To think change is desperately needed in schools?

[GibberingPeck]

I work with young children. Today I was hit twice and scratched on the face so hard it drew blood. This has not happened to me before and I’ve worked in schools for many years. I was trying to stop a child hurting another child. The school’s stance seems to be that I shouldn’t have intervened or somehow dealt with the situation badly. I think they saw I was bleeding, but ignored it as they have so much to deal with. This year, I think I’ve seen more violent and aggressive behaviour from children than I’ve ever seen. And no way of dealing with it - it seems to have become acceptable or ‘the norm’.

@Lougle
Yes it's called expecting students to take some responsibility for their own learning and for parents to have SOME involvement in their child's education. Shock horror. Which of course in the modern world of gentle or helicopter parenting should no way be allowed. Don't do well in your exams..well of course it's the schools/teachers/next door neighbor's cats fault isn't it.
DH is a secondary teacher, I have lost count the number of kids who could do well in exams but can't be arsed..they either come to a startling realization a few weeks before their GCSE that's doing fuck all for a few years is possibly not going to get them a good grade and then DH is on the receiving end of phone calls from concerned parents who ignored emails/phone calls like the one you received but then expect DH to pull revision sessions out of his arse in his already overcrowded timetable. He recently had to call 24/30 parents for kid who didn't turn up to GCSE revision, why should he have to?!
Or they carry on doing fuck all and DH gets it in the can because they were more concerned about tik tok, vaping, etc than their exams and future, which is of course everyone's fault but their own despite the fact that he provides countless revision sessions IN HIS FREE TIME.
Unsurprisingly I am an ex teacher and would not set foot in a classroom again under any circumstances.
DH is an excellent empathetic teacher who was recently observed by ofsted and highlighted as outstanding, but he can do the fucking exams for them can he.

@benefitstaxcredithelp
Bull shit. It is down to shit parenting.
I bumped into a teacher (whose kids I taught incidentally) last week and she told me she'd finally had enough. That a change had occurred after covid in which kids felt like they could behave any way they wanted and were supported by their parents. She was punched and called a fucking cunt by a FIVE YEAR OLD the day before and she couldn't take it anymore.

Do you want your child to do well or not?

If so, then yes, they have to start planning and preparing for their GCSEs at least a year beforehand.

The school are entirely right.

It's about time that pupils (and their parents) realise that the entire educational/school system is for their benefit, not the benefit of the teachers, government, or someone else. It's ALL about getting the kids to do the best they can, get the best qualifications they can.

Education/qualifications are the key to a successful and productive/prosperous adult life.

Of course, if a pupil (and parent) are happy living on the dole scratching a poor standard of living, then feel free to constantly fight against the school!!

I wanted my child to survive her secondary education. As it is, she has been out of school for months and now needs alternative provision via an EHCP.

As a teacher of a lot of years, it's almost never the children with two working parents who I see struggling. If anything, they are often more independent and organised than children with SAHPs who do a lot for them. I really don't think two working parents are the problem at all. We have incredibly low expectations of parenting, and saying anything critical is seen as mum-shaming. In particular, there is far too much screen use from both parents and children. Y2s do not need their own phones.

On a separate note, the number of cases of ASD and ADHD is believed to be increasing; it's not just a greater number of diagnoses.

Ha. If only any of that were true wouldn’t it all make more sense.

In Scotland at least, it was the teachers unions who were pushing for lockdown, pushing for not having to provide live lessons in lockdown, pushing for children to wear masks everywhere. If teachers unions are telling children their education doesn’t matter then why should it come as a surprise when they believe teachers or resent them?

it's almost never the children with two working parents who I see struggling. If anything, they are often more independent and organised than children with SAHPs who do a lot for them

Parents of more independent and organised children find it easier to go out to work than parents of children with SEN shocker!

No, not children with SEND. Obviously working when you have a child with additional needs can be incredibly challenging, if not impossible.

I had retired before lockdown, so was only doing occasional bits of supply. Given the advice re the vulnerable, I stopped doing supply a fortnight before lockdown in order to shield my late husband.

I'd already lost a child to my job. There was no way that I was going to lose my husband to work too.

I know that teachers with certain medical conditions or with family with conditions were reluctant to go in, given what we were told about the need for distancing.

Newbuild schools in my area have tiny classrooms for some subjects and no opening windows - a significant problem at any time.

Nevertheless, schools here stayed open for the children of frontline workers and for vulnerable children - at least in my area. Teachers took it in turns to man the schools while those who needed to shield provided the online work.

I can't imagine that the parents of physically vulnerable children would have wanted their offspring to go into school.

As for the complaint about pushing for children to wear masks everywhere - surely that's something that should be taken up with the medics and scientists if you think that the advice was wrong?

After my husband died I returned to supply. I recall that both vulnerable staff and pupils were wearing masks to school. Indeed, I still see some children and a handful of non-teaching staff choosing to wear masks.

Cutting the very successful Sure Start program set up by New Labour has had terrible consequences for struggling parents and by extension, schools and teachers.

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2024/mar/23/angela-rayner-roots-rough-edges-ready-for-power

I am so sorry you were hurt, OP.

Sure Start was expensive and taken over by people who shouldn’t have qualified and not used by those who should.

You can’t force parents to use services they don’t want to or can’t be bothered to.

Sure Start did not make neglectful parents more responsible.

In Scotland at least, it was the teachers unions who were pushing for lockdown, pushing for not having to provide live lessons in lockdown, pushing for children to wear masks everywhere. If teachers unions are telling children their education doesn’t matter then why should it come as a surprise when they believe teachers or resent them?

None of what you assert has anything to do with teachers' unions saying education doesn't matter.

Sorry you were hurt OP.

I agree fundamentally that everything has been cut so much that we are taught to just accept anything.

Covid did also break down the social contract between families and schools. In a previous life I worked on humanitarian crises and education. The mantra was- keep the schools open. Even if they're being targeted. Because they're such a crucial part of the social makeup of communities, once you take them away there will be consequences. Those of us who have experience in this area- including lots of disaster planning experts- said this at the time.

Now you might argue that it was necessary to protect teachers, communities and of course lots of schools never really closed. But the public messaging was such that you could only have this outcome afterwards. It's the job of policymakers to decide on these tradeoffs. Was it worth it?

Incidentally I don't think the teacher unions helped. Obviously their job is to protect members but they didn't pivot to 'how can we keep schools open safely?' until relatively late in the pandemic. Poor messaging, poor foresight.

As for the complaint about pushing for children to wear masks everywhere - surely that's something that should be taken up with the medics and scientists if you think that the advice was wrong?

Scientists said it wouldn’t help, even the Scottish Government report at the time said it might increase infection through cross contamination. It was EIS who pushed Sturgeon on masks (including outside at pickup for which there was absolutely not even suggestion of any evidence but Swinney threw it in off the cuff for EIS)

Closing schools and then providing very limited, or no, alternative work which was unmarked, sends a very clear message that education is not important.

@SaffronSpice
We aren't in Scotland so that is irrelevant to me.
DH did online learning from day one. Most teachers completely learnt a new way of working from day one and still you see them as the problem. Unbelievable.
I don't know any teachers who asked for schools to be closed, you are aware they are the ones subsequently dealing with the effects of it in schools and the slide in educational standards?
Unfortunately he was unable to go around to the houses of the 150 kids he teaches and make sure they we're actually present in the online lessons and doing the follow up, I imagine he thought their parents would be doing that seeing as that's is actually their responsibility

“The entire school/education system is for their benefit”

Are you kidding? Have you any idea of what the education system is like today?
I literally could not agree less.

In fact nothing about school today is for the benefit of the kids. It’s for the league tables and the government’s ranking in comparison to the international league tables.

Nothing about it is about what is best for a child’s development or needs. It’s about jumping through hoops to pass tests to gain so-callled qualifications that have practically no reflection on a person’s true intelligence or ability.

No one in our area got online learning at all. DW school was in a different city, and they didn’t either.

It was very clear that school ceased to matter during lockdown.

@SaffronSpice
So the logical next step from that is that every child and parents gets to treat the teachers like shit, like the teachers themselves somehow chose this or to close schools. Righto

“I don't know any teachers who asked for schools to be closed”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/teachers-neu-shut-schools-england-lockdown-b1537611.htmlml

This is very true but I did teach at a school with a sure start centre attached. We ran baby clinics, parenting classes, mother and baby groups and father and child groups.

No, we didn't reach everyone we wanted to but we reached more than we would have otherwise. And we were genuinely surprised by some of the parents who chose to engage becaise we wouldn't have expected them to.

A lot of poor/neglectful parenting isn't because parents don't care about their children but because they don't know how to do better.

If teachers stopped treating the children and families like shit (after all, without parents choosing the school the teachers wouldn’t have a job), the favour would be returned.

A lot of poor/neglectful parenting isn't because parents don't care about their children but because they don't know how to do better.

Where I worked it was mainly down to drink and drugs being the priority and SS low standards that meant as long as the kids were fed and loved - they stayed with the family: I’m not sure how low the bar is set to remove starving cold not ridden kids from the hell their lives must be on a daily basis: