Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
PuffinDodger · 04/03/2017 18:52

And the gym knickers were worn with an aertex top, not with just a bra

londonmummy1966 · 04/03/2017 18:55

Not read the whole thread but a number of things would worry me (and I also have a 14 year old dd). If the gym session was mixed then asking a 14 year to sit cross legged in front of a class was inappropriate unless she was wearing trousers or shorts. Second If she was expected to maintain that single posture for an extended period of time - say 40 minutes I would have thought that would be an unacceptable physical punishment. Third you imply she wasn't told until the end of the lesson that she would suffer an additional punishment at lunchtime. FOurth the type of sports bra you wear to run in is usually much more supportive than one you'd wear to play eg netball - if she wasn't expecting to have to run then she might not have had an appropriate bra in school. Fifth- if she was subjected to inappropriate remarks during her punishment then she wasn't being adequately supervised. Finally surely all the PE teacher has actually achieved is to put a sporty girl off PE. I once attended a Sport England conference on women and exercise and when I tried to point out that PE teachers are the fundamental problem I got pretty well shouted down (by a room full of PE graduates...)

I agree that she deserved to be punished and even that she should then make up the PE she missed (if it is the schools policy that children who miss PE should make it up) but this should have been done in a properly supervised way and at a time when she had the correct kit - eg on a subsequent day when she had a running bra or by telling her to turn up to a team session she doesn't normally participate in.

Trifleorbust · 04/03/2017 19:24

Gym knickers is no different to wearing a leotard for dance or gymnastics, is it? We wore gym knickers and a gym skirt but for some activities like gymnastics or fast running we removed the skirt - faster, isn't it? I really don't see the problem.

Trifleorbust · 04/03/2017 19:26

londonmummy1966: The OP is sounding very reasonable now. Where on earth do you get the idea that teachers have time to make sure punishments for poor behaviour are carried out to your exact specifications? I would be saying, if you don't want your daughter to sit cross legged, tell her to grow up and behave like a teenager rather than a child. I would be saying so what if I didn't give her notice of her punishment? She didn't give me notice that she would be disrupting my lesson today. You sound unhinged.

londonmummy1966 · 04/03/2017 19:46

Trifle actually I'm a teacher so would think these things through first - sound of hinge breaking........................

Trifleorbust · 04/03/2017 20:01

londonmummy1966:

Really?

I don't know many teachers with that sort of time on their hands, but you can obviously do as you see fit.

Freddorika · 04/03/2017 20:06

You are a teacher but clearly not a PE teacher so no more clued up than any of us.

PuffinDodger · 04/03/2017 20:10

Gym knickers is no different to wearing a leotard for dance or gymnastics, is it?

Agreed. Pseudo claims that in her school they had to do gym in normal knickers and bra in front of boys if they forgot their kit though not gym knickers.

Trifleorbust · 04/03/2017 20:14

PuffinDodger: Yes, that is crackers. Our gym knickers were big, thick pants that came to the belly button. Most people wore them under their normal school skirts so they could still do handstands and cartwheels.

Bitofacow · 04/03/2017 20:20

London as a teacher are you seriously suggesting PE teachers ensure students are equipped with different sports bra's. If they warm up with laps then move to netball they should change?

As a teacher you should know punishment should be related to the subject involved.

Third you imply she wasn't told until the end of the lesson that she would suffer an additional punishment at lunchtime I would suggest most teachers do not negotiate details of additional punishment during a lesson. If you do this is poor practice as the rest of the class have to wait while you do this.

BoneyBackJefferson · 04/03/2017 20:22

londonmummy1966

You are that teacher.

spanieleyes · 04/03/2017 20:28

The mind boggles at the thought of 30 girls popping off to change their bra half-way through a PE lessonConfused

Userone1 · 04/03/2017 20:44

I agree with London mum, there is a difference between a warm up before PE and running laps for a long period!

Especially as the school behaviour policy mentions nothing of the sort!

Anyhow seems OP and school reached a good compromise

ExpatTrailingSpouse · 04/03/2017 22:19

haven't quite got to the last 100 or so messages, and not arguing the justness of the punishment...

but just wanted to point out, i could not sit cross legged for more than about 5 or 10 minutes. if i do, my hips start feeling like they are going to painfully pop out of their sockets - and no, i'm not old or arthritic. it's been like that since i was a teenager, so i too would have made the mistake of shifting to get more comfortable. it's not that natural a position to be in.

Italiangreyhound · 05/03/2017 01:38

Expat "so i too would have made the mistake of shifting to get more comfortable. it's not that natural a position to be in."

So agree, if the child were made to sit in a certain position for a long time it would be unnecessarily cruel.

I do think PE for some has so many of these connotations of things that are unpleasant and potentially humiliating! I do wonder when it will be worked out that this is not the best way to inspire kids! Things like being picked for teams, or not picked; having to do sports you are not good at and don't enjoy and maybe being shouted at at the same time; having to change or shower in a draughty cold semi-public place when you have thing changing teenage body.

No wonder I gave up PE as soon as I was able to (two years before I left school).

Trifleorbust · 05/03/2017 05:23

Things like being picked for teams, or not picked

That's just life. Adults have to cope with not being the most popular or able person in the room as well.

having to do sports you are not good at and don't enjoy

That's kind of the point of education - you do things you are not good at, you get better and you start to enjoy it.

and maybe being shouted at at the same time;

Why would you be shouted at?

having to change or shower in a draughty cold semi-public place when you have thing changing teenage body.

Get a thermal vest and some shorts for PE days. No-one insists that any student stands there in their scanties.

Freddorika · 05/03/2017 08:03

I do think PE for some has so many of these connotations of things that are unpleasant and potentially humiliating! I do wonder when it will be worked out that this is not the best way to inspire kids! Things like being picked for teams, or not picked; having to do sports you are not good at and don't enjoy and maybe being shouted at at the same time; having to change or shower in a draughty cold semi-public place when you have thing changing teenage body.
Luckily plenty of teenage girls are not this kind of special snowflake and just crack on with it. The girls I knew who hated PE were basically just lazy when it came to physical exercise. Blaming the PE teacher was an excuse.

MaisyPops · 05/03/2017 08:32

I do think PE for some has so many of these connotations of things that are unpleasant and potentially humiliating! I do wonder when it will be worked out that this is not the best way to inspire kids! Things like being picked for teams, or not picked; having to do sports you are not good at and don't enjoy and maybe being shouted at at the same time; having to change or shower in a draughty cold semi-public place when you have thing changing teenage body.

If you're one of those kids who likes to find an issue and somebody/something to blame for everything then maybe.

I didn't LIKE getting changed in the chabging rooms. Most people would rather have more privacy but it was hardly scarring.
Doing things youre not good at... you mean like in school where you learn and do things you dont know/havent done.
Being picked for teams, thats life. People get picked for things.
Makes me laugh I have a colleague now who loves to claim things are unfair against them. Maybe they were one of these people who thought PE picking was the worst thing on earth.

Pseudonym99 · 05/03/2017 09:33

What year did you go to school?
Was in the 80s

Big difference between gym knickers and normal knickers
Our teachers just said stop being daft. If we were concerned about it we should have remembered our gym knickers.

FrancisCrawford · 05/03/2017 12:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pseudonym99 · 05/03/2017 14:14

Pseudo claims that in her school they had to do gym in normal knickers and bra in front of boys if they forgot their kit though not gym knickers.

Obviously something which still traumatises me! Although this might not happen anymore, I'm sure PE teachers can still be just as evil

PuffinDodger · 05/03/2017 14:27

Dd isn't sporty but her PE teachers at her comp sound nice.

Italiangreyhound · 05/03/2017 14:31

Trifle I honesty cannot say PE prepared Mr for anything or anything in my life was every relevant to it.

People are shouted at in PE by teachers who think they can do better seen't they? That's true Ian't it?

Of course my boss in my job never required me to run around in my PE kit, never made me feel bad for not being included etc. So PE for me was not a valuable preparation for life and I stopped doing it as soon as I was able to.

And not sure I even knew what thrnal undies were when I was at school. I guess PE teachers don't like to hear how unpopular their classes are with some of us. But you can't argue anyone into seeing the value of PE.

FrancisCrawford · 05/03/2017 14:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Italiangreyhound · 05/03/2017 14:43

Freddorika snowflake? What are you talking about!

Maisy your responses just show a lack of empathy and entrenched view to defend your own position.

I'd love to think it's all changed but I doubt it.

Life is not like getting picked or not picked for teams! The fact you think it is seems to indicate to me a strange view of life.

Glad it makes you laugh! Nice to hear others' unpleasant experiences of school are so amusing to you.

Puffin I am glad your dd's teachers are nice. My dd seems to enjoy PE which is great.

One valuable lesson of empathy is to understand not everyone experienced school in the same way.

I hope those so scathing of my experiences are not teachers. Not being able to put yourself in others shoes seems a shame if you are in charge of young minds!