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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think DD's punishment from PE teacher was draconian?

867 replies

moonlightshadow1 · 01/03/2017 17:15

DD is in Year 10 and came home quite annoyed about a punishment she got in PE for something very minor in the first place. Her teacher made her get changed into her PE kit at lunchtime (without any tracksuit in the cold wet weather), and run laps around the football pitch for all but the last 15 minutes of the break (so she could eat), much of it whilst the boys were having football practice, who apparently found it quite funny. Is it overreacting to think this is a bit out of order? I might not have been surprised when I was at school but I can't help be a bit annoyed, seems a bit like it was intended to embarrass her and unnecessary.

OP posts:
Youcantstandme · 02/03/2017 11:26

And the fact she couldn't even sit still as she was told suggests if the teacher hadn't made her sit out the lesson she'd have carried on being a lippy so and so.

Emboo19 · 02/03/2017 11:33

I would have issue if a student had to go complete their maths work on the smart board in front of another class being taught, yes!

She missed gymnastics not running, so when does she make up the gymnastics she missed out on? They are quite different skills?
At my school and all others I know, children have detention in detention room it's not carried out by individual teachers or specific to lessons, missed class work would have to made up in your home time as well as the detention.
She also wasn't removed, but sat to the side. Which I think is wrong and she should have been removed.
As I said previously, it seems to me the teacher wanted to make an example of her and prove a point. That's not good teaching!

IrregularCommentary · 02/03/2017 11:34

I wouldn't be happy about this as a method of punishment either OP. I was so self conscious at 14 that something like that where the boys were watching and making comments would have been enough to have me skiving PE for the rest of school. She definitely deserved a punishment for her behaviour, fine, but putting her in that situation I think is wrong.Teenagers have enough going on without embarrassing them unnecessarily - and effectively putting her in a situation of school sanctioned catcalling is not on. I would be speaking to the school about it personally - not going in all guns blazing or anything, but I would put forward my concerns. (Sorry for long paragraph - I don't seem to have a return option on the Android app!)

Dulcimena · 02/03/2017 11:51

She missed gymnastics not running, so when does she make up the gymnastics she missed out on? They are quite different skills?

Oh come on.

Let's think this through. You're saying that the teacher should supervise a single student doing gymnastics during the lunch break. So the football squad don't get to have their training session? Is that fair? The alternative is that the solitary student that has misbehaved twice during one lesson is left to their own devices to do gymnastics. Apart from being a H&S issue, do you really think that's a suitable detention?

It was a PE lesson, the detention incorporated a PE activity.

SookiesSocks · 02/03/2017 11:52

Emboo it was a PE detention. How could that have been done in a class room?

She missed gymnastics not running, so when does she make up the gymnastics she missed out on? They are quite different skills?

Well she missed that class as she was badly behaved so she does not get to pick and choose. Punishments are not meant to be fun Hmm

She also wasn't removed, but sat to the side. Which I think is wrong and she should have been removed.

So what she was removed from the lesson itself.
Maybe the teacher didnt trust her to go to the iso class herself. So do you suggest the teacher leave the rest of the class unattended to escort her or take the entire class with him?
The DD had disrupted the class enough dont you think?

Emboo19 · 02/03/2017 11:56

No. Dulcimena it was in response to people saying she'd missed her pe lesson. I don't think the punishment was sutible at all! And I've never known a detention take place as such.
If she just had to do sport, why couldn't she join the boys playing football? Running laps is outdated and I'm pretty certain not supposed to be used as punishment in schools nowadays.

Trifleorbust · 02/03/2017 11:59

Running laps is outdated

Tell that to Mo Farah. Perfectly decent exercise!

Dulcimena · 02/03/2017 12:01

It was a supervised football training session, presumably for a squad that play regularly. Not just a lunchtime kickabout. Of course she couldn't just "join in" and create even more disruption for other pupils.

You seem to be willfully missing the point.

Anyway, I've already posted that if OP calls the school (contrary to DD's wishes Hmm ) she'd probably get a rather fuller explanation of what happened than her DD has provided.

SookiesSocks · 02/03/2017 12:02

Running laps is outdated and I'm pretty certain not supposed to be used as punishment in schools nowadays.

The punishment was missing her break.
The laps were physical excersise to make up for not doing excersise in the lesson. Which she missed out on because she was badly behaved.

Why should the boys have to incooperate her in to their training session? Why should it be the needs of the naughty child are pandered to?

The teacher needed to supervise both the boys and her. Making her do laps meant this was achieved.
Maybe next time she will behave in class

Trifleorbust · 02/03/2017 12:07

Sitting at the side of the class for 45 mins is an absolute waste of time

Yep. She did indeed waste her time.

I hate this argument. If a student is pissing around in my lesson and I am forced to remove them, I am not the one wasting their time. That honour is theirs.

Youcantstandme · 02/03/2017 12:10

And what else could the teacher have done except make her sit by the side? Since she couldn't even do that as she was told it's lucky he/she didn't make her leave the class, she'd probably just have played on her phone somewhere. And she couldn't join the boys playing football the boys were probably a proper squad training for a match so why should they suffer and miss out on their training to fit her in for her own bad behaviour?

ItShouldHaveBeenJingleJess · 02/03/2017 12:11

Seem to be a few Summerhill ex-pupils here....

Emboo19 · 02/03/2017 12:13

Running laps as punishment, I meant!
A lot of sports people are against it as punishment, as it associates it with negativity and not the positive experience it should be.
I'm not sure the op said the teacher was supervising both.
Anyway as I've said I don't agree with it as punishment. That's not saying she shouldn't have been punished!

Eolian · 02/03/2017 13:38

As I said previously, it seems to me the teacher wanted to make an example of her and prove a point. That's not good teaching!

And making an example of a child who's being rude and undermining is a bad thing?! Why is it not good teaching? The child is being taught that she looks a bit of a fool for playing up. And she's being taught that if she misses out on work (in this case physical exercise) by being a pain, she can damn well make up the work in her own time when it's inconvenient, and yes maybe even a little embarrassing, for her.

If parents could be a fly on the wall in an average state secondary and see how many of their little darlings behave, they might have second thoughts about accusing teachers of being unreasonable. A punishment is not going to deter future bad behaviour unless the pupil actually dislikes the punishment enough not to want it to happen again. As it is, there are few things that teachers can do to stop persistently poor behaviour. MN is full of people struggling with the behaviour of their ONE or TWO teenagers. A class of 30 of them is challenging to say the least.

Original poster
moonlightshadow1 · 02/03/2017 14:09

Emboo and IrregularCommentary, thanks for understanding what I meant about it being uncomfortable for her to have to run laps around the field the boys were having football on. This did get to her and I think her running laps elsewhere would have made more sense. I've got a fuller picture and she was being silly and immature in what she said in the lesson, so deserved punishment for that and sitting out the lesson was that. She didn't misbehave twice in the lesson as some said, just didn't stay sitting in the exact position she was told to which the teacher took exception to. I've told her and will again this evening to not talk when the teacher does and certainly not say immature, silly things but still understand her annoyance a bit even whilst knowing she shouldn't have disrupted in the first place and not giving her the impression I think anything else.

OP posts:
OnHold · 02/03/2017 14:24

You should ground her for a year, confiscate all her devices for a year and lock her in the cellar. That will satisfy the posters baying for her blood.

SookiesSocks · 02/03/2017 15:20

Oh get a grip OnHold
Nobody is baying for her blood.

Posters just feel the punishment was fine and the DD and mum need to accept it would not have happened had she not misbehaved.

Katnisnevergreen · 02/03/2017 15:33

Also, I can imagine that schools have had parental complaints from parents of students sent out of PE regarding missed exercise. This was she has had her exercise and has lost her free time, both valuable messages.
I'm a teacher, and I often set tasks such as clearing the rubbish from my room, sharpening pencils etc, these are designed to be slightly embarrassing to the student as a deterrent to repeated behaviour.
I think the hatred for pe teachers shines through on mumsnet, and isn't a great message. Surely with an obesity crisis in the country we should be for as much exercise as possible.

Trifleorbust · 02/03/2017 16:10

Katnisnevergreen: I know - what the hell is the PE teacher thing all about? They get the sort of press I would imagine is usually reserved for war criminals and child abusers!

Youcantstandme · 02/03/2017 16:13

Trifle agreed. For doing sensible things like this PE teacher, making a disruptive pupil sit out the lesson, pulling her up on not doing as she was told even after being punished for misbehaving then making her do the exercise she missed in her own time. Exactly the right punishments

Notagainmun · 02/03/2017 16:13

This was standard practice for any bad behaviour when I was at school. No big deal, made me think again before being lippy

NotCitrus · 02/03/2017 16:41

Doesn't sit still for first punsihment => has to miss break and run laps to get exercise - all fine by me.

I would query though why she wasn't allowed to wear a track suit - was it that her track suit was off in a locker somewhere else and the teacher didn't want to let her waste time getting it? Running laps round where other pupils are training - fine. If the boys were making sexual comments then the teachers should be alerted.

I'm not sure about the bit about sitting cross-legged though. I haven't tried to sit cross-legged since primary as I've never been able to without pain (hypermobility), but is it expected that a typical UK 14yo can sit cross-legged without moving for say 45 minutes? I'd have thought most Brits (ie not used to generally sitting on the floor) would find that painful after 20 minutes or so?

Original poster
moonlightshadow1 · 02/03/2017 17:13

NotCitrus I see your points. She was made to sit by the side for being immature and making silly comments, totally fair enough and she got herself into that situation. The not sitting still thing I think is a bit much, she sat quietly out of the way as she was told, I think the teacher making a point of getting annoyed and telling her off for not sitting cross-legged as told, then waiting while she crossed her legs again, was needless. As you said it gets uncomfortable and simply stretching legs a bit whilst still sitting quietly out of the way wasn't terrible. The laps, fair enough, she missed the PE lesson, and maybe that's the easiest way for a PE teacher to make her catch up on that, after all the school has a responsibility to ensure pupils all have a certain amount of exercise, but she could still have done them at another field.

OP posts:
Dulcimena · 02/03/2017 17:18

she sat quietly out of the way as she was told
You posted earlier that she protested at this, so didn't sit quietly as she was told?

SookiesSocks · 02/03/2017 17:20

but she could still have done them at another field.

Not if he had to supervise her and the boys training she couldnt.