To be sick of having my stuff trashed

[flobird]

Stupid rant and I just want sympathy but I am so fucking sick of giving pens and rulers out only for them to be smashed and thrown across the room or crushed/wrecked.

I feel like I'm constantly replacing stuff

This is probably a really stupid question, but do the children know that you are buying the pens etc yourself, or are they assuming that it is all provided by the school? Not that it makes it any better when they break the things, but, naively, I would hope they'd be a bit more careful if they knew you were buying them yourself.

In the future, could you approach the PTA, and ask them to provide spare stationery for the teachers to lend to pupils, when necessary? And might metal rulers be an option, or would they be too risky?

Iguana, in my college, most parents wouldn't answer the phone if they knew it was the college calling. They must have had bad experiences with schools phoning them! It was very hard to get to speak to parents. And yes, of course we were trying at different times of the day in case they were at work.

There isn't a PTA in most secondaries, is there?

A child who snaps your stationery in half doesn't really care that you've paid for it.

What used to piss me off was students coming in with a bottle of Lucozade (£1.25?) and no pen. It's not the cost of the pen that stops them having one.

I don't work in a school and my children are Primary age, so feel free to completely ignore this suggestion! (Plus it comes from Pinterest so...)

Could you conviscate all phones, maybe have an envelope for each one or something where they go at the beginning of the lesson? I saw it on a picture where the teacher had written each pupil's name on the blackboard and then lined the phones up underneath but that might not be possible. If they won't give it up then invite them to visit the headteacher and see what they say?

You don't have a pen? Ok, here's a crayon. Re-write in your own time or sacrifice marks. Not bothered about marks? Well, ok, but I am as I want you to enjoy learning and be successful, and I'm sure your parents might care as well that you were given every opportunity to crack on and didn't.

Like I said though, I'm not a teacher so feel free to ignore!

Iguana, in my college, most parents wouldn't answer the phone if they knew it was the college calling.

How is that even possible. How is that possible? Surely parents who wilfully avoid their child's school have to be in the minority.

I don't think some people understand that some children just don't care, and crucially, neither do their parents. There is no real consequence for their shitty behaviour.
There is no longer a culture of automatic respect for teachers, or adults generally, in this country, and these are the results.

Sadly this one of those things that self-reinforces. 'Responsible' parents see that kind of stuff and throw everything they've got at escaping it, leaving islands of low achievement with no real chance for improvement, bar some kind of revolution.

Noeffing - my dad was a teacher, back in the last century, and he told us about taking a girl to the (new) Headteacher, for swearing at him. The Head dismissed this, and brushed off dad's concern - and for him, that was the beginning of the end of his career in teaching.

He took early retirement within a very few years, because he could see the way things were going, even back then.

I think children don't realise - or maybe they don't believe - that education = opportunities, or how lucky they are to live in a country where that education is offered for free. Even the worst of the worst State schools must be better than no education at all, surely?

It's not just about the lack of respect for teachers - it's about the lack of respect for education that's part of the problem too.

I once sent a (reasonably well behaved) child to collect a pencil case he had genuinely left in his previous lesson. He was returned by the Head 2 minutes later, without his pencil case as she had caught him before he got to the other classroom. I was told off (in front of the class) for allowing a pupil out of lesson. Allowing 10 disruptive ones to wander aimlessly for non-existent pens would have gone down like a lead balloon...

I was one of the children who didn't have pens... I was always quite greatful that I was given something to write with, and it generally made me get on with work.

The only thing that ever made any difference was when the teachers would get the head of year/ school to explain why we didn't come to school prepared, they generally decided to dole out lunch time detentions to those of us who repeatedly didn't have pens, where we would be spread out across the classes and made to do the work we didn't do in lesson, we were lent pens and funnily enough no one ever seemed to break them as we all wanted to go as quick as possible.
(Please note, I didn't break pens!!)
The detentions actually made many of us start bringing pens to school, but it didn't get any better than that.

*part of that didn't make sense, they got the head of year/ head of school there for us to explain why we didn't have pens,
Repeat offenders got detentions.

Bottlecap, I worked in a borough with one of the lowest GCSE pass rates in England, apart from London. It was common for parents not to show an interest. A lot of the parents hated school themselves; they saw teachers as threatening and didn't want anything to do with them.

When I first started teaching in the same borough 30 years ago (eek) I remember saying to a student who'd entered college with no qualifications, "Your mum will be really proud of you" as she'd got Distinctions in her secretarial exams. She said her mum didn't even know which course she was on. I couldn't believe it, but the other students said the same.

And when I first came up to this area, a friend was teaching primary school children. A five year old told her to fuck off. Bear in mind this was over thirty years ago. She told the parent, in a kind of "you might want to watch what she says" way, not in a telling-off way. Her mum said "What did you do to her? She wouldn't tell you to fuck off for nothing!"

Now that child will have children at school. What do you think they'll be like?

ImperialBlether I think a lot of posters have no idea at all what it's like to work in a school where most kids are not motivated at all.
This.

I think children don't realise - or maybe they don't believe - that education = opportunities,

Yes i think this is a big problem but also wonder how many are being told school is pointless because there are no jobs?
I was at a session recently for parents of young teens who are starting to have behavioural issues. One parent had two boys aged 13 and 14 and when the discussion came to school, getting there on time, doing homework etc. the parent said "well i cant really encourage them, 'cause you're encouraging them for nothing. Theyre not going to get jobs when they leave so whats the point?" It was really fucking depressing to hear. And we arent even in an area of high unemployment. We have great secondary schools, great GCSE and A level results, lots going on to university or apprenticeships. I cant imagine how hard it is to break that mindset in an area that's already on its knees wrt employment.

It's not just about respect for teachers or appreciating an education though. This is basic how to be a decent human being. You cn be lazy and unmotivated about schoolwork without actually breaking stuff.

Sorry but I have no patience with little shits like this - plenty of children are really suffering, abuse, bullying etc - they get ignored and no help whilst all the resourcs get spent on these little thugs.

Generally we just tell the kids to put their phones away...if it becomes a real issue then SLT are called. Equally... I used to take phones off pupils before this new ruling. I may have well asked for an arm. Many simply will not hand them over and it ends up escalating. Taking more from the lesson than already.

What have I found that works?

I didn't say that I had Iguana, just that unfortunately most secondary schools that have children who behave like this will also have the iron-clad rule that students are not allowed out of the lesson unless in an emergency, because given half the chance they will run amok. A teacher letting them out to look for a pen they know they do not have would be in deep shit.

I think children don't realise - or maybe they don't believe - that education = opportunities
It's eighteen months since I left teaching because I couldn't do it any more. In the 21 years when I was teaching 11-16 year old inner city pupils, I met all kinds, the good, the bad and the unbelievable.

Most shocking to me was to be told, fairly often, that teachers would cover up bad behaviour and poor grades - "You'll lie for us, Miss", was the expectation. That's what they'd had all their lives and what the were used to.

Those poor bloody kids whose parents don't what course they're on.

Bottlecap

"Surely parents who wilfully avoid their child's school have to be in the minority."

LOL.

*know what course

"Surely parents who wilfully avoid their child's school have to be in the minority."

You'd think wouldn't you. Unfortunately this is not the case.

This thread has been an eye-opener. I'm sure that's partly because my kids are still in primary.

My DD's teacher (year 6) tells the DC that is they forget their equipment, they are welcome to borrow his but they have to pay a fine of 5 minutes off breaktime. They remember their stuff far more than they forget it!

That might work in primary with the same class all day but a non starter in secondary.