibility for dealing with it.

We have a child with diabetes in my primary school. Our office staff are trained up to test his blood sugars etc. This means that there is consistency in his care and it’s not being done by someone who also has 29 other children in the room.

@PotteringAlonggotkickedoutandhadtoreregister

Actually, you can refuse, and we did. The designated first aider gets the students medication out of the fridge, the student medicates themselves. The emergency services are called. Nobody touches the child, nobody gives the medicine. It's what our union and the LA ruled with our case.

If the case is so severe, and I appreciate it can be (we have another student- same class actually) with a very complex condition, and specific different protocols are in place for him. (including things like his desk is near the door, his classroom is nearest the big exit and carpark that the ambulance would drive into, a teacher as designated communication between school/family etc etc)

As a support member of staff in primary schools I have dealt with many diabetic children. They all have different kit, needs, checks etc. Each time just 15 mins instruction was spent with a nurse and a parent, no accreditation. But in each case, a parent was on the end of a phone if there were any doubts about levels and completely supportive.

It's pretty widespread for schools to claim that their staff have all sorts of specialisms, only to discover they have merely watched a video or been to a talk on it. A 'certificate of attendance' for a basic introductory course aimed at unqualified support staff isn't worth claiming as extra provision; it's what every teaching assistant should have.

Those of us with undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in SEN often end up being given various condescending and facile 'training' by such people, ironically.

A teaching assistant at my grandchild's school listed herself as a 'Specialist Therapist in Therapy' on the school website. She's the last person you'd want a vulnerable child to be talking to, she's a total gossip!

You sound like a bully.

Are you trying to hound the teacher out of their job? Make them have a breakdown?

I think the OP sounds more like a distressed and frightened mother rather than a bully - I agree her expectations are unreasonable and her attitude unconstructive, but I doubt bullying is the source of this sad state of affairs