So why was the "my DD is being used as an unpaid TA" thread deleted then?

[CabbageLooking]

Looked reasonably innocuous when I posted.... Did it descend into fisticuffs?

I'm guessing it had something to do with the way some children were referred to :-(

Dunno. Some people seemed to be getting offended although I couldn't see why. Although I left the thread in the afternoon so may have missed a kicking off later on.

There were some slightly insensitive references to SEN which were stomped on quite firmly but why the deletion? (I am also sulking that no-one took any notice of my excellent post about how teaching is the best way to learn).

Why don't you ask MNHQ rather than starting another thread about it.

They'll have emailed you.

There's a thought folkgirl. I shall do just that.

Seemed fine to me. Some posts were "off" but the majority of posts were interesting and informative. Why not delete the "off" posts and leave the thread?

It's infuriating to spend time thinking about what to say that will add to the debate and to follow it with interest only for it to disappear because a few people took exception to it for no good reason.

Full of good ideas, me

I was debating a strop to MNHQ about this too!

There was lots of well reasoned argument on the thread about balancing teaching be an excellent way to learn, against other DCs being used to cover up for poor SEN support.

Less able children need more time with their class teacher, not brighter pupils, not parent helpers or even TAs.

children do worse with classroom assistents

Certainly this was true for DD1, who's teacher didn't monitor whether her TA sessions were improving her literacy. They weren't, cue massive panic in run up to SATs

they do seem to be very trigger happy with the delete button on here. But then I don't understand the running to mummy thing and telling either. Some of the things people use the report tool for are eyerolling.. Debate your point like a grown up ffs!

The hot sports day one has gone as well and it took ages to help with a letter to the head.

cabbagelooking is right teaching is a superb way to learn if explaining something to DCs of similar ability, I've done a tremendous amount of it being a slightly better scientist than my peers. DF ended up becoming a maths teacher after helping us all through school,

The problem is 'ad hoc' help for SEN DCs to often turns into doing the work for them, if the correct monitoring isn't in place.

If a few posts are near the bone MNHQ should delete just those posts, very lazy moderating to pull the whole thread.

And yes I have, once, asked for a thread that was purely there for bitching to be pulled.

I was wondering this too!

Hello there

Thanks for drawing our attention to this one. For those who don't know, you're very welcome to post threads like this in Site Stuff - we check that topic regularly and will respond to queries posted in there.

We're sorry if we were unclear last night; it was a busy night on site and the MNHQer on duty took the view that there were too many disablist posts stacking up on the thread, and zapped it for that reason.

On looking at it again this morning, we should actually have zapped it sooner because of disablism in the OP - specifically, the implication that children with special educational needs are 'difficult' pupils who require 'a good influence', and that it is a 'punishment' for neuro-typical children to be placed in a group with them.

We're sure the OP didn't mean it to come across in this way (and this may well be how the information was presented to her by the teacher), but nevertheless this and some other posts were fairly clear examples of disablism, which is against our Talk Guidelines.

We're really sorry that this meant zapping posts that people had put a lot of thought into. We have kept a copy of the thread, and we'll go through it to see whether some of the material will be useful for the myth-busting element of our upcoming campaign 'This Is My Child', which will deal - among other things - with the anxieties expressed by some parents about how mainstream schools go about teaching children with and without SEN alongside each other.

Trust this explains our reasoning a bit better, and apologies for being a bit unclear last night.

MNHQ

See, my problem with that..is how are you supposed to squash ignorance if people aren't allowed to talk about what makes them feel uncomfortable?

SOME people don't understand and are uncomfortable by special needs kids.. they should be allowed to talk about it and have people help them understand better. Not deleted swiftly as if they've done something wrong.

and before anybody tuts.. I do have a special needs kid but I'm all for people being allowed to talk about something they don't understand.. even if it means they use words they don't know are acceptable. Yanno.. education!

There are those who need education and there are those who are deliberately trying to provoke... it's not hard to tell the difference imo.

I think the issue is that it shouldn't be down to parents of children with SN to 'educate' the ignorant. The onus should never be on the victims of bigotry and their families to educate the bigots.

Gamer... That used to be the approach but there came a point when SN patents were no longer benefiting from MN as they spent all their time 'educating' and often getting flamed for their trouble.

Gamerchick makes an excellent point. I found that thread really informative and MN in general has educated me a great deal about children with SEN. I am disappointed it has been deleted. Far too much censorship in my opinion.

It might educate some but can you imagine how it feels for some parents to read page after page of people dismissing children like theirs as disruptive and thick?

I can only imagine it is soul destroying but I'd like to think that the vocal dismissive ones are in the minority and the quiet being educated ones in the majority.

Would you expect openly racist posts to be allowed to stand? Disablism is a growing problem and I'm pleased that MN no longer require people to put up with it.

Thanks for zapping it RowanMumsnet it was a horrible thread and an unpleasant OP.

I guess not Spikey.

I'm all for education.

You ask me what children with SN need in the classroom to succeed and I'll answer.

You ask me what children with SN need to feel included by their peers and I'll answer.

You ask me what their parents need to feel supported by parents of NT children and I'll answer.

You ask me how Teaching Assistants can support children with SN instead of making them dependent on them and I'll answer.

You ask me what Teachers can do to make children with SN thrive and I'll answer.

You ask me what steps can be taken to make sure children with SN don't disrupt the education and learning of NT children and I'll answer.

You tell me that my child is a burden on the poor NT children who have to share her airspace? Forget it.

Well said lougle!