To ask who the worst

[Wildlady]

Teacher you had was and why?

yep PE teachers evil bitches each one of them. i left school at 16 mainly because pe was compulsoru in the sixth form

No, didn't complain, and she was female.

Mind you, after I collapsed, she never made me do PE again on my period, so maybe someone did have a word?!

And yes to the showers. DH has horrible memories of showering all together and the PE teacher (male) throwing cold water over them all.

A music teacher who was a complete tosser to me (the only pupil in the class) and was head of department and liked to show off his power. He suffered from short man syndrome.

An English teacher who had mental health problems. In a 1-2-1 situation, he was amazing, very clever, probably autistic, lived on his nerves and was not cut out to teach secondary kids in a school that didn't believe in academic achievement.

gide i agree, I was a teacher (I remember my school days) it's not so hard to treat the children like human beings, they usually responded well to me.

I had a horrific primary teacher in the 60s. She would scream at us and grab people by the scruff of the neck and literally throw them at the blackboard. We were all terrified of her. She was probably in her 50s, unmarried, and my mother just used to say, 'Poor old thing, she probably lost her boy in the war.'
Having told my folks how awful she was, I was stunned at some school do with parents, to see such a transformation - she was pinkly simpering at my father, who was good looking and extremely personable. He said afterwards, 'Oh, I thought she seemed quite a nice old thing.' I felt so betrayed.

I think strictness isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. Had a Latin teacher at 11 and 12 who was very strict - nobody dared talk or play up during her lessons, but she never shouted or was vicious - she just exuded a natural authority and was a fantastic teacher who could explain things very simply. I still remember decades later a lot of what she taught us.

Fairness is important , lucky you having a teacher who could explain things properly GETTING . I never had a maths teacher like that. I don't reckon they knew anything either!

I remember writing a good poem when I was 11 and the teacher thought I'd effing copied it out of a book!!

My reception class teacher was one. I was only 5 but I can still picture it now, near 40 years later. I had been playing with a little (age and very slight delicate child) Sikh boy who spoke very little English in the play house in the corner of the classroom and it was time to line up to go to assembly. She called for all of us to stop playing and line up by the door. The little boy didn't understand what she wanted and stayed in the play house. She stormed over to him in a rage, grabbed his wrist, lifted him wholly off the ground by one arm and lamped the hell out of backside repeatedly. I'll never forget the look on his face. I was horrified. I sensed racism in that moment even though at 5 years old I didn't actually know what racism was. All through primary I saw her pick on non white children quite often but as she was Deputy Head she always got away with it.

I think she was at least partially responsible for my dislike of racist people....and teachers.

80s female PE teachers, openly gay, all girls’ school. Would watch us go into the communal showers, choose someone who had to reach up to turn on the one tap, complain if we weren’t soaked despite long hair and a class based lesson next, no time to dry. One memorable comment was ‘Gide takes too long to get changed”. Hmm, excellent comment on my physical prowess there .

Hmmm. Difficult. I was at primary in the seventies and secondary in the eighties, so different times, different times. Maybe it was the primary teacher who was lovely, but bought her two cavalier King Charles spaniels in every day. They used to pee and poo on the ‘story corner’ carpet with regularity so we were required to take it in turns to walk them around the playground (no one picked up the poo, we just had to avoid it during Kiss Chase). Or maybe it was the secondary maths teacher who was excellent at getting us to learn through fear, an ex army officer who looked the dead spit of George Orwell, and made even the coolest fifth former boy cry (he came to school in his old uniform). He did get a whole class through the o level a year early, and then do the o/a level the following year, though. We all passed but not sure I’d advocate his methods. Or was it the Nun who pinched the girls legs to double check they were wearing tights, and not, Heaven be blessed, going around with the BARE LEGS!! TEMPTRESSES!! Or was it the, and I can’t deny it, admittedly ultimately wrong History teacher? Who, although he was an excellent teacher and inspired a life long love of history in me and almost every pupil he taught at our school, but who also......married, not one, but two ex sixth formers? He did divorce the first one before he married the second so can’t be accused of bigamy too. Hmmm, difficult, what with my 21st century feminist credentials, to reconcile that with the fact he was an amazing teacher. But no, I don’t think it was any of those. I think the worst was actually not mine, but DHs teacher, who, in 1970, refused to sign his application for university because, as he blatantly and unapologetically stated ‘university isn’t for the likes of you’. DH was one of the first and only children from a single parent family at his schools throughout the 50s/60s. Highly intelligent but lived in real poverty. In contrast however, a story of real inspiration. His primary school teacher, who p, recognising his home difficulties, took him in to his own home for tutoring, at no cost obviously, entered him for the 11+, and helped pay for a uniform that there was no way he could have payed for otherwise. And very much in contrast to the teachers at his grammar school, who, so disgusted were they with the head teachers attitude, had a whip round and gave DH a cheque that enabled him to apply to Croydon technical college the following year.

I read an article last week about how teachers used to be more horrible in 70s and 80s than in recent years.

They were pretty bad in the 60s too - so I hear. Mine weren't so bad, but it was run of the mill for people to have their hands hit with a ruler or for boys to be punished with a slipper in front of the class. I used to be tearful - and I wasn't even on the receiving end. I was terrified of my first teacher when I was 5 when she slapped a little girl's legs really hard on our first day.

My friend had a teacher who lined the class up, told them to put one leg forward and then went down the line and slapped each one - for really minor stuff, as I said, it was run of the mill then. (My friend was cunning and used to stand slightly back and her leg got missed out).

When I first started teaching myself (1981) some boys were caned because they had squirted shaving foam on a teacher in M&S on a Saturday morning (out of school hours). Another one was called into the head's office and unwisely said "I didn't mean to throw the egg into the shop, I was aiming at the wall" - poor lad was only there about homework and ended up getting the cane.

They were different days and I don't mourn them a bit.

@Wildlady absolutely, as long as they’re silent when I’m explaining, I’m fine with that. I’m not sure how they’re supposed to learn without asking questions and discussing their ideas. Friday afternoon is top set GCSE for me, bliss!

I’d say I’m very strict, but fair. Looking at this thread and in my general thinking, teachers can have an impact for the rest of your life, so I’m very careful what I do and say to students.

I had a horrible spitty French teacher who ranked us in order of attractiveness, Nasty old perv. It amazes me that he got away with it for so long. I swore I’d never be remembered for being a nasty bitch.

My primary teacher that ruled the class, throwing rubbers, board wipers, and amything else he could get his hands on. Regularly used his ruler on the backs of your hands. Only started 'liking' me when realised I was a chess wizard and he ran the chess club. Was a horrible bully - eventually got sacked when he broke a boys leg throwing him onto a bench in pe - he'd dared to truant that morning and he was furious ....

@Gide

I don't mind being remembered as a bitch if it is what is best for the class and it is just because I'm strict. I don't want to be remembered as being nasty.

Physics teacher who would shove you in his classroom cupboard and put his hands in your knickers, he also used to pick up the boys and throw them along with lobbing wooden board rubbers.

I don’t actually think teachers are nicer these days I think most are and we tolerate less because years ago it was spoken about and mostly ignored but over the last few years I’ve noticed what I perceive to be a growing trend towards some of them behaving in nasty abusive ways but instead of brushing it under the carpet after being open about it and just not doing anything we have the let’s pretend it didn’t happen.

In the last month or so I’ve seen pretty compelling filmed evidence of teachers assaulting kids (not team teach or positive handling actual assault) be denied and the kids who filmed it punished/excluded that sort of thing and still full on denials.and the kids not being allowed back in school unless they sign a statement saying they lied.

All academy’s of course, and all films passed to the police and LADO. It’s nasty.
Some of the things they get away with these days if parents did them especially with SEN kids all hell would break lose and safeguarding action would be taken. It appears that academy staff are often a law unto themselves.

A nun who taught me at my catholic junior school walloped me for allegedly looking at her insolently, I was aged about 8, and as far as I was aware sitting at my desk facing forward with my normal expression. This was years before resting bitch face was attributed to certain faces in repose, I guess mine was one of them

Later on at my convent school, the nuns who would suck up to the richer pupils with the strange comment "you have breeding" whilst telling lesser mortals "you have no breeding". I lived in a town famous for horse racing, perhaps that had some bearing on their rationale

Why these spiteful women were even around children, God only knows, they were such a malign influence.

I had a teacher in primary 4 (in 1981) who was, as it turned out, alcoholic. He had a dreadful temper and threw desks and chairs around the class room. One day he caught a boy stealing a ream of paper; he shook his bag all over the room, shouting that he was a dirty thief and kicked the table at him. We used to sit there shaking in our shoes, trying to do our silent reading when these things occurred. I remember having a 'sore tummy' and not wanting to go into school. I didn't realise at the time that it was because of anxiety. He was eventually struck off. I also had teachers in secondary school who spoke down to me eg the chemistry teacher who told me I'd never really achieve anything! I'm a teacher of 20 years experience myself and things that happened to me as a pupil made me determined never to speak nastily to children or talk down to them. There are many ways to 'tell off' children (if a telling off is even necessary) which do not involve raising your voice or belittling them. I teach ages 3-18 due to my specialism and it fills me with horror to think that someone could speak / act in the ways described on this thread. Some of these things could well have lead to ptsd!

I think that they do lead to PTSD, Yes carbuncle i've always wandered why these spiteful bullying people go into teaching ,I suppose it's because they think the children can't answer back, or the tin pot dictator syndrome.

That's worrying about the so called 'excellent' academies. Needs.

The headmaster who shouted at me because I said 'oh my god' when I was late for school.

I was in year 6, I still don't understand why?

Something along the lines of, 'he is not your god!, he is everyone's god! You shouldn't say that because it is wrong!

Look at all these children in the class. They all belong to god! He is not your god!'

Whilst tightly gripping my arm and spraying his words as opposed to saying them!

He can't have been religious, he was having an affair with one of the teachers.

What a nasty bullying piece of shit Fizzy You should have said something like . "Well he isn't your god, god only likes nice people!"

Lots of these are horrific
But interestingly, I went to school in the 90s and had to endure forced communal showers & some teachers who treated you like absolute shit. I was quiet as a mouse through primary/middle and still got it in the neck in a regular basis, especially from one female teacher. I used to DREAD going to school on the days I had her.
I was telling someone the other week, as an adult I would never put up with being spoken to/shouted at like that! Why on earth did I have to put up with it as a child?
If a colleague spoke/shouted to me in the way this teacher did, official complaints would be made!

Yes good point Pink . Funny how children are still being treated like 2nd 3rd or 4th class citizens.

My dcs were at school in the 90s and were in contact with sexually abusive teachers. (they were not involved though) It was discovered and acted upon. But shockingly one of the teachers who 'beat' the boys after school was just moved to another school by the council.

@ppeatfruit I just snorted with laughter at your response. That's made my day

The teacher who told me I'd be a failure when I was 6

Biology teacher who threw the selotape dispenser or blackboard wiper at anyone who got things wrong.. you learned to duck.

Music teacher who was a tiny woman with small woman syndrome. Was well in with a few girls in each year who were musical and she thought they were all mates. Horrible to the rest of us. I always remember a grade exam in singing where she was playing the piano to accompany me. My voice cracked in the first line through nerves and she started glowering and mouthing at me how much trouble I would be in if I didn't improve. 10 year old me resorted to a squeak. She went through me when we left as if I'd done it on purpose.

Her husband was an English teacher in same school. I was properly terrified of him. He was so strict. He was also the best teacher I ever had, I hung on his every word, partly through fear but also respect. If you did exactly what he said to do at a level you did well. Owe my A at least in part to him.

Female pe teacher who always supervised showers. Turned out years later she was gay and complaints had been put in about her. I didn't like her but never noticed anything off in the showers.

Head teacher nun. Was an absolute vile evil witch. The most opposite of a holy person I could ever describe. Clearly hated children.

Ah... Those were the days

My reception teacher. I was a bit late starting not too sure why, so by then everyone sort of knew each other. Anyway I told my mum is was scared and I was an appallingly shy and anxious child, anyway.
My mum said. Well when you go just say "Hello everyone I'm Clare anyway I tool my mum's good advice and the teacher just said. Oh no we don't do that here. Don't be silly. Can you imagine how humiliated i felt as ive alluded to i was painfully shy, of course back in them days teachers were like God's so you daresen challenge them.
Anyway I think where my school phobıa came from. I used scream and shake going in everyday. I eventually went to another school which was far from brilliant but a billion times better than where I was. I still had my off days. However I moved to a new school again at 8 due to a house move and I loved it then. I just used to run straight in. I'd be up every morning at 6 wanting to go to school. Now we'll never know if I didn't settle in Reception because of that bitch or Wether I'd have been like that even if she was like Miss Honey from Matilda, some how though I seriously doubt it. Yes I was shy before I starTed so that can't have been anything to do with her
However shy children can still enjoy school.