to be horrified at the behaviour in bohunt school

[SEsofty]

Just watched the programme about Chinese teachers in uk. Whilst I appreciate that it is reality tv and thus exaggeration for effect I was still horrified with the apparent number of children who were talking in class.

I'm not that accident and went to a very normal school but talking whilst teacher did simply didn't happen. I don't agree with the Chinese methods but talking whilst someone is trying to teach you is simply rude.

But surely you just nip it in the bud? Why aren't those kids who are constantly disrupting the class being sent to do their work elsewhere? Why do one or two children get to affect the results of 30 children?

I think in most schools they do. My most recent job was to be in charge of pastoral care. This was in a bog standard comp/ secondary modern. If a child spoke over a member of staff or disrupted they were reminded about their behaviour. Second time they are warned with a sanction. Third time a sanction given and the fourth time could result in a child being removed. If a child was removed from more than one lesson a day ( very very rare) they would be taught in our isolation unit. Being removed from a lesson resulted at least in a letter home and an hour detention with a senior member of staff.

If Sophie behaved as she did on the documentary her parents would have been called into school, she would be on report, she would be serving detentions or being isolated.

That sounds a good school, Philoslothy with clear policies. An individual teacher can function much better within a system like that.

Pastoral care is only as good as the SLT backup because you can't rely on your teachers being super teachers lesson in and lesson out every day.

I suspect most schools have a similar structure but there is a group which is heavily represented on MN that wants you to think that the average state school comprehensive classroom is chaos.

Exactly the same in my school Philoslothy, and I can't understand why other schools wouldn't do this too.

It's basic good practice imvho.

It is what every good teacher does in their classroom anyway but by formalising it you just add more authority and encourage teachers who are having a bad day or feeling tired to get the basics right.

Very few teachers give instructions or teach whilst students are talking.

Philo my basic self respect doesn't allow me to talk over kids in my class. It's fucking rude!

Tell them to quieten down, then insist on it. Then once you have quiet, you begin.

The last thing I'm going to spend my day doing is giving myself a headache by spending 8 hours shouting over 30 kids!

I agree I stop and wait for silence, usually very effective. If a pupil won't stop talking when I want to I confiscate their chair! They hate it and it makes it difficult to talk when you are standing by yourself!

I don't really know why there is the idea that all state schools are zoos. Ours isn't but teenagers will challenge wherever they are being educated.

I like the confiscating chair idea!

I think that children now are pretty similar tohow children were 60 years ago. I was at secondary 40 years ago, and we were pretty similar to how dd's generation are now. Some are well-behaved, and some are not. They have similar outlook, it's just that you don't get a wack or the ferrule or the board rubber thrown at you nowadays.

I doubt that they were told to 'act up' as someone suggested. That wasn't particularly bad behaviour for secondary school; I've taught for 16 years and have had to witness a lot worse.

They will have fed them sunny delight and skittles before filming

I went to a comprehensive school 30 years ago and there was often constant low level disruption going on. You couldn't learn and would often just sit drawing pictures until the lesson ended. Some classes were better than others, but it was mostly shit. I resent those people for affecting my education so badly. I desperately wanted to learn and get good results, but the environment made it impossible.

pretend RTFT. PP have suggested that behaviour has worsened.

My point is that nothing's changed, behaviour hasn't worsened. Teenagers are still teenagers, trying to see what they can get away with it, they were not paragons of virtue 60 years ago and therefore, yes, the example is relevant to people whinging about 'youth of today', 'used to have discipline, used to have respect', yada yada. Good teachers were good 30, 60, 100 years ago. Bad teachers couldn't control a class in any decade irrelevant of their pupils' upbringing.

Not sure how your point about Oxbridge thirds is relevant, though?

I do all that in my classroom. It the lack of support from SLT let's the system down. I know teachers from a variety of schools, some are better than others, but a lot would agree that overall low level disruption is getting worse.

Im a good teacher, well thought of with good behaviour management. I do not talk over kids. But this as academic year I have been assaulted twice (once nothing was done), sworn at numerous times. My last school didn't want to be seen as too draconian.

I set many detentions and spent hours on the phone to parents who felt that their children couldn't possibly be on the wrong.

There are definitely good schools out there, but there are plenty like on this programme

I would like to reiterate I have visited, on a professional basis, Bohunt a few times and the behaviour on screen is nothing like the enthusiastic, engaged pupils/classes I have observed. I would say it does not in any way reflect the normal educational experience of pupils at this school.

I have no connection with the school apart from visiting to observe.

There are definitely lots of good ones. Mine wasn't. And it was enough to make me quit without a job to go to this year. 5 staff left without jobs to go to this academic year.

I know children from Bohunt.

FWIW I thought it was pretty standard behaviour mostly, obviously with the most interesting bits cherry picked.

It wasn't like Educating Yorkshire, the behaviour in that school was shocking.

Yes, and in Educating Yorkshire, the Head Teacher allowed and even indulged that bad behaviour - does anyone remember the awful scene in which a Year 7 or 8 boy had consistently refused to follow any school rule and was invited in to see the Head. Quaking in his boots? Er, no, he got a matey chat and then, on his way out, was understandably smirking at the Head´s idiocy.

Agree with leftyloosy, and other posters, SLT support for repeated offenders is crucial. Otherwise you will loose at least 2, maybe 5 minutes of every lesson dealing with the gum, the forgotten books, the poor uniform, the chitchat, the seat switching, etc.

Noblegiraffe Yes. How are those parents preparing their children for later life?

Totally agree that behaviour is only as good as the SLT support

"There are definitely good schools out there, but there are plenty like on this programme"

Good. I hope there are plenty of outstanding schools with stellar GCSE results like the one on this programme!

Like MaiowtheCat I have done supply teaching for years and of course they test you. I didn't have a problem with any of the children if the staff and senior management were supportive. The only schools that I refused to go back to were those where I was just left to it with no warning of difficult children and no help in dealing with them.

noble- in my school when I suggest that children need more support with their behaviour I get met with "oh but they are so young..."

cremedecacao and noble We get, "Have you given them a detention yourself?" YES, multiple times! "Have you e-mailed home?" YES! "Well, tell me if he/she does it again..." OK, thanks...coz telling them not to do it again is definitely an appropriate further sanction after multiple teacher detentions, email home, sent out of class, etc.

Internal suspension is also a joke; the kids love it as the head´s office is the only place with aircon and is dead quiet so they can literally just chill out there while everyone else hurtles around the hot, noisy, busy school.

Watched with interest as a local well regarded school. Yup feeds into comp prejudices alright. I kept on wondering how the Chinese Teachers would handle creative subjects...Is Chinese schooling devoid of any creativity? Interesting. Don't think the behaviour was any worse than when I was at school 20 years ago. Possibly better... I wonder what would happen if this experiment was done with Bedales? Find it really fascinating .

Perhaps if standards are high compared to other developed countries, the bad behaviour does not matter. But then I read that trig ia GCSE B grade stuff and only taught to the brightest pupils.

I was in the second bottom set for maths, did lots of trig, and got a D in 1992.