1 in 5 teachers hit by a pupil

[MrsMurphyIWish]

AIBU to think it’s a low as that?

The worst encounter I have had is being pushed down the stairs when I was heavily pregnant with DS - luckily I grabbed the railing, however I was still expected to teach the boy. (He didn’t even get a detention). I teach in a different school now but swearing, general contempt (from some pupils), threats are still common. No physical violence though.

I put up with it as I’m in the money trap and waiting for mortgage to be paid off so I can escape but in’s worry if this doesn’t change we’ll have an endless cycle of ECTs who leave after a few years, continued missed recruitment targets, and behaviour will get even worse!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-68674568 - * (post edited at OP's request to add link to BBC news site)

I have 3 autistic children and they successfully mask too however if you’ve met one autistic child you’ve met one autistic child. Autism varies hugely, some are battling ADHD too, MH or other comorbities- all without adequate support or funding anywhere.

I agree, ideally this would happen but I think it’s so normalised in some schools. Not all.

I was shocked to hear a friend tell me when her child was in Year 2 I think she lashed out a TA and slapped her because she was “in her face”. She could barely admit her child was wrong. It was like yes she was wrong BUT…And as AFAIK none of her kids have ever been excluded so I’m assuming that wasn’t what happened. She’s the type of parent to kick up a fuss of her kids (now teens) get a detention.

When I used to work in schools as a HLTA around 2010, I didn’t witness any of this. What’s gone wrong? Or was I just fortunate enough to be in the better schools ? Teaching staff shouldn’t stand for this.

The curriculum is also nuts now.

There is also Ofsted pressure now.

I also agree with the comment on poor school leadership and parent blame. I have known disrespectful leadership who fail to promote joined up working with families.

If I was a teacher/TA - what is the head doing - what about the unions. If it was me I’d be calling the parents into school for a same day meeting and notifying the police. These levels of behaviour are totally unacceptable.

Are you suggesting that all children don’t need specialist provision?

So my 14 year old who functions at around. 2 years just needs better parenting?

I’m not disputing for a moment that some SEN children have shit parenting, but the reverse is also true. Parenting is doubtless a factor to this statistic but that doesn’t mean SEN isn’t.

As someone whose child consistently demonstrated very poor behaviour at school, I worked with the teachers and school endlessly. Did everything they asked, cried myself to sleep about it more times than I could count. There were 5-6 other poorly behaved children in the class. I knew the parents well and knew they were also working consistently with the school.

My child wasn’t displaying any of this behaviour at home or in other settings (clubs, childcare, social etc). We moved them to another school and the behavioural issue instantly disappeared. Several parents of that school have also done the same with same results. The schools’ leadership qualities were worlds apart.

My point exactly - the notion that one parent whose child copes well with ASD is judging another who isn’t coping is really quite sad!

My child has ASD, ADHD, a genetic condition, a brain abnormally, I could go on. But him having ASD is the beginning and end!

I've been teaching primary for close to 20 years and luckily have never been hit or kicked or spat at or had any furniture thrown around. That would be my point to leave.
I left the UK a few years ago to teach abroad and started out in an independent school with very high levels of SEN. One of my boys was only allowed on school premises with his 1:1 TA. He threatened to punch me once but thought better of it. He was picked up by his parents a short while later (who he punched and kicked quite frequently) since part of his behaviour plan involved sending him home if he or his support worker couldn't cope that day.
My current school is selective. They usually filter out children who would be an issue but we do still have kids with SEN. Behaviour issues are rare but that's also because parents are very much on board. They want their children at our school. It isn't easy to move them to any of the other independent schools if they get excluded from ours. It's harder for them to be accepted at the local (state) grammar schools if we put a poor behaviour grade on their report, regardless of academic results.
Violence or threatening behaviour against staff (and that's any member of staff) results in immediate suspension. Violence against other pupils does as well. They need to meet with our head before they are allowed back in. Three occurances in a year lead to cancellation of contract and parents have to find a new school.
I wouldn't go back to teach in the UK. I'm a teacher, not a social worker or foster carer or nutritionist or punching bag.

@EyeOfTheCat obviously not all children with ASD or ADHD can be in mainstream. But a lot have the capacity to understand what they're doing

Sorry to derail OP. I’m well aware SEND isn’t the only factor - just one that stands out to me in primary aged children especially.

I also recognise a lack of respect for teachers from both parents and children.

It’s a topic I feel quite passionately about - we have so much more knowledge about child development and eduction than our generation did and yet we’re not making progress - it’s getting worse!

What do you expect when you give children the power and take away corporal punishment?

I never witnessed any teacher being hit in the 1970s when I was at school.

I’m not surprised children are struggling. There are also huge swathes of children with undiagnosed SEN and children who cannot get real help for mental health issues because CAHMS is a joke.

For what transgression? What is the lovely treat?

Yes and a lot are somewhere in the middle, acting out as a result of an environment that isn’t suited to them and total overwhelm, rather than shit parenting.

I knew we'd only get to the bottom of the first page before we got to 'it's all these SEN children'. DC1 has SEN. They are perfectly behaved. They're the ones who are impacted by constant disruption and bullied.

On a side note, I'm in my 40s and behaviour at both my primary and secondary schools was appalling. It was a poor, rural area, what they used to call "low aspiration'. Loads of violence. Lots of drugs. Parents going 'up the school' and squaring up to teachers.

We would do well to look outside the schools because I very strongly believe the sharp rise in poverty over the last 10 years is the overwhelming determinant here, coupled with covid is the reason. The poverty in my childhood schools is now everywhere.

Despite what the right wing media states, my experience of unions is that they are powerless. My current school doesn’t even have reps because no one wants to take on the job so then you’re directed to a regional rep. As a PP said, they would direct staff to take sick leave for stress.

I said school leadership – not the staff they are hitting. There is a difference. You can read my experience above, which is not unusual.

A 9 year old threw a chair at me when I was in my second year of teaching. I quit the next day and feel incredibly lucky it happened before I was trapped by the money and therefore unable to get out. It’s an incredibly tough job at the best of times – once physical violence is involved, it just isn’t worth it. Hats off to those of you who have stuck it out.

I think the government have nicely promoted the shit parenting angle which means that always now comes up when children with SEN struggling to cope.

And it often comes up before the decimation of specialist provisions, support services and budgets.

It’s a massive part of what has let them away with the absolute decimation of services for vulnerable and disabled children.

@MrsMurphyIWish your story echos mine, except I live in Scotland. I was hit, pushed and then trapped by a child whilst I was heavily pregnant. The ht didn’t remove the child from my class and I was still expected to teach him even though he regularly picked up his chair and threatened to hit me with it. He threw things at my daily and other children were going home and telling their parents what was happening which was causing them to complain. I was the one who was removed from the class.
I moved to a younger class and my first morning with them a child hit me in the stomach with a shoe.

I work in a big school in a fairly well off area, there is at least one child per class who displays violent/ aggressive behaviour.

After speaking to my union rep I was encouraged fo be signed off sick. I had to get signed off with stress to which my council said unfortunately there was nothing to be done as it’s the state of education these days.

https://amp.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/17/devastating-toll-of-attacks-on-teaching-assistants-revealed-by-study

This report indicates over half of TAs have been assaulted within the past year. Honestly my pay was a bit better as a HLTA but personally I really couldn’t justify staying in a job that paid like that or even less as in most cases if I’m getting kicked and spat on regularly. People can cite SEN all they want but my friends kid for example doesn’t have SEN, I suspect lot of these kids wouldn’t be so quick to violence if all TAs were males?

It wouldn’t deter all of them but it might deter some. Children are taught from a young age that women are deserving of less respect.

That said, I worked in a school for children with severe disabilities for about 6 months. I was working to set up parent support groups. I did a round of visiting classes one day but then declined to do any more. The reason being it was SO normalised and commonplace in that school for staff to be attacked by young people (11-18) and the children were triggered by the littlest thing eg. Your earrings or they didn’t like the colour of your sweater. It was just too much of a risk for me. I do appreciate the kids in those situations genuinely couldn’t help it and it wasn’t about being “badly behaved” But it wasn’t my calling to get kicked or punched by 16 year old boys. I honestly respect those who feel it is.

Also if the child's over 10 in serious circumstances it should be reported to the police as the child is responsible for their actions legally from that age

Sorry to hear about your experience @Hiddenvoice. What worries me more is the unreported cases. I’m sure there are staff out there who don’t even report assaults because it’s now seen to be part of the job.