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?

Anyone remember Chinese School? Wasnt that an outstanding school?

I had a horrible rude boy in one of my last classes. This was in about 1990. Not only was he offensive to me he disrupted the whole class. I did two things:

1. I put two sheets of paper and some crayons on a desk at the back and told him that if he was too immature for the lesson he could sit at the back and draw. Then I gathered the rest of the small (bottom set) closely round my desk and we did the Mechanicals scenes from MSD. They loved it and when he came up to jeer they all ignored him and I told him he could join us next lesson if he behaved.
2. I told him that I left him behind at the end of every day but he had to live with himself always. I also told him that if for him words for sexual acts and parts were terms of abuse then I pitied anyone who had the misfortune to marry him. I told the Deputy Head what I had done and was amused to see the boy outside his office at a desk with paper and crayons two days later. He was 16. He never called me an f......ing c..t again.

I'm not sure that's true, minifingerz.
DS was on an exchange trip at a German school and was shocked at their behaviour in some of the classes. It happens elsewhere, I'm sure. We're just too quick to demonise our own children.

And yes, I agree Boney, "pushing the boundaries" does not mean we excuse their behaviour! All I mean is that this is not a new thing caused by modern parenting as some posters seemed to be suggesting.

Mouseinahole

I can hand on heart say that you wouldn't get away with that now.

I agree with BBJ - if you tried it he would not comply, would walk out of the room and complain, and 5 mins later his parents would be up the school whining about his yuman rights, humiliation etc - and YOU would be toast.
About 20 years ago I had a tough class a few of whom thought it was okay to do maths homework in my (different subject) class. I told them that unless they put it away I would tear it up & throw it away. One kept it out, so I did precisely that. The class never tried that again - behaved much better and I never saw maths homework out. I would NOT get away with it now!

yy To 'humiliation' not being allowed
I know a primary teacher was suspended under investigation because they told a child to stand and wait next to the door (on way to HT) whilst they dealt with the victim - a child stabbed so hard in the thigh with a pencil it snapped in half.
Parents complained it had been humiliating, like 'being sent to the corner' - complaint wasn't upheld but still extremely stressful for the teacher.

We had one the other day where child was asked to read his work out- my friend knew he hadn't completed any- he refused so she put him in detention. Parents complained to the school that it was humiliating so detention was cancelled!

My son's school has a massive turnover of teachers. I think the pressure for good results has made all the governors appoint HTs who promise results. I mean results are important but you need teachers who are prepared to drill kids in an exam factory style system and so few teachers really want to do that. It's like educational boot camp.

And in so many schools there isn't good enough behaviour for a teacher to achieve much if they're not quiet. How can you teach in a racket? Impossible.

I really don't think it's true that children are fundamentally worse than 10/15/20 years ago. The difference is that there has been a gradual shift towards everything being the fault of the teacher. Class behave badly last lesson = shit teacher needs to make lessons more 'interesting'; Coursework marks are bad = shit teacher needs to make lessons more interesting; progress is slower than it should be = shit teacher needs to make lessons more interesting.

I was teaching 15 years ago and while the behaviour or as people call it 'control' aspect was there the kids were still expected to take responsibility for the second 2. This move towards total teacher accountability has eroded any respect that was left in the early noughties.

I agree toby. Children are much the same as they always have been, it's the responses that have changed.

I agree too.

The sane thing happened recently at my school. A colleague of mine had been pushed to breaking point and burst into tears in front of a class, walked out and hasn't come back.
This job has changed in the last 6 years or so beyond measure. I've felt like that teacher many times and hope she's ok.

Exactly tobysmum77

I agree.... sadly

tobysmum77, i think ofsted have a hell of a lot to answer too.

kelper, not being funny, but wouldnt you be better home educating him?

I bet most people here who have taught in tough schools would have similar experience of Head teachers I had (and this was the 1990s, but it looks like nothing's changed).

I worked in one school in particular where the Head was so useless, if you sent a child to her for 'bad behaviour', they'd end up with a pat on the head and some sweeties and be allowed to do little jobs for her all day - essentially, she treated them! As in many schools, the worst child in the entire school was so bad because his mother was a Parent Governor (this happened when I was at school in the 1970s, so I was shocked to see it still the case 20 years on. And guess, from what my kids tell me, it still goes on).

The Head was so useless for discipline that the entire staff - and it was a huge school - developed a system where eachother's 'naughty' kids would be sent to the Deputy Head who, for some bizarre reasons, the kids were terrified of - or me (because I got a rep as a hard taskmaster and took no shit). And we continued like that - utterly by-passing the Head as she would literally reward kids for misbehaviour.

I always felt she was actually scared of them.

It was only my second year teaching when I went there but I came from a much tougher school (permanent contract but chose to leave because I knew which class I was copping the next year if I stayed!)

I saw this continually when I worked in inner city schools - Heads tended to be the sort who were useless at teaching so kicked upstairs.

I was once carpeted by a Head for disciplining a child. My excessive discipline? I'd banned him from going swimming because I knew it was his favourite thing. (This kid had done all kinds of stuff - once had a knife on him, although I don't think this was that incident). Later, the kids told me this child's mother had threatened to stove in the Head's windows at home (they knew where she lived). In my experience, Heads were spineless and never provided any support and were not of any use in disciplinary matters.

This Head would get kudos by taking in 'unteachable' kids thrown out of other schools for violent behaviour. Then no matter how appalling they were, she'd never suspend or exclude because it would make her look bad.

I would guess most teachers here have had bosses like that.

My Head was like that. The pupils thought he was a joke and he never ever supported his staff. If there was a problem it was always the teacher's fault. I don't think the pupils were fundamentally any worse than at my previous school, but my previous school wasn't managed by a weak spineless tit.