To want action taken against the teacher?

[Shewhojuggles]

My DD is in y6 and yesterday her teacher threw a book at her in front of the whole class and told her that her work isn't good enough. She came home upset.

The teacher has apologised to her and the Head Teacher has too and said it won't happen again. AIBU to want further action taken? She's demeaned DD in front of her peers and broken the trust that a child (and me) should have in the teacher and her duty of care. I'm absolutely livid

Why is that the question BravePotato?

My old chemistry teacher frisbeed an exercise book at me when I was doing my GCSEs and pointed out to me (and the rest of the class) what a load of rubbish my homework was, I was mortified and very embarrassed. He was right though, said work was a heap of shite that I had done at the last minute. Can’t say I enjoyed the experience but I made bloody sure that I did not hand in anything as substandard as that again. A few weeks later he frisbeed my exercise book at me again and congratulated me in front of the class on an excellent bit of home work while advising me (and the rest of the class) "what can be achieved when you put your mind to it". I was delighted.

I know things have moved on a bit since I was at school but the teacher concerned has apologised as well as the head, not sure what further action you expect. I can also pretty much guarantee the head would have given the teacher a bollocking and they will not be throwing anything again anytime soon.

Let it go and move on, if you pursue it further you will come across as being as making a mountain out of a molehill and drowning in victimhood. They did not throw a brick at your daughter.

It's not unheard of for teachers to throw books for students to catch as opposed to throwing it to hurt them, they also throw books onto desks so the question is what sort of throw was it. Take the comments about the standard of work out of the equation entirely.

Personally I think that staff should be subject to disciplinary action for throwing things at students, and particularly their own work.

She's there to motivate, for gods sake.

The head should also consider extra training or mentoring or something, because that level of stress (and in September too!) indicates poor skills or self control.

Would YOU all be happy for your bosses or doctors or whatever to throw things at you? No, thought not.

As other posters have said, it really depends if it was thrown at her and hit her or thrown on the desk.

IMO throwing anything is wrong, but also if it wasn't deliberately intended to hurt your daughter then it's not so much of an issue. If it was something like a heavy book and hit her/hurt her then yes, further action is really required and that would be assault.

Telling kids their work isn't good enough in a classroom is normal though. If both teacher and head have apologised, unless your daughter was hurt, there's not much you can do about it, sorry.

Would YOU all be happy for your bosses or doctors or whatever to throw things at you?

No Greenrememberedhills, of course not. However, if my boss AND her boss had apologised about it, then I wouldn't be calling for any further action to be taken.

You won't be told if the teacher has had "action taken against her" - she could have been given a formal warning, put on an action plan, signed up for retraining - but you cannot be party to those details, so the apology is all you will ever receive, along with the reassurance from the head.
If you are not satisfied with that outcome, you can report the incident to the police as assault, who will investigate.

There's no "middle ground" - the assumption is that you trust "the school" to deal with issues appropriately, and if you don't, then criminal Law is your only option.

@ Greenrememberedhills

You are right, I think the teacher should actually be sacked, evicted from her home, blacklisted from entering the classroom again and for good measure tarred and feathered and made to walk around the playground in chains. Perhaps the OP should call some ambulance chasing personal injury lawyers as well, bankrupt the local education authority with some whiplash and Post Traumatic Stress compensation claim. That should do the trick.

Btw hidden I laughed so hard at your comment

As a teacher I find that sounds like an incredibly bad offence. The rules in schools nowadays with regards language / action / discipline are so rigid- I do not think you would be unreasonable to take further action.

So are we talking a book, or an exercise book?

When we say "throw", do we mean the teacher kind of lobbed it back at the student in exasperation at how bad her work was, or threw it at her head with malicious intent? The context is very important.

Obviously, if it's the latter, then the teacher, quite rightly, has been subject to the disciplinary procedure and the matter should end there. If it's the former, then I doubt it's the first, or last time it's happened in a school.

Good luck with sorting her poor work out. Is her work substandard generally, or just for this teacher? Do you think he was cross because she is capable of better and mucks around? What has he said in the past about her work?

Nope, Green, I wouldn't be happy.

I would expect an apology and an assurance that it wouldn't happen again...

Xpost with a million other people, slooooooow internet today!

Are you sure she didn't just throw the book down on the table rather than at your daughter?

I'm not saying it was right - even to throw the book down on the table, but teachers are human and maybe she'd had a tough day and maybe your child was cheeking her and being precocious confident and the teacher could be under a lot of stress.
(I bet there's a lot your child has left out)

Do you really want to ruin somebody's career over something like this?

Kids can be dramatic. Did she thow, or did she throw the book?

Either way, I'd be saying "the way she got the message across was clearly wrong, however if it wasn't good enough then you need to pull your socks up"

Like so many others have said, I think it depends totally on context.

I'm a teacher and have 'thrown' a book at a pupil (kind of frisbee style across the table, no chance of any injury but enough to show my annoyance) while telling him his work wasn't good enough and (importantly!) that if he wasn't willing to read and take on board feedback I'd given him previously then I wasn't going to mark his work. I deliberately chose public criticism then because sooooo many other tactics hadn't worked with him.

On the opposite end of the spectrum , if this is a pupil who usually works hard and has made a single mistake then she obviously wouldn't expect a hard back book (for example) to be thrown at her head (for example).

What sort of throw? I've tossed things down on to a desk at work when trying to get things done, or was it literally thrown across the classroom?

yabvu. u got apology from teacher and head. I'd be inclined to move on to addressing the issues / causes of her poor work.

If she threw a book AT your dd then an apology wouldn't cut it (for me).

If she threw the book on the table then I'd let it go with the apolgy.

Apolgy??

Apology.

Hmm but we don't know if the teacher has been 'submitted to disciplinary procedure' here. What the OP says is that the teacher and HT have apologised to her (and her dd?) which is very different.

As far as I am concerned what has happened when 'we were children' doesn't matter. It us unacceptable now and that's the end of it.
What I would want to know is if the dd had some issues with the teacher before, if the teacher tends to tell a lot anyway etc. how is the teacher coping with the class?
There can be a huge number of reasons why a teacher would react like this. The dd nit pulling her socks up is NOT a good enough reason. But she can have issues going on herself, the class being hard to handle, pressure at the school due to OFSTED. IMO that's up the the ht to sort out but communication with the patents would help.

Hmm but we don't know if the teacher has been 'submitted to disciplinary procedure' here. What the OP says is that the teacher and HT have apologised to her (and her dd?) which is very different.

But that's all the OP will ever know - she will never be party to any action that may be taken by the school.

It comes down to trust. If she trusts the school to deal with the situation appropriately based on all the facts, or not.
And if not, then there are bigger issues than whether the book was thrown at or in front of, her DD.

I understand your desire to want "more" done but I do think that an apology that included an undertaking that it would not happen again is good - and a good starting place for things getting better.

The forward looking questions look more important. How has it/is it affecting your DD's relationship with the teacher? Does your DD feel intimidated or inhibited about going to the teacher for help, advice, explanations? Are there real work issues that need to be looked at and does your DD need particular support in some area?

If your DD does need some extra help or support of some kind then it's going to turn out a lot better if a working or even good relationship with the teacher can be resurrected. If the teacher and Head were completely ready to apologise then hopefully you would be pushing at an open door in terms of their readiness to meet you more than half way to make sure that your DD knows the school is fundamentally on her side and only wants the best for her.

But if you push for a pound of flesh then it's hard to see how the teaching/learning dynamic will flourish - so it could do more harm than good in terms of DD's progression through the year. And anyway - the school may well have internal disciplinary procedures that they are using - it wouldn't be appropriate for them to share these details with parents - even one whose DD was involved in one incident. It's still the outcome of a happy classroom where your DD can thrive that you are after.