Teacher quit and walked out

[Moonlitarsehole]

Nc'd to not out myself.

Ds informs me on the way home that his teacher walked out on his last class this afternoon.

Apparently she'd asked on numerous occasions for quiet, and threatened to not help with their coursework. Then said "fuck you lot, I quit", collected her bag and walked out.

I was like ds was vague and said he didn't want me to call the school, as they'd all had to make witness statements.

Anyway, dh is home today and asked ds if he'd been talking too (after I tell him what had happened) and really told ds off for being so disrespectful.

Ds is upstairs writing a letter of apology, not sure what the school's take is on it. Not even sure if she'll get it.

So aibu to think the teacher just lost their shit, which happens to us all?

There are good reasons why I'm not a teacher and mouthy teenagers are the main one.

Well done for explaining the situation to your son and getting him to write a letter. I hope the teacher isn't hauled over the coals for losing it.

My DS favourite teacher had a couple of breakdowns before her last one. After snapping at the Year 10s she had reached the last of her three strikes and left.
It's so sad and I often wonder if she is ok. She was so good at her job (DS who has SN absolutely adored her) it's such a shame that there wasn't more support for her (and everyone else who teaches).

Ds says he is supposed to have this teacher last period today.

I will update once he gets home.

Thanks for all the replies.

As a side note, my dh went to the worst performing all boys school over 20 years ago.

There were a few pupils who were terribly behaved. One in particular would bully dh with name calling. Dh had had enough and called him a name back and told him to leave him alone.

This boy then took a sharpening stone off a machine during DT, and hid it in his bag. He then waited for dh to come out of a lesson and hit him over the head with it.

Dh said he was taken to hospital and had a fractured skull, dh was in foster care and little was done. The boy was suspended for a few days.

A week ago this person was in the paper being sentenced for stabbing a security guard with a needle. They had over 300 convictions to their name. Dh saw it and told me the above, and wondered if the police had been involved things may have been different.

Boneyback had no idea pupils could do this.
Maybe if we are teaching this in schools that's why people think they can do it in jobs. Maybe the teacher might be suited to younger children .

I confess, when I first read the OP, as a teacher myself I thought "here we go, this will be another teacher-bashing" as I am so conditioned to the fact that everywhere I look in the media, in politics, not many supportive voices are heard. I am an NQT myself and after years of training (I did an OU degree part-time for 6 years, then a GCSE in BIology!, then a year's teacher training) I absolutely love being in the classroom - I am very lucky to have a fab Y3 class - but the admin, planning, assessment and marking half kill me (and my family).

I'm not surprised that teacher snapped. Possibly personal issues, up till midnight preparing lessons that could be evaluated at any moment by a "learning walk" from a senior leader, with a roomful of unruly Y10s and the pressure of knowing that if the exam/progress results for these kids are not up to scratch, she'll face another grilling.

So thanks Mumsnetters - on behalf of teachers everywhere, I thank you for your (mostly) supportive and understanding comments. It's like a breath of fresh air. And thanks OP for yours and DH's response. If only the rest of the parents could do that, this teacher might just be reprieved. Gross misconduct will result in her dismissal, most likely.

It is lovely to see so much support for the teacher here, but would nurses/ care assistants get the same sympathy if they swore at a bunch of patients?

Because they are low paid, the pressures are awful and they get bit, kicked and verbally abused daily as well.

I'm not so sure people would be lining up to call the patients little shits. I agree with everything Mrs D has said.

I wouldn't want to be a teacher either, my child's school is having a massive issue with staff and the kids are running rings around the supply teachers. I was called in for my son's bad behaviour and I told a teacher what I had planned to do to correct his behaviour at school and she was quite shocked because apparently so many parents don't work with the school and end up telling the teacher off when they attempt to discipline their child

I think its the fact that she has been upset enough to swear that's made me sympathise. It actually might not be anything to do with the pupils per say, who knows what else is going on in her life? I think an apology is a supportive gesture and well done to the op for going down that route.

Never had the abuse as a nurse that I suffered with in teaching. I'm sure there are areas you would get it, but you can work in other places, e.g theatres and itu where the patients are anaesthetised!

As a nurse you are not trying to get the patient to do something. They might need an injection say, and they don't want it. As long as you explain the consequences behind refusing you don't keep on. And no one blames you if the patient has adverse consequences due to their decision.

No so in schools. It seems to be the teachers fault that they do poorly in exams. Or the teachers fault for them misbehaving.

I think class size has a lot to do with managing behaviour. Where I teach, class sizes are capped at 32. That's a lot of pupils in one room, especially almost fully grown teens.

There is an expectation nowadays that pupils should be working in groups, each doing different things, with an element of choice and appealing to different learning styles. This can be difficult to manage. Even classes of 25 would make a big difference.

tbh if a nurse were complaining about bad patient behaviour that was unwarranted I'd be supportive of that too. I think I've seen a few threads like that.

Poor teacher. My class at school could be little shits but nothing like this. I think we do have to accept that kids can be naughty and not always defend them.

I did the same, not in exactly the same way, but I also left a job in a school. A general lack of discipline (nothing too serious), and an almost total apathy proved enough. Just got tired of trying to motivate ......

Who is to blame? The kids? The parents? The teachers? Society?

It's a tough one ......

In any situation where there is a willingness to learn, the learners will learn and the teacher's job can be rewarding, interesting, fun etc

When there is unwillingness to learn it's another story. I found it pointless. A waste of time and energy. Ultimately, parents are responsible for their children's education in every way. Teachers collaborate in that task.

So if kids don't want to learn, if they go to school to play around etc, maybe they should be sent home and only allowed to return when their parents can guarantee that they have the right attitude.

Yeah, right! School's would be empty.

We had a teacher at high school who lost the plot once and threw a chair at someone that was causing trouble and being disruptive

After that his reputation as someone who's class you didn't mess about in preceded him, even the worst behaved most disruptive pupils in other classes didn't dare mess about when he was teaching them

A complete lack of respect and fear of authority nowadays means kids can pretty much get away with anything if they want, whereas when I was at school the few times I stepped out of line I got punished and feared that punishment, don't think getting the cane did me any harm either and I was certainly better behaved after it

Just wanted to add my thanks to those supportive of the teacher. Where I work the parents are (on the whole) incredibly supportive, as are the parents I know irl. It seems mostly to be the government / media who have a problem with teachers.

Oddly enough, one of my troublesome teenagers told me (in one of his lucid moments) that he thought the problem was that teachers can't do anything. He knew what the sanction for his behaviour was, and that he'd be back in class to cause the same trouble within a day or two. When he finally got sent to a pru he realised that he wanted to be in our school and his behaviour has been a million times different. Now he's struggling to catch up academically because it took nearly 4 years to get to that stage.

The current system of a million second chances before taking serious action is harmful for the troubled students as well as those trying to learn.

The current system of a million second chances before taking serious action is harmful for the troubled students as well as those trying to learn.

Yes, this!

Agreed, and I'd add having low expectations for behaviour in troubled kids (ie they can't be expected to remember their book/take their coat off/sit where they are supposed to) does them no favours either. What most pupils want is structure, consistency and fairness. Everyone hates special rules for certain kids.

There is enormous pressure on schools not to exclude, this is part of the problem. The amount of red tape they have to go through every time there is a serious issue is terrible so they will often ignore until a serious act of violence is committed . So what I see happening is that badly behaved pupils are kept in a particular school for as long as possible creating misery for both other students and staff.

Councils do not want to pay for special schools so pupils with behavioural/ educational needs are forced into mainstream. They cannot cope and the schools cannot cope. Finances are being constantly withdrawn so that schools cannot afford to support students properly anyway.

In the primary school in which I work the head ( who is leaving) went all out to make it a respecting rights school. The idea was that the kids knew all about their rights and responsibilities. Great you may think. In reality it meant they thought they could do what they wanted and indeed they did.

Staff members are regularly assaulted and sworn at but it is only when a member the SLT is attacked that the child is suspended.
The school prides itself on taking in pupils that other schools cannot manage. The result is a terribly demoralised staff and pupils who are not able to learn properly. This not an inner city sink school either. It is in a very 'nice', small market town in the SE of England.

The system needs to be changed so that discipline can be effective. I do not agree with corporal punishment but I can see that things have swung the other way and it is having a terrible effect. So what do the government do? Blame the teachers who cannot teach because the children won't let them and the parents don't support them.

buttons, I think the vast majority of parents are supportive - including parents of troubled teenagers (no experience of primary). But there isn't much parents can do either. Many are really trying their best, issue separate sanctions at home, knowing that a particular school isn't working for their child but can't get a place in a special school or pru.

As you say, the schools often have their hands tied. Excluding a child is a lengthy and costly process (imagine how much wasted lesson time there is in dealing with low level but persistent poor behaviour over the course of a couple of years).

I left teaching in pretty much the same way, although I didn't swear at the pupils. The problem was two year nine classes, majority boys, and I had been telling SMT for six months that I was struggling with them. They responded with crap like "they have to feel that you are their friend, their learning facilitator, that you are on their side". They sent a head of department in to my classroom to show me "how to control the classroom", and she walked out half way through because she couldn't cope, leaving me on my own to finish the lesson.

About a month later, I was in a class with them and the behaviour was so bad, I just walked out. My nerves were so frayed, and I just didn't have the authority to get through to lads that, in many cases, were nigh on six foot tall, muscular, testosterone bombs. I used to wake up in a morning, feeling as though I was in a Flanders trench and today was the day I had to go over the top.

So, after that lesson, I finished my teaching day and never went back.

I later discovered that the school had lost four teachers in the previous year in the same way. They had just walked out over the behaviour of year nine and ten, and the Head had placed me with that class because none of the other subject teachers would teach them. I then discovered that a number of parents had pulled their children out of the school after I left, citing poor behaviour as the reason, and that one of the pupils had dropped a chair out of a window onto a teacher's head, causing a significant injury.

I am now of the opinion that the working environment for many teachers contravenes government legislation about workplace health and safety, that it is actually illegal for schools to allow teachers to work in such conditions.

Incidentally, there was one maths teacher at the school that never had a problem with these classes, and it came down to the fact that he had transferred into teaching after running a very successful business. He drove to the school in a top of the range Mercedes, and the lads respected him because he was wealthy and wore a Rolex. His opening pitch was "if you want to drive a car like mine, listen to what I have to say" -- and it worked. They listened.

It made me realise that teachers are, in many respects, on the back foot these days because they are do not embody the values that many teens today believe are important -- namely, those aspects of the celebrity culture of wealth and the trappings of wealth. These young people do not respect teachers because they do not see anything worth respecting: teachers have little money, don't wear designer clothes, don't drink Crystal in the club ...

In short, these young teens don't aspire to become the kind of adults that teachers represent, so they don't respect them or think teachers have anything of worth to say. Instead, they aspire to become someone who lives the life of Beyonce, or a footballer, or someone with a reality TV show. Of course, they are too young to realise that that is not going to be possible, or that they may need a high level of education to become part of that world in a supporting capacity.

Mass celebrity culture has a lot to answer for ...

You need to start each day afresh
I agree - however awful a class is, I always insist that they leave in an orderly way at the end of the lesson (leave enough time to clear up etc) and smile wish them a good day/evening etc.
Then the next time I see them we a start afresh. I do have zero tolerance re misdemeanours and it works. Just relentless, dispassionate application of the policy. It is not easy, but if you are a broken record just reminding them calmly of the rule they have infringed and not getting into an argument about it, eventually it does get through to them.
I also agree that part of the pronle is how many differtn teachers they get through. I don't think parents are aware just how many lessons are cover lessons. Sometimes in schools ( secondary supply teacher) I see the same class more than once a day for different subjects, and they tell me they have had supply teachers ( different ones) for weeks.
If there were a measure of how often a class has a teacher different to the timetabled one, would be an eye-opener for most people outside education.
My own DC are in an independent school, and they don't have supply teachers. The teachers have a reduced timetable, so the teacher with the class is always someone they know, and a permanent staff member. This makes a HUGE difference - far more significant than class sizes. I also supply in another independent school - they rarely need me, for the same reason. When I do go there, I am covering my specialist subject. Sadly this gets overlooked entirely when schools are inspected.

Gisbo, starting every day afresh is great, but that doesn't work for all pupils. It works with the vast majority, but certainly not all. Some students need specialist support, which isn't there. It also requires the support of slt, which (again) isn't always there. And for it to work properly, you really need all teachers applying the behaviour policy. Which, again, doesn't always happen.

For my troubled student (who is now doing really well), the "calmly remind of the rule and apply appropriate sanction" meant a massive proportion of every single lesson was spent dealing with one child, to the detriment of the rest. It also didn't help him - he knew the rules, knew the sanctions and just didn't care.

IMO there needs to be a much quicker ramping up of sanctions for students who persistently cause low level disruption. Because if they are doing the same thing over and over again, then the minor sanctions clearly aren't working.

It made me realise that teachers are, in many respects, on the back foot these days because they are do not embody the values that many teens today believe are important -- namely, those aspects of the celebrity culture of wealth and the trappings of wealth. These young people do not respect teachers because they do not see anything worth respecting: teachers have little money, don't wear designer clothes, don't drink Crystal in the club ...

In short, these young teens don't aspire to become the kind of adults that teachers represent, so they don't respect them or think teachers have anything of worth to say. Instead, they aspire to become someone who lives the life of Beyonce, or a footballer, or someone with a reality TV show. Of course, they are too young to realise that that is not going to be possible, or that they may need a high level of education to become part of that world in a supporting capacity.

Really insightful point from Werksallhourz, there. Someone I know taught at a top girls' private school. She was jeered and sneered at because she trundled in driving an ancient car and was not terribly well dressed. Actually there's a bit in David Copperfield, too, where some boys mercilessly bully a schoolmaster who is identified as being very poor.

I taught a class of y11 boys last thing today. I wanted to ask some of them if they discussed how to make me completely miserable before they come into class, I didn't. I asked one boy to leave as he threw a pen, he then threw the contents of his pockets, red berries, across the entire classroom. I will be teaching him again on Friday.

BUT most of the boys are brilliant and will be taking my subject at A level. If I could only remove the 2 boys permanently I would be happy.

Sadly, that will never happen. The parents always have an excuse for their bad behavior.
It's terrible how the behavior of one or two pupils can ruin the learning experience for the whole class.

Yes if people knew the amount of cover techers used or amount of lesson time taken up with applying sanctions or dealing with low level behaviour problems...

Agree children don't look up to the teacher...but then they seem to be allowed to abuse them so much and with little consequence. Why would you think they I want to be that person who us tormented and ignored on a daily basis?

I think there should be more legal processes used if a pupil is violent. My DD was hit over the head with an implement in secondary by a boy. She was concussied and spent a week at home. The boy didn't even get excluded at all.

I think perhaps schooling should finish at fourteen, with only those with decent behaviour allowed to stay!

Perceptive post, Werks. Also loving the suggestion that school leaving age should be 14, Head.

MrsGuy, it would put a different complexion on many Ofsted inspection reports if the % of lessons taken by cover or supply teachers had to be disclosed as required information. It would be a bit of a red flag signal that all is less well than the PR team are saying.