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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to ask you how to deal with idiot teachers?

371 replies

DaysDragonBy · 25/10/2018 11:59

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.

OP posts:
ShawshanksRedemption · 25/10/2018 18:47

@DaysDragonBy I would put it in writing to the HT as I think what you describe shows failure in communication and for the school to highlight it's failure by it's staff regarding listening to pupils on medical issues and checking with other adults or parents if unsure. I work in a Primary school and we would always in this scenario follow the child's lead and if we felt the child was looking to use it as an excuse to get out of working, clarify with the parent at pick up or via phone at end of day.

As an aside for the thread itself, as in all walks of life, there are good and bad in every profession and a wealth in between. Labelling a whole profession on the basis of a few interactions isn't helpful to anyone.

lilyboleyn · 25/10/2018 18:52

Tbf, the title of this post really got my back up, and I came on to post about that. But having RTFT, the conversation you’ve reported with the teacher is really, really concerning. Utterly unprofessional and it does sound like a lot of arse covering is going on.

BishopBrennansArse · 25/10/2018 18:56

@Thisreallyisafarce nobody knows why she wasn't told. If she wasn't told. Maybe she was? But surely the plaster cast and sling would be a reasonable pointer to maybe this child should be listened to and/or further advice sought? Not disregard two medical cues and what the child is telling you?

As for lack of concise explanation that request came from the parent, not the child. Mind you if a child is consistently failing to understand you'd expect a decent teacher to try and find out why that is.

Thisreallyisafarce · 25/10/2018 19:00

BishopBrennansArse

You're right in my view - I wouldn't have done what this teacher did. BUT some people wearing a sling are fine to use the limb. It really was the responsibility of a) the OP and b) the school, to share this information with her. She should not be expected to infer it when it is this important to the OP.

I can't remember whether the OP said she told the class teacher/school? If so, someone has failed to pass this information on, and I think this person has more to answer for.

Thisreallyisafarce · 25/10/2018 19:03

Sorry, yes, so the teacher and TA know but the Art teacher doesn't? That's the cock up.

corythatwas · 25/10/2018 19:04

BUT some people wearing a sling are fine to use the limb.

Plaster cast. Just saying.

Want2bSupermum · 25/10/2018 19:06

The issue is this school doesn't sound like it's set up to support your child. I say this as a parent of 2DC, two who have been diagnosed with ASD. It's a battle to get your kids services and a correct placement.

The teacher in question probably hasn't had any training on how to manage your child. The management team need to manage the education of your child or advocate to the LEA for your child to go to a specialist school who can provide an appropriate education.

Thisreallyisafarce · 25/10/2018 19:07

corythatwas

Fair point. She does sound like an idiot. The question for me, though, is why this straightforward prohibition on him using his arm at school wasn't communicated to the member of staff trying to teach a practical subject. There is no excuse for that. It is basic safeguarding.

corythatwas · 25/10/2018 19:10

How much instruction do people need? Child comes in with plaster cast which he obviously hasn't just donned himself: it has been put on by a doctor at the expense of the NHS to immobilise part of a limb.

This is combined with a sling: is it really beyond the wit of man to work out that this is there to act as a visual reminder that the limb is not to be used or bumped.

What would you do if you had a child with a broken arm and needed him to keep it safe in the hustle and bustle of a school environment? Make it visible, surely? Sling.

BishopBrennansArse · 25/10/2018 19:10

Yes but how many people should the OP have to inform? I'd have thought usual class teacher and SENCO? Possibly 1:1 TA? Not every single member of staff, 2) in your post would be relevant here and absolutely justifies a complaint if there's an in school comms breakdown. Which given the teachers' subsequent efforts to squash a complaint I'm not sure there was.

Thisreallyisafarce · 25/10/2018 19:12

BishopBrennansArse

Oh no, perhaps I wasn't clear. The OP told the teacher. The teacher should have made this knowledge available to management, who should have told anybody else they employ to teach that student.

Thisreallyisafarce · 25/10/2018 19:13

corythatwas

But talking about what is and isn't beyond the wit of man isn't going to make her accountable for what she wasn't told. The complaint needs to be against the people who failed to pass on key medical information about what a child could and couldn't do.

Quartz2208 · 25/10/2018 19:14

My point was its a communcation issue with the school - the medical information should have been disseminated from the highest level down not left to a TA - it should have been added to his plan and treated as such. The teacher is merely following the lead of the head of the school - that is who you should be talking too

corythatwas · 25/10/2018 19:17

The question for me, though, is why this straightforward prohibition on him using his arm at school wasn't communicated to the member of staff trying to teach a practical subject. There is no excuse for that. It is basic safeguarding.

This is very true. In my experience, this happens all the time: as a parent you send in multiple medical letters and ask the school please to communicate with all teachers and half a term later, the teachers are still saying they have heard nothing. It is very, very common. There doesn't seem to be a set procedure for dealing with this.

But I don't think that excuses the teacher. If you saw a colleague with their arm in a plaster cast wouldn't you be a bit careful around them even without having read their medical files? Surely she could have worked out that this here plaster has some kind of significance without specifically being told so? Do you think she would treat a colleague with her arm in plaster in the same way just because "she hadn't been told"? I mean, it's not exactly as a child could have faked his own plaster cast, could he?

corythatwas · 25/10/2018 19:20

"But talking about what is and isn't beyond the wit of man isn't going to make her accountable for what she wasn't told."

No but it does make her accountable for how she behaved with the visual evidence she did have to go on. What lots of us are saying is, if this is how she treats anyone, child or adult, with their arm in a plaster cast, then there are serious questions to be made about her general judgment. Would she be the right person to deal with a child who has an accident or is taken ill in her class? What is her judgment like?

Thisreallyisafarce · 25/10/2018 19:21

corythatwas

She isn't a doctor. If she has never come across a broken wrist before, she may not necessarily know that it shouldn't be used. That is an assumption we are making because we do know this. Don't forget, you can start training as a teacher on the job straight out of uni. This teacher could be 23. She may just be guilty of ignorance. It is, however, categorically the responsibility of the school to inform her about any medical needs that may prevent a child from participating in a normal lesson. They didn't do this. They can't discipline her. They'd get roasted.

BishopBrennansArse · 25/10/2018 19:22

@Thisreallyisafarce agreed, and the teacher's subsequent behaviour - trying to squash a complaint - makes me feel that maybe it WAS passed on yet she dismissed it...

ScabbyHorse · 25/10/2018 19:22

Can you call the teacher and find out what happened from her point of view? I had to do this with my sons art teacher when she accused him of lying about being colour blind?!

Thisreallyisafarce · 25/10/2018 19:23

corythatwas

I am not responsible for dealing with children who have accidents or who are taken ill. That's what First Aid is for.

I get your point, and I think, personally, she sounds like an absolute lemon. But that doesn't make her accountable for what she wasn't told. That's why we have safeguarding procedures, because we can't assume people have knowledge of medical advice, however basic, unless we train them. And we don't.

BishopBrennansArse · 25/10/2018 19:23

@ScabbyHorse already done - as you can see by reading the whole thread. Teacher now trying to stop OP complaining.

JamPasty · 25/10/2018 19:24

Read the threat mate

Thisreallyisafarce · 25/10/2018 19:24

BishopBrennansArse

That's possible, but we can't assume that.

dustarr73 · 25/10/2018 19:27

She isn't a doctor. If she has never come across a broken wrist before, she may not necessarily know that it shouldn't be used.

But the cast was visible as well as the sling.Also the child told her.She cant feign ignorance.And ringing from her own personal phone just screams covering her own arse.

corythatwas · 25/10/2018 19:30

I do not believe that people are so ignorant that they don't know what a plaster cast is for. I have taught at university for over 30 years and I have never come across a first-year student that ignorant or that stupid. We are talking an adult who is teaching children here, who is going to be the responsible person in charge if a child in her class has an accident or is taken suddenly ill with something she could not have been prewarned about. Surely you can expect the kind of general common sense you would expect of a teenager you employed as a babysitter?

I am absolutely not disputing that management is at fault. But I've never heard such low expectations of teachers before.

Thisreallyisafarce · 25/10/2018 19:30

dustarr73

It isn't about feigning ignorance. It is about the legal accountability. She isn't obligated to take the word of a 7 year old about what he can and can't do. The school is obligated to communicate essential medical information to her. They didn't.

Like I said, we can all agree that she is an idiot. But being an idiot will not get her disciplined or fired. All she needs to do is call her union rep, who will say, hold on, why wasn't the information she needed given to her? Stick a fork in that conversation at that point; it's done.