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)

Bet you witnessed children being hit by adults though? In the 70's and 80's children were regularly assaulted by teachers, I was regularly hit with a ruler by one teacher for talking too much (hello undiagnosed ADHD). Not sure fear of physical punishment is a great way forward in education.

Transgressions from this year alone include:

• Destroying a classroom ( tables tipped over/ displays torn off walls/equipment launched everywhere).
• Hitting, biting, spitting and swearing at staff or pupils.
• Deliberately breaking resources such as a computer/beebot.
• Threats of physical violence against pupils and staff.
• Trying to abscond the building because it's funny that lots of staff then have to spend time trying to stop them/ get them back into class.
• Deliberately flooding toilets.

The lovely treats can vary but include stuff like:

• Going into another class as a helper often Reception or Nursery so not having to do their work and instead they get to play.
• Reading a story with SLT getting 1-1 time.
• Feeding the school animals instead of being in class working.
• Getting to play with Lego outside the office to calm down.
• Going on a 1-1 walk with a staff member and the schools dog.

Excluding SEND, the culture currently is if a child misbehaves then it’s the “fault” of the teacher eg “what triggering language did you use? What tone of voice?”.

I work in a ‘lovely’ school, and even my ‘lovely’ school has a whole host of problems due to short staffing, children with undiagnosed needs (who cannot get diagnosed because the waiting lists to be assessed are so long) and parents who literally will not accept that their child has behaviour issues or has ever done anything wrong.

The amount of teaching time that is lost due to behavioural issues is unreal. I see colleagues at breaking point because they have little to no classroom support yet are expected to hit ever changing targets.

There needs to be more not less posts about this until we can find a way through it. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the educational community is in crisis and it will affect all areas of society unless we can find a resolution.

The social contract between schools and parents seems broken to me (covid, right-wing press...)

Parents just either don't care ( the local current Y11 cohort have some of the most apathetic pupils I've ever encountered, and their parents are the same...) or they abuse staff because there is no funding/staff/Interventions (thanks tories!)

There is no support for sanctions anymore. They tell staff that "they know there (sic) rights"

It's horrendous.

If only parents knew what their dc are witnessing daily, there would be uproar

@MrsMurphyIWish I'm sorry you're having to work in that environment thats awful and worries me what kind of society we will have in 20 years time when a generation of children who are being excused responsibility for their actions hit adulthood

I don’t just believe it I see it and feel it. And it’s extremely worrying. We need funding directed at support for those needing behaviour management looking beyond the behaviour to the cause. Not just pushing the worst behaved onto college moving the problem.

also how are staff supported post incident. A debrief is standard in my workplace.

I do believe respect needs to be a three way thing, from teachers, from pupils, from parents.

This is the problem - whilst there’s so much resource ploughed at behaviour management there’s less on actual teaching. How much must it cost to have a 1:1 TA and what are they actually achieving if they’re just chasing kids round all day or sat with them in a rainbow room. The child isn’t learning and the rest of the class is missing out on vital funding.

also how are staff supported post incident. A debrief is standard in my workplace.

In my experience, they're not supported at all. They're asked to log incidents, talk to parents, and then get back to work and act like nothing has happened.

Yet the narrative is that it’s the parents’ fault.

Totally the wrong approach - violence by an adult is never the answer - what message does that give. I’d have removed my DC’s from a school where corporal punishment was used.

Take it up with the researchers - write to the journal?

Does your school have a behavioural problem?

I think it’s just the same old story re TAs- undervalued and underpaid. Wouldn’t make headlines as nobody really cares about support staff.

It's only going to change if the staff all leave

It can be both though. It's not either or. Yes in many cases the behavior is largely the parents fault. They condone the way their child is acting and in some cases encourage it.

In many schools the approach to this behavior from SLT is also to blame as the sanctions are non existent but equally their hands are tied. It's not as simple as just excluding a child.

@waitingforsunshine21 I currently teach in an Outstanding school so I don’t face physical violence anymore. There is still a culture of fear though as to give pupils a voice, the Head allows pupils to complain to student council about poor teaching which is then investigated internally. This leads to teachers not challenging low level behaviour, not giving sanctions etc. I don’t even think the pupils believe their behaviour is unacceptable and although they feel powerful now, they don’t realise it’s their own learning they’re damaging as we don’t get through the course content.

Fair enough. They should probably leave if they are getting attacked so often

Have you not noticed that this is exactly what is happening in the teaching profession??

It's not solving the problem it's just making it someone else's problem.

Can you quote where I said it’s the teachers fault? I said the last (very recent and very large) thread descended into a lengthy pile on on working parents (mothers specifically). Do I think that’s helpful? No.

Yes I have but clearly the government haven't. So they won't notice until there are zero staff left. Then it won't be someone else's problem it will be no ones problem. No one should feel compelled to stay in a job just because someone has to do it

They do which doesn’t help the situation at all. Would be nice if instead of a shrug and leave suggestion they were valued more.

@SeulementUneFois The police in my school’s area simply don’t care/have the capacity. We’ve called about weapons and gangs on the school site and it can take between hours to a few days until the police arrive. Crimes that take place out of school (unless very serious) are passed back to the school to deal with!

Agreed. I've worked in schools for the past 5 years and it's not always children with SEN.
I've worked with an autistic boy who was an absolute sweetheart and impeccably behaved.