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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What is this behaviour by teacher?

479 replies

accesstheinternet · 02/04/2021 22:45

Class of 9 and 10 year olds, about to go into lockdown, the class is talking about what it will be like and asking questions. Suddenly the teacher says out of the blue, first time anything like this has happened "and who will miss Charlie and his bad temper?"

Charlie is shocked and upset and the class sort of murmured "me" and Charlie's mother asks the teacher what was up when she saw her and the teacher said that she had spoken to Charlie and all was fine, apparently Charlie had lost his temper because someone had pushed him in the playground.

Then the next day Charlie comes out in floods of tears, saying that he had written down an instruction he thought had to be written down, the teacher had starting berating him and saying only he would do that, and encouraged the whole class to mock him, he had become upset at the berating and some of the class had laughed.

The teacher is normally fine.

OP posts:
StoneofDestiny · 04/04/2021 23:05

msbehavin sounds like normal high school banter in a relaxed class environment. Doesn't sound remotely like bullying. And yes - high school kids do banter with teachers too - gentle humour that is about laughing with kids, not at them, is a good thing.

ThisMammaCat · 04/04/2021 23:47

I just have two things to say on this thread.

1: When I was very young (infant school, maybe 6 or 7), my teacher was talking and I was totally engrossed in what she was saying, to the point where I was doing that classic open mouthed expression that kids sometimes do when completely engrossed. The teacher made a joke about me "catching flies" and it made me feel so embarrassed that I changed my whole posture, stopped listening, and spent the rest of carpet time paranoid. I don't even remember that teacher's name but I will never forget how her flippant remark made me feel. She likely had zero clue as to how that made me feel and would likely be pretty horrified.

2: At DS2's old school, there was a horribly disruptive bully. Absolutely vile kid who also has a vile mother. The kid laughs when people get hurt, is very disrespectful to teachers and staff, still picks random fights to this day, and guess what? The teachers still treated him with decency because that's what is right. (Maybe they didn't tease him because he's a big tall lad showing scary traits and could have easily taken a teacher down, who knows).

No one can truly know how a child is reacting internally to what has been said to them, and teachers are in positions of power, their words matter to the children.

thatwasme22 · 05/04/2021 12:59

''msbehavin sounds like normal high school banter in a relaxed class environment. Doesn't sound remotely like bullying. And yes - high school kids do banter with teachers too - gentle humour that is about laughing with kids, not at them, is a good thing.''

And the problem with this is that too often the lines get blurred and somebody says the wrong thing or somebody doesn't find it's funny. The people I see who can 'banter' the most are the ones who are the least likely to put up with it when the tide changes or in other words when the joke is laughing with/at them. And I say this as a teacher.

LilacTrees · 05/04/2021 22:06

When my dc were at primary, the teachers didn't banter with the kids, but when they moved up to secondary some did. The teachers get it right at their school. It's funny and not mean. Dd2 has quite good social skills and a couple of teachers have aimed the banter at her, I think because they know she'll be fine with it. What op wrote that the teacher said isn't banter, it's just mean, but it would be a shame if teachers who get it right felt they couldn't joke with kids at all. School would be more humdrum and boring for the kids.

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