AIBU to ask you how to deal with idiot teachers?

[DaysDragonBy]

Fuming right now. Had all sorts of shit from the school, but this takes the biscuit. DS has broken his wrist. It is in a cast and in a sling. He is under instructions from the doctor not to hold anything in his affected hand for three weeks. He is not to take the sling off at school.

His teacher knows this. His TA knows this. He has SN - ADHD and ASD.

He had art today. The art teacher told him to hold something in his hand. He said he couldn't. She took his fucking sling off and made him hold it in his hand with the broken wrist whilst he did something to it with the other hand.

I am absolutely furious, he said he told her he wasn't allowed to and she told him he has to anyway. Half way through the class his TA came in and took it off him thank god. But why the fuck do teachers think they know better than the injured child? I've told him, if anyone ever says that to him again whilst he has his cast on, he is to refuse, be as rude and he wants and tell them to call me.

In the interests of honesty, there is a bit of conflict with the school over this teacher at the moment.
It is the same teacher who has a tendency to waffle when giving instructions and complains when DS can't follow. When I requested that she made a bullet point summary at the end of her instructions I was told it is not fair to expect teachers to change their teaching style because one child in the class has SN.

I haven’t read the whole thread but she was wrong and should’ve differentiated the work for him to be able to access it if it was her ill thought out way of getting him to join in.
I take it he has a care plan to stipulate how he manages with one working hand in lessons, eating, toileting etc?
Not all teachers would do this obviously.

I think OP is justifiably upset when this teacher appears to have ignored an injured child. I agree that it’s worth taking the time to find out exactly what happened first, but unless her son has a history of making things up completely there’s going to be some truth in it, and OP is right to be angry.

Since the ta only came in half way through the lesson it doesn’t seem like he has full time 1:1.

There should be a written risk assessment for a child with a broken arm, which should then be given to any staff who come into contact with him.
I d be asking the head about that.
Our school requires a meeting with a parent and a risk assessment before the child comes back into school.be
Check safeguarding and health& safety policies- these should be accessible o n the school's website.

It was an Art lesson. A lot of 1:1 TAs aren't actually needed to be glued to children's sides during Art (or PE, or Assembly). Depends on the child. And a lot of 1:1 TAs only do about 15 hours per week, depending upon awarded hours...3

Put your complaint in writing, cc the Head and the Governing body. And insist that the class teacher and the teacher who did this to your son apologise directly to your child and explain that they got it very wrong, that he has done nothing wrong, and that it won't happen again

Sometimes the story is not quite exactly what happened, or it could be a genuine mistake. as a career teacher, I have had this happen to me twice- on both occasions, it was a misinterpretation by the student. (e.g Me : " Come on Year 7, you need to hurry up, you are all being slow to work today" year 7 boy to mum "Miss called me slow at my work" Mum to school " How dare a teacher call my SEN child slow etc etc)
It feels awful to not be given the benefit of the doubt- of course there are terrible teachers, but there are also genuine ones (the majority) who would never want to belittle upset or hurt any young person.
This maybe negligence, but please find out the full story first, before assuming it is

The child lied

Don’t be one of those parents

Teacher recruitment crisis

Move your child

Homeschool

MN teacher bingo

Go to the school and ask the teacher politely if they ordered your son to take off his sling
If so, enquire if they have received and understood the information you sent about it

Also enquire again if they are prepared to make reasonable SN adjustments, like your bullet points, so he understands instructions

This will give you a factual basis for deciding if this teacher is an idiot
.. or worse: disablist

I’m afraid I would want this teacher disciplined for purposely injuring my child despite the child clearly informing the teacher of his injury. And I’d also want answers regarding why the serious nature of his injury was not conveyed to this teacher by those who knew.

I don't understand all this 'did you make your instructions clear?' 'this message has not been passed on'; why would any one other than the parent or doctor insist on a child removing a sling???

there’s enough of a recruitment crisis as it is

How is that relevant? It's regrettable, but It's not caused by OP and it won't be sorted by her.

I never thought my children were telling lies when they complained about school but I was aware that because they were children they sometimes misinterpreted things that had been said. That's why I always spoke to the school to find out their side of things. Maybe it's because I worked in schools and with children that I was more aware of this.

Exactlywhat @HelenaHandbasket said

Good lord, I know people are rightfully defensive of teachers, but the suggestion that it is ever less than ridiculous to REMOVE SOMEONE'S SLING, at any age, is just...wow.

If this is how it actually happened, that teacher is a complete idiot, recruitment crisis or not.

As a parent who has had their child's school go directly against medical advice for over two years you have my sympathy, OP. It's not them that has to deal with the damage caused to the child's health and subsequent tutting from the medical professionals, is it? My DD also has autism and can't speak up for herself in these situations. I've ended up with the LEA attending the next annual review and can't wait for her to leave in a few months.

I don't get why adhering to medical advice is so hard?

OP, I think people are reacting so negatively because of your thread title. Calling teachers idiots is rude and unnecessary.

I'd be absolutely fuming if a teacher had done this to my DS. I suggest asking for an urgent meeting with the head and ask for it to be investigated.

Obviously I have no idea what happened, but the idea of a teacher asking a child to remove a sling when they have their wrist in a cast is, at the very least, odd. So if that was what my son had told me I would be annoyed too and would want to find out exactly what had happened.

However, you sound very angry with the school generally and very willing to believe the worst. Most teachers are not idiots and you will get people's backs up by your thread title. Most teachers are not deliberately cruel and do not wish to cause medical harm to their pupils. You don't sound very rational about it.

The title asks how to deal with idiot teachers, i.e. (as she has said) the teachers who are idiots. That is not the same as saying all teachers are idiots. I can certainly understand why the OP is so angry about this. I would be too.

I don’t think storming in and getting shouty will help, but I’d certainly be up at the school this afternoon asking to speak to your son’s class teacher/the head to clarify whether your son’s medical info has been shared with relevant staff, and to firmly point out that removing his sling goes against doctors orders. At that point I’d expect an explanation from the school as to why the art teacher felt her actions were ok.

I am another one saying you have to find out all of the facts before you start complaining. I just can't imagine a teacher taking a sling off a child irrespective of whether or not they had SN.

The only thing I can think of is that it was coming loose and they took it off to re-tie?

Any person who thinks using a broken part of the body contrary to medical advise is an idiot. HTH.

Wow!

1. Just because the OP is venting off and swearing on here does not mean that's how she'd go into the school, I know I vent without that sort of action sometimes.
2. If this is the case (and she knows if her kid would lie better than us) then she has every right to be angry this is her kids health/future health she is dealing with
3. Teachers can be idiots sometimes, 'if she isn't happy move schools' ?! why should that be the case? why can improvements not be made if there is an issue?
4. If the child is not being listened to at school I completely understand why she is telling him to stand his ground, maybe set some ground rules on how far to go with this but hell its his body and he shouldn't be made to do something that could put his future health or wellbeing at risk!

Good luck OP.

Why is everybody assuming the child is lying?

Because there id this belief on MN that the teacher must always be right and the child is automatically a brat whose parents think the sun shines out of their backside. Mostly the truth is somewhere in the middle.

In this case, it does appear that the teacher has definitely mishandled things and you would be absolutely right to involve the headteacher, but it would be advisable to calm down first.

My DD2 had a broken wrist earlier this year and the school did a risk assessment when she came back to school, and we were perfectly happy with the way they stuck to it. Something has clearly gone wrong in the case of your DS and it needs to be looked into carefully.

My DS broke his arm at a similar age and his school and the staff were brilliant about it.

My DD's senior school were very understanding when she had her traintrack braces fitted (she was allowed take flasks of soup in for lunch).

OTOH they/we also encountered a few individual teachers over the years they were in school who seemed to almost revel in upsetting people. Really unpleasant types under a supposedly professional exterior; but you get them everywhere unfortunately.

To be fair given the standard of people I have seen 'become teachers' in my circle of peers I can confirm that some of them are actually complete fucking idiots and I wouldn't leave them in charge of a dead goldfish, let alone teach my child.

Some teachers are arseholes - because they're human. And a lot of humans are arseholes. So ergo, some teachers are arseholes. Same goes for idiots.

Also, lets play 'spot the teacher' on this thread 😂 (you're probably the arsehole ones everyone dislikes)