Teacher throwing a chair

[Brilliance6]

My son is at secondary school in year 9. On Monday this week his teacher lost his temper in the classroom and threw a chair towards the class. It didn't hit or harm anyone. It is a nice school with generally high standards of behaviour, although my son said lots of the class were very chatty. My son is quite an anxious boy and was shaken up.
He is back at work today and taught my child. I feel really unhappy about this and would like to know what you would do/ contact you might make with the school.

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic here or not. 🤔

Ok, but you were saying throwing a chair "wouldn't bother you" and that if a child did that it would be seen as "normal", implying it seemed that we should see a teacher doing it as normal too.

I was just pointing out that surely we expect more from adults in a position of authority than we do of children who are still at school? Whatever the frustrations the teacher is facing - & yes children should behave and stop talking etc etc - IF (and it is an if) the teacher did do this then it's not ok.

Either this teacher thinks his behaviour is acceptable and a good way to manage the situation, or, he lost it.

I assume he lost it which means he is not capable of managing the demands of his job and he needs support to improve or he needs to find another job.

I can't think of a more frustrating job than trying to teach a class of kids who don't want to listen but that's why I am not a teacher.

1. Teachers shouldn’t throw furniture.
2. Kids who drive a teacher to the brink (as it seems your kids class did) need to be properly bollocked.

Personally I hope the teacher is ok. And maybe the kids have been shocked into actually doing as they are told and shutting the hell up.

Having heard about how kids often behave in schools these days, and how teachers are given no effective tools to discipline them, I am unable to muster up outrage.

What would be an effective tool to discipline them do you think?

It's good to know that as adults if we are really pushed to whatever limits by whatever source, we have this option.

God, we are pushing our teachers to breaking point. He shouldn’t have done it but I still feel quite sorry for him.

Id request a meeting and if that wasn't forthcoming (as they dont tend to be in secondary school) put in a formal complaint via the correct process - using the word "allegedly" of course. Just give a word for word account of what you have been told by your DS and let them know you are very concerned and would like a response by X date (whatever their timescale is).

The lack of suspension wouldnt tell me much, now it has to be an absolute last resort and only if its reasonably believed there is an ongoing risk or a risk of any investigation being tampered with. the bar is extremely high, so it is very possible this happened as reported.

If found to be true I would assume hed be dismissed as gross misconduct. Teachers absolutely cannot throw chairs in classrooms.

Alturantively the teacher should be given support by the management that protects his mental health and wellbeing so that it never gets to this stage.

This is a failure which is happening in many schools as the HTs, SLT and governors have forgotten that they also have a legal obligation to the health and wellbeing of their staff.

Not just the pupils.

And once again the OP needs to find out what actually happened in the class.

Threw it or shoved it ?
My art teacher once threw a chalk eraser at me. Nobody did a thing. Nobody said a thing. Mind, some teddy boys from the school came and locked her in her art cupboard. We all just sat there listening to her thumping on the door to be let out.
Meanwhile the teddy boys were trying to hang a schoolboy on a very old fashioned netball post. They were unsuccessful.
Things have improved I guess, but if the teacher threw the chair, he is not cut out for teaching.

I agree the teacher was out of order but in schools children throw chairs all the time.

(I mean this as a genuine question)

So?

I am really confused why you think this is not your business. If your kids were at a different school, sure stop being nosy, but your child was physically in the classroom. You need to understand what the consequences are, if the teacher is getting the support he needs and how you can be assured this won’t happen again.

This sounds exactly like my school
growing. It was insane. Classes were wild though I don’t really know how teachers coped

And?
No reason why a teacher, an adult in a position of authority, should be doing the same thing!

So, surprisingly, the deputy head rang me after I emailed today.
From what I understood, there were two chairs stacked on a table. The class were annoying him and he lifted a chair by the leg and threw it down to the floor, some way, ahead of him, while shouting. That's what the deputy agreed happened. They said the staff member is under some stress and they are supporting that. I said I am worried about my child and his friends if the teacher's reaction to stress is rage. The deputy said they have no concerns.
I am obviously very sorry for this teacher that he is suffering from stress and whatever support he is getting is none of my business. I actually did appreciate how open they were on the phone but I don't think it is the right choice to bring this man back to work.

Right. So as suspected, no chair throwing.

?
Yes, he lifted up a chair and threw it. Which is what I said had happened.

Has he admitted this?

It’s not ok to push a chair off the table but what were the kids doing to goad him into it? I think there is blame on both sides here. The kids have obviously refused to listen which is not acceptable behaviour and he has pushed the chair of the table - also not acceptable. He then took himself out of the room presumably to calm himself down.

i would hope he is being supported by SLT because he is clearly under a great deal of stress and maybe needs extra support on disciplining particularly disrespectful classes. He should not be back in class yet in my opinion as he won’t have recovered that fast.

the kids hopefully have had a shock and a realisation that their behaviour and lack of respect does have an impact on others and hopefully actually listen in future. However, this is doubtful, some kids delight in goading teachers and will probably just mock him for it.

its a shame for the kids in the class that were behaving to witness this and was probably quite scary. I wouldn’t be happy for the teacher to be back quite so soon either

I don't know what he's said or not said, but I know the deputy said he threw the chair towards the class. I assume he's admitted it but that's something I wouldn't know.

Back in the day we had a teacher who threw a heavy blackboard rubber at children who weren't listening, no damage done and they did wake up and listen. Not sure how teachers are meant to instil discipline these days it sounds pretty much impossible.

I had a teacher throw a chair at us when I was in primary school and I remember being afraid. But it was a sign that he was very stressed, I even understood that as a younger child.

I was at school in the 50s and 60s , teachers throwing things was a regular thing . The teacher sounds seriously stressed . It will be being dealt with by the school and he was obviously suspended for the 2 days .

Nothing in the world would Persuade me to be a teacher with the behaviour of children these days especially as teachers hands are tied as far as discipline is concerned .

I am obviously very sorry for this teacher that he is suffering from stress and whatever support he is getting is none of my business.**

As this is likely to be a response to the bahaviour of the pupil in the school and teh reaction to it from management + all the other crap that is piled onto teachers.

You really should be bothered as it is a reflection of the school, its ethos and how well it is working.