Teacher told a table of children that they have "learning difficulties"

[Donotknowhownottomind]

I worked as a supply TA in a school yesterday and today. Was in a Year 4 class today where the teacher accounted for a particular table's finding something difficult by telling them they have learning difficulties. She said this in front of the whole class. I don't know the class so don't know if they do have learning difficulties or really what she meant. One boy at that table has a hearing impairment and cerebral palsy and is very articulate and bright.

She also told another boy off for not clapping property and told him she didn't want that kind of Arabic "dancing" (instead of clapping) in her class.

I was a bit on both counts and don't see why just because kids are defenceless and have no choice over who their teacher is going to be, they should have to listen to crap .

True. I struggle with people. Bloody enigma.

Wrong on so many levels. All work should be differentiated according to levels of ability. So let's assume she has put all the children with additional needs together (why?) and pitched their task too high.....poor teaching.
Or they don't have additional needs and she is verbally abusing them....poor teaching.
Either way she is an inadequate teacher.
Report her.

Totally awful, I am assuming it came out wrong and she phrased it badly I think you need to say something to the head.

Thanks for your thoughts. Agency wise it might be better if I tell the person (at the agency) whose school it is? If I was contracting myself out I could tell the head and just never work there again, but seeing as I am there through the agency maybe I should ask their opinion in how to proceed? The danger lies in the fact that the agency then does nothing. I suppose that, selfishly, I don't want to never get work again.

Yeah, I have a few LD's and it's not ok to go up to a kid and say "You have a learning disorder". There's no way you can say that without it "subtly" meaning: "You'll never get this" or "You're too stupid to understand this. So I'm not going to try".

Even if you say it to them quietly with no one else to hear.

The only time it's acceptable is if the child is frustrated and you have to say "Look hun, you have a learning disorder that means you learn different and it won't come as easy for you, let's keep trying shall we?".

But I will assume she meant it in a derogatory way because the kids simply weren't listening or were acting up.

Either way, report her. No reason she needs to be derogatory towards any group of people in a classroom that she should be creating a safe environment to learn in.

It is not OK to say to a child, "you have learning difficulties", Oyster. It's dismissive, labelling and generally unhelpful. It leads to children internalising the message that they are not capable, not intelligent, somehow less or different. What would be OK is saying privately, something like, "everyonehas things they find more difficult than others and have to work harder on. X, y and z are more difficult for you at the moment"

Could you directly to ofsead .

My Maths teacher called my top set groups a "class of vegetables" on our first day of secondary school because we had no idea what she was banging on about! Some teachers are just cunts!

I would report this in an instant. Wtaf?

I'm a TA and we have a teacher who does cover on different teachers' PPA days who uses the phrase "low ability" a lot. For example "Mrs X has left instructions that the low ability should work with Mrs Woodlouse" - loudly in front of the children concerned. Not only is it insensitive, but I'm not sure the children concerned even know who it means - as they are never normally referred to in this way but as "yellow group" or "Freddie's table" or whatever. I did tell this teacher once that the children wouldn't know who they meant unless they used the group names but was brushed off with "of course they know who they are!" This teacher was trained in another country, I don't know whether this sort of thing is usual over there, but it certainly felt all wrong to me.

I think it is a HUGE mistake not to be open about learning difficulties with children.

If a child has learning difficulties, or learning disabilities, for goodness sake, say so to them, don't be all cryptic and coy about it

We never refer to the less able children as such, just use group names like "The Circles" or "The Blue Group". In any case, sometimes the "less able" group perform better at certain tasks. We are promoting Mindset in school at the moment which focuses on effort rather than ability. We have children who are able but crumble the first time they try something that they cannot do "best" right away and others who refuse to even try "because I'll be rubbish at it" and we have others who embrace the "give it a go" ethos. To me, there's no such thing as a fixed level of intelligence or ability.

I worked with a Learning Assistant once whom I overheard telling a group of children "You must be awful stupid if you can't even understand that". I reported her to the headteacher. She's still in her job and still speaking in this inappropriate manner. That was about 5 years ago. I despair in Local Authority schools, the rubbish that gets kept on whilst really good teachers and Pupil Support Workers can't get a job is disgraceful.

laffymeal That's terrible. I used to say that stupid was the banned word in my classroom. Never to be used at all.

Arabic dancing, what's the prob? Let's not get over sensitive about the word Arabic now. I know what she means, was he messing about? If he genuinely has Co ordination problems, she Skidby be telling him off the learning difficulty problem is out of order. I expect they know which table they are on, but the rest of the class don't need vocabulary to label them with. And if it was too hard for them, she didn't prep the lesson properly. I expect the head is aware of this teachers issues but she may need some more ammunition to deal with her. Teachets like this are no good for kids.

If he genuinely has Co ordination problems she should NOT be telling him off.

I know derxa. I still occasionally have to work with her and I cringe at the crap she comes out with. Ironically she's as thick as mince, the kids can run rings round her.

laffy Why has she not changed her way of talking? Is she well in with the head? Are you Scottish?

So here we have it some teachers do refer to the lower sets as such or other labels like 'bottom table' as opposed to 'top table'. Things like 'bottom group you write numbers with finger paints and top group carry on with your algebra'

MerryMarigold: "Arabic dancing, what's the prob? Let's not get over sensitive about the word Arabic now. I know what she means, was he messing about?"

If you know what Arabic dancing means, can you explain it? I've never heard it before.

Yanbu. Report her.
It's absolutely fine to tell a child in private who is feeling a bit disheartened 'no it's not because you aren't clever, it's because you have x which makes doing y harder for you'. Why the fuck the rest of the class would need to know which vague category they were in is beyond me. One child in Dds class had complex needs that were noticeable in every aspect of school life. Any questions from other children when they got old enough to notice was covered by a brief 'we're all different' type explanation. In y6 dd had pretty good scientific knowledge of exactly how one of her close friends sn worked, and a reasonable understanding of how other forms of sn she's exposed to can effect people. However apart from knowing we're all different, I can't think of any reason why she or anyone else in her class would have benefited by having it pointed out 'this is the learning disability group'. And more importantly what the fuck is the benefit to the children with the learning difficulties.

derxa Yes I'm Scottish .

When I reported her she was already being kept a close eye on by the then Headteacher who was aware she wasn't pulling her weight and dodging out of class whenever she could. She pulled her in and disciplined her but didn't follow the correct procedures so the Learning Assistant raised a grievance against the Headteacher for bullying and victimisation. She was very close with the Union reps. The grievance wasn't upheld and the Head moved on to pastures new so it was all kind of forgotten about.

She's in her early 60s and has never been any good at the job, she started off as a lunchroom assistant and wormed her way in to the classes. We can't seem to get rid of her. None of the teaching staff want her in class, so she's achieved her dream job of coming in and wandering around the corridors, poking her nose in other people's business and generally stealing a living.

As I thought. Unions are very strong in Scotland. However you meet these types wherever you go. They are the educational cockroaches. Taught for 15 years in England but Scottish.

You might privately explain to a struggling child that you know their particular disability makes it harder, but that doesn't mean they can't ever get the hang of it or that they're stupid or whatever (if the child is using these negative word about themselves).

You should never dismiss a whole table like this. Maybe they do all hsve learning difficulties, but they are all different and it's awful to announce it in front of the whole class.

This is wrong for more than reason, but the most important reason is that those children's medical/clinical diagnoses are confidential and the teacher shouldn't be blurting it out for all and sundry to hear, another reason that springs to mind is what if any of those children were unaware of their difficulties/disability, the confusion and distress that it causes could potentially make things worse (as it did in our case)