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

What more would you like (beyond the apology)?

Was the book intended to hit the child or did it land near the child on her desk or the floor? In other words "at the child" was in the child's vicinity and the throw was more like "to" rather than "at" the child. What words did the teacher use to say the work wasn't good enough?

OP hasn't been back unless OP changed to some other name. Without answers to last I have no idea what to think.

ps: I think I'd be impressed that a teacher was that passionate about the standard of work her pupils obtain.

But I was cool Damn. I've never lost my cool with a pupil I've taught.

How cool are you though if you are chucking things across a classroom. Those are not the actions of a cool person.

I've never worked out why verbally chastising a child for their performance is a good idea either. If they're underperforming and not listening to you, they're not likely to start because you belittle them.

And I'm strict with my boys who are told under no circumstances to play up and be rude to their teacher - in case something was thinking I am a liberal parent who let their child 'express themselves' by acting up.

What a load if hot air chocolate. Your post doesn't acknowledge the seriousness of the situation.

What would happen if this incident took place in a different work environment. HR would be involved, there would be meetings/warnings, management would look for patterns of behaviour.

Well its a bit difficult to say if op isnt going to come back and say how the book was thrown.

You could always wait outside and throw books at her while shouting you're a shit teacher.

I'm getting a bit confused by the book throwing. Did the teacher throw the book in her direction but it didn't hit her, or did the teacher throw the book at her and it actually hit her? One would be a law suit and call to the police, one would be a reasonable and strongly worded letter to the head with a meeting.

Either way, in a professional environment you are expected to act professionally. If I threw a book at one of my employees at a meeting and told them their work wasn't good enough in front of everyone, HR would have a foot up my ass for bullying and rightly so.

You don't treat people like that. If the teacher can't manage her stress effectively, she needs a new job. If DD's work isn't good enough then she needs to send home a note, arrange a meeting, or give her a failing grade.

Tickle....I do acknowledge that something serious has happened. That is why I say that the Head acknowledging the incident,shows the school is fully aware of it.

The question is how to respond to a serious situation like this. The OP has already been to the school (rightly) and had a conversation about it with both the Head and teacher concerned. The fact the school has met with her shows they take it seriously. And they have apologised.

Understandably the mother is upset by it all. However, there is a choice about what to do with the upset. She has received an apology. I think she can rest assured that action will be taken by the school. As I said, she can choose to send a calm, rational email recording what has happened and been said and handing it to the school to deal with. If she wishes, she can also ask for help with her DD.
Or she can choose to demand further action ......whatever that may mean. As others have said, it may well already be happening and whatever action has already been taken, or might be taken in response to her demands for it, cannot be told to the OP......so she won't get any satisfaction in the sense of knowing exactly what is being done, beyond it being dealt with.

Surely the key thing is to now move forward constructively. The DD is still at school in an important year of her education. Ensuring the best can come of this year surely needs to be the focus now and working with the school needs to be the way forward. What really is the alternative, unless she is prepared to move her DD? Individual bad things happen....this is one of them. The OP does not mention that this is one of a long string of bad things happening. Whilst the incident itself should not be minimised (it was serious) there is also not much to be gained by making it into a huge big deal with the DD who is still at the school. The OP has rightly raised it and the school has responded. Now it is time to look forward.

Throwing it at her or throwing the book on to her desk are totally different things. Screaming and shouting out a child's short comings is different to a simple 'you might want to reread that. I think you can do better'

There isn't anywhere private in a classroom to discuss performance. Positive or negative. Children will always overhear. Making a show of it isn't acceptable.

References to 'how it used to be' or indeed the workplace are pointless.

I think it is wrong to assume that the school is not dealing with this teacher. Schools have clear procedures for this kind of thing and it will not have just been ignored. The fact that the OP has not been told the details (it would be a breach of confidentiality) of exactly what has been done or is being done, does not mean the school is doing nothing.
In this sense, the school will be totally like all other employers who will deal with unprofessional and unacceptable behaviour.

I think it is wrong to suggest the parent has to let it go and accept that the school is dealing with it, in the absence of any evidence to show that they are. As a parent, she would have every right to ask how this is being dealt with and what the disciplinary procedures are in place in this instance.

Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis. When I was at school this was an everyday occurrence and nothing would be thought of it. Board rubbers, chalk, books, jotters, anything on the teacher's desk were all acceptable missiles to be thrown at pupils for such offences as talking, doodling in jotters, spouting shite in answer to a question, not having done prep, not knowing the imperfect subjunk of avoir, failing to learn the atomic weights of the halogens, etc. etc. Those days are gone. Good.

We even had one arse of a teacher who thought that discipline meant strutting up and down the woodwork workshop with a flexible sick about 36 inches long with a point on the end. Any time a boy was seen to be stepping slightly out of line he would march up behind him and administer without the slightest warning a smack on the arse you could hear on the fucking rugby field. I complained to my bastard father about this and he couldn't have given a twopenny toss - not surprising, he did the same shit himself.

Today these bastards would all be getting the jail, and rightly so.

If anybody did these things to my own DCs I would be like a wet hen.

Was the dd's work poor? Had she made a good effort? Was the book thrown to her desk or at her and hit her? Is dd usually well behaved?
Two apologies- sounds fair enough.

Looking back at the OPs post, I see that the teacher and Head apologised to the girl. It isn't clear if the mother was there when the apology happened or if it was in response to contact from the OP.

If the OP has not had any contact with the school over this, I think a good response would be to ask to go in and discuss the matter, so she can hear what exactly happened and what the school think about it. I think more would be achieved by not going in, in anger demanding action, but in terms of wanting to understand more. It is always good to get the full picture and not to rely purely on the description of the child. I am not questioning what the child said not saying they have lied or anything like this, simply that talking to everyone concerned gives you more information.

Oh FFS.
Who wouldn't be a little angry about this?
If someone did that to my DC, I would be very angry.

What more is there to understand? The teacher is bang out of order.

I don't understand this at all.

Last week there was a thread about how a dance teacher had grabbed a child and pulled her into a room and everyone was in uproar.

IF this teacher threw a book AT the dd then why isn't everyone in uproar?

Does not doing the work to a certain standard deserve an assault?

It doesn't matter if it used to be done. So did lots of things! Doesn't mean they're right.

I can't stand how teachers are so vehemently defended on here.

Yes, kids are trying. I don't particularly like them aside from my own. I've no patience.

Which is why I'm NOT in a job where I've to work with them!

In the 80s a PE teacher hit me with her clipboard so I took it off her and hit her back.

Funnily enough I never got in any trouble as let's face it....she assaulted me. I wasn't even doing anything! Someone was talking and she thought it was me.

Anyway YABU really. She's said sorry.

old skool teachering!! I like it!

We had board rubbers and the occasional chair lobbed at us.

And we were grateful

I can't believe some of the posts on here!

A stick, that is, of course. Twat. I feel the place in cold weather still.

Exactly what happened?

What type of book?
Was it thrown directly AT your child, or in the general direction, towards the desk?
Was it thrown with force or more more of a flick of the wrist kind of casual sling?
Was it thrown with anger?

I have to admit that I have no doubt thrown books towards pupils for them to catch or for them to land on the table in front of them. Never from a distance, never in anger, never with force - just because it isn't always possible to get round the whole class to every seat easily or quickly.

What further action do you want to happen?

I threw 30 books at year 7 students today - I only teach this class once a week, so I've had them twice before, & was betting them I could remember all their names & chuck the right books at the right kids...

I got 30/30 right - they were pretty impressed!

Of course it's not OK to hoy a book at a child in exasperation at their work.

But as PPs have said, the teacher will have been subject to whatever disciplinary action the HT decides on - you don't get to see the process, although the fact that both teacher & HT have apologised is a clear indication that it's been acknowledged as unacceptable.

It is a good idea to send an email outlining the incident, thanking the HT for the apologies & stating that you trust the matter has been dealt with, so there's an undisputed record of what happened in case of any further problems. You could also request a copy of the school's complaints policy to reassure yourself that they have one & will have followed it.

I wouldn't blow this out of proportion too much. An apology from the teacher concerned and from the head seems like a strong response in proportion to the incident.

How bad the book throwing was depends on specific details of the context which you can never know in sufficient detail to assess them. One or two teachers I had at school would routinely give out work by lobbing exercise books from the front of the class. Others would never do anything like that. If your DD's teacher is in the former category, none of the other kids would have remembered the incident five minutes later!

Probably more than just the DCs work upsetting the teacher.

Did someone else in the class play up? Did the DC behave in a cheeky manner? Did the teacher's partner ask for a divorce that morning? Was there something offensive in what the DC had written? Who knows??

Explain this to the DC so that they don't feel it was their fault and assume teacher is being dealt with my HT.

The end.