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.

Teaching students who chose not to listen en masse is an agonising hell on earth and surely there are many readers here thinking ‘there for the grace of God.’

I remember when we were about 17 ( 1992ish) , a long suffering teacher who was a nice enough guy and passionate about his subject ... but for some reason had zero control of any class, punched one of the boys....

I have eternal respect for the fella he punched who didnt escalate it and just said he deserved it . He didnt deserve it but the teacher was unable to control a class and was as a result effectively bullied day after day by the students...

Feel v sorry for a teacher stuck teaching when they can't control a class.. and feel sorry for their students too!

Since teacher is back so quickly the reality is he probably just scraped the chair on the floor and kids have made it he threw the chair. Kids in school exaggerated a lot.

No, he threw the chair. I was surprised too.

I feel sorry for your son, as he’s anxious, and you. He sounds like a good kid. You are well within your rights to question this/complain/move your child elsewhere.

However, teachers have to deal with verbal and physical abuse and children throwing chairs and trashing rooms with minimal consequences. I’m actually surprised more don’t have outbursts like this. Behaviour and workloads are appalling, more are walking day by day.

Who has verified this? The school officially? Or “parent has said they have been told this”?

Yes I've posted this evening that the school has confirmed it happened.
I mean I am the parent who has said I have been told this , I suppose ! I haven't spoken to other parents about it today.

Surprised at how many posters are excusing a man in position of authority displaying aggressive behaviours in front of children because they 'pushed him to that point'. Sure.

Yes Year 9s can be challenging and teaching in a state school pushes the best of us to burnout and breaking point. But come on, this is clearly not okay at all.

Odellio

You are correct in that it is not "OK"

But we should also recognise the cause and how school managment, if done properly, would have prevented this from happening.

That is absolutely insane (if accurate) and I'd least ring in and ask to know what happened. I would be very, very surprised if a teacher actually threw a chair in the classroom and got to carry on teaching.

No-one "controls" a class. People control themselves. Even 13yo people.
The OP says the kids were talking, and that's all. If you are the teacher in whose classes kids chat, it's not actually personal. It's because they figure that what they need to say to each other is more important. The teachers whose classes the kids pay attention in are those who teach something the kids value. Year 11 maths tends to be quiet. Year 8 is worst for chatting because building friendships is higher priority than non-exam information acquisition.
If the chairs were on the table, the teacher was trying to interrupt conversations at the start or end of the day. He can't be working with kids.

It's more than chat... we ve all been in clsses that have effectively turned into battle grounds where the teacher can't manage the students and the students bully the teacher... I certainly was in many in my teens....
It's why I teach primary not secondary , i wouldnt be able for teens and i really love my job teachingyounger kids... but i have had bad days particularly as a new teacher and I can sympathise with teachers who are drowning in the classroom environment. Suppose they need to change career, i would, ...... the movie Bad apples and show Adolescence give a sense of what some teachers are facing

Thats pretty bad op.

I am pretty surprised male physical violence is being waved away even if it is a revered teacher.

I understand what you are saying, and of course the declining behaviour in many state schools is putting a lot of stress on teachers, hence so many leaving the profession. But OP says "It is a nice school with generally high standards of behaviour, although my son said lots of the class were very chatty." This doesn't sound like a school with poor senior management if the general culture is that of high standards for behaviour. I don't agree that the children or the senior leaders are to blame for a man who cannot regulate his own emotions and resorts to aggressive behaviours.

I am not holding anyone responsible for the teacher's actions other than the teacher.

But I have heard (and experienced) what it is like in schools, even the "good" ones.

Far too many teachers are left with no backing from HTs and SLTs, that the pupils were asked to be quiet and weren't is evidence that the class isn't bothered about any repercusions or sanctions. This is an attitude that is allowed to develop by managment not supporting staff.

"It is a nice school with generally high standards of behaviour, although my son said lots of the class were very chatty."

"Generally" is doing a lot of lifting it that statement.

Far too many Heads etc forget that they also have a repsonsiblity for the health and wellbeing of the staff in the school.

I left teaching after 7 years as I couldn’t handle the behaviour of some of the awful kids. This and the lack of support from managemenl, plus the constant scrutiny made me very ill.

I wish teachers were more respected, if I thought my children behaved the way some of my previous students did, I’d be devastated

glad the teacher is getting some support.

Everyone will know about this and things will be happening behind the scenes you don't see. Kids do exaggerate, but any pyysical act and loss of temper are taken seriously so the incident will be under investigation. Usually the teacher would be absent so I'm surprised still present.

My dd old maths teacher started to cry then he ran out the classroom due to the bad behaviour. I found that heartbreaking to hear.

As parents we really need to ask ourselves and our friends who are parents. What kind of children we are raising and what we are doing wrong.

I agree. I have sympathy for someone who has reached the end of their tether and can’t control their emotions but I don’t want them teaching my kid because they are clearly unable to manage the job.

Yeah I mean I have absolutely cried in the stationery cupboard-office out of sight of the kids from horrendous behaviour including shouting in my face and a door physically slammed into me. But I have never ever even thought to pick something up and throw it. I would be calling in.

Edit we literally chose not to hire one of two mat leave candidates, the one who had the better subject knowledge, because he was ratty and irritable with the students in an interview lesson (!) and while being observed. Over nothing as well, tiny bit of talking and two students next to each other had similar names so he accused them of winding him up - and didn't use the seating plan provided. Imagine if he'd come across actually challenging behaviour.

I has a colleague who did similar - but he did throw a chair - it wasn’t aimed at any one student (they were Year 7sin a nice school and were actually a nice class too!)
He was suspended whilst it was all investigated - and was off for around 10 months in the end (paid).
The students in the class never talked about it at
all
He returned - and is still there many years later!
He had to have anger management classes during this time - I know he had been under stress (baby twins and a sudden unexpected close family bereavement) but agree with others that this can’t be an excuse

Our maths teacher did this too, at the time everyone just laughed and the teacher picked it up and I don’t think anyone would have even thought it would have been newsworthy enough to tell their parents but looking back now it could have killed someone as they were solid wood. Thankfully we’ve moved on from the eighty’s

We had one of those in my youth-theatre teacher and full of drama. Threw erasers mainly but a chair a few times, his cane and once his glass eye. Lots of students liked him but I don't look back at that class fondly.

His replacement was oddly worse and got involved with a student.

In both cases, there is no excuse.

Has anyone tried teaching year 9s on a Monday morning or seen a teacher trying to? Kids push teachers buttons. They do and likely not your dc but they really take an age settling down to simply aggravate. Back in the day that would be so minor with hair tugging, tripping pupils up, throwing of whatever item was near the teacher’s hand and just lobbing it. It was a normal day and honestly it just washed over us. One day our French teachers just fell backwards in her chair, legs up in the air and we all just sat there waiting for her next move at us. She didn’t make another move as she had died. Phew no more blackboard implements thrown from her.

Thousands of teachers around the country do this week in week out without throwing chairs around the classroom. No one’s saying kids can’t be complete arses. They obviously frequently are. Doesn’t make a violent act okay.