Should a male teacher have done this?

[mycatisannoying]

During a residential school trip, enter a girls' shared dorm to wake them up?
To my mind it's a safeguarding issue, and there was also a female teacher on the trip who could have done it.
I wanted to seek others' opinions before raising it.
Thanks.

Would you agree that if it’s confirmed that he did enter the dorm and did set up a code word then it’s beyond inappropriate behaviour and the former presents a safeguarding issue @Walkaround ?

Well I doubt the teacher is going to be on this thread but stranger things have happened on MN

you don’t have to believe it’s true. But the question of should a male teacher walk into a girls bedroom to wake them up and the answer is absolutely no

there is no argument around that

Oops

should Probably have refreshed before posting

Hysterical is a word based in misogyny. It comes from "hystera" the uterus and a new word shellshocked had to be constructed for soldiers at the start of the 20th century as it was deemed unseemly to use for a man. It's a horrible word.

@SirChenjins - It sounds inappropriate if exactly as described, especially if no good reason for any of it to have happened.

Inappropriate and presents a safeguarding issue.

Agree with this. Unless a child is unwell and they need urgent immediate adult attention, no male adult (or child tbh) should be entering a girl’s dorm. A female member of staff should have done the wake up. I doubt very much there is anything to worry about but it is careless on the teachers part and he should know better. Teachers have so much safeguarding training nowadays, you shouldn’t put yourself on such a risky situation where a kid could make up a story about you.

It sounds inappropriate if exactly as described

Yep. And the OP has given no reason to be doubted.

The OP's account and treatment here is entirely separate from the necessity for the school to investigate. Of course they should find out exactly what occurred, and why. That's probably a given.

@LAtalante - raising the mobile phone incident made me doubt the OP, so I disagree there is no reason to doubt them.

Yes, sorry @SirChenjins , I didn’t notice you’d asked about inappropriateness and safeguarding.

raising the mobile phone incident made me doubt the OP, so I disagree there is no reason to doubt them

Why? What did the OP say that caused you to doubt their truthfulness?

This isn't the first thread lately that has gone the way of supporting the man at all costs, to the extent that the OP has to be branded a liar in order to make it fit.

And here we are again.

I have done residential trips for several years and we usually keep the female staff supervising the girls in the dorms and the make teachers the boys. On the odd occasion I had to attend to the boys ( eg diabetic child having a hypo) , I always knocked and asked if they were all decent before entering a dorm.
whilst I don’t think was a wise decision, I’m assuming he would also have knocked prior to entering or similar to protect himself against any allegations.

@LAtalante - what did the OP say that made me doubt it?! It’s very hard to believe a teacher would set up codewords for children to report on another child who had given zero reason for anyone to suspect her of inappropriate behaviour. If he does behave like this for no good reason, he must have a string of accusations as long as your arm already, as no child in the group would accept that was normal behaviour on the teacher’s part, and it’s amazing a teacher with this sort of reputation was allowed on a trip in the first place. It’s just such a partial version of events, I simply can’t take it at face value.

If he knocked, opened the door, wakened them, then it’s fine. He wasn’t alone with one girl, which obviously would have been a problem.

I disagree @Walkaround - if this thread is anything to go by there are plenty of parents who would bend over backwards to dismiss or ignore any complaint made against a male teacher.

@username00 If he went to wake them up, chances are the girls were asleep. They didn't have a mobile and I doubt they took an alarm clock. What are the chances they were already awake and heard him knock?
My money's on him walking in unannounced to try and catch the "mobile" he was looking for earlier with the codeword. He sounds determined.

It’s fine to walk into a dorm where girls might be getting dressed?

I knock on my sons door before I go in he is a teenager now and wants and should have privacy

I thought that was normal

I am especially careful when he has friends round again I thought this was normal

if this thread is anything to go by there are plenty of parents who would bend over backwards to dismiss or ignore any complaint made against a male teacher

Yes, quite.

If he does behave like this for no good reason, he must have a string of accusations as long as your arm already, as no child in the group would accept that was normal behaviour on the teacher’s part

It doesn't sound at all normal, which is possibly why the OP posted for advice. The DD told her parent, the OP posted here, you don't believe their account.

If he did behave like this, why would it have to be one in a long string of accusations? Why could it not be the first? Or the first that he might get called out on?

Your reasons for not believing the OP appears to be an entire construct of if...if...if... designed to ensure the male teacher remains blame-free.

@SirChenjins - it is unclear what you are disagreeing with?

@LAtalante - bollocks. I haven't at any point said the male teacher is blame free. I have said he is to blame if everything is exactly as the OP describes. But if you really believe without question that a teacher behaved exactly as described re the mobile phone incident, without any justification whatsoever, then you seem intent on blaming a teacher just because he is male.

God help all your daughters.

I don't assume the male teacher is blame free.

I don't assume that his actions are a safeguarding risk.

I haven't been given enough information about the way in which he woke the girls up to comment either way.

A PP has said that surely we have learned by now to believe children when they make accusations. Actually, what we have learned is to listen and take it seriously, and not to assume that 'lovely Mr X couldn't possibly have done XYZ'. NOT to automatically accept whatever is alleged, and NOT to automatically dismiss it. But to listen to both sides, and any witnesses, and consider any available evidence.

As shown by the Carl Beech case.

God help all your daughters

everyone on the threads daughters?

or all the people saying its a problems daughters?

or all the daughters of the people saying its not a problem?

or just some daughters?

cos its honestly not clear

I’m disagreeing with your claims that this teacher would have a string of accusations etc. These men are very good at hiding in plain sight and often have plenty of adults looking to excuse their behaviour and dismiss the words and feelings of girls.