Teacher sacked for teaching a TikTok dance

[mammabing]

Posting here as I’m interested to hear other people’s thoughts on this.

https://apple.news/AmOGKR_ELSLqutPF2Sv4saA

I get that if she knew they had accounts she should have reported it but surely it’s the parents who are responsible for any social media their child has? A lot of the dances on TikTok are innocent enough so why should she lose her job? Surely further safeguarding training would suffice?
Also I thought the content itself wasn’t age restricted, just signing up to the site?

YABU - she should be sacked
YANBU - she should have kept her job

Don’t really see where my job comes into this but yes I am. Surely the point of a public forum is to discuss things and learn? Just this afternoon I got my class to work collaboratively as they all have different experiences and knowledge to bring to the table. Much like you shared knowledge with me to help change my perspective.

Thank you to those of you who have posted further articles. Reading those it makes a lot more sense. I had a feeling there must’ve been more than just teaching a dance. The joys of media reporting eh? 😂

In year 5 as in 9/10 year olds??????

Having read more about this case after seeing it in the news, I feel for this teacher. She was clearly struggling with her mental health but her actions seem to have come from a place of caring (letting the children know about having a different teacher next year to prepare them emotionally, staying in touch with the pupil over dojo because the pupil missed her.) Yes it wasn’t sensible but it wasn’t malicious. The school knew she was having a hard time and responded by conducting teaching observations, which would have no doubt added to her stress.

She shouldn’t have told the children about the ectopic pregnancy and it is regrettable but it sounds like she was emotional and told them using child-friendly language. These things can happen in life and if someone told my DC this, I would explain that sometimes things don’t go well and sadly the baby couldn’t be born. They were upper primary so they would have some understanding of death/ things not going to plan.

I taught for 10 years but changed career a few years ago. A lot of multi academy trusts are quite difficult to work in and they heap so much pressure on staff that it becomes toxic. I remember we once had a training session where they told us that if a child tries to hug us, we should literally push them away because it’s inappropriate. Some children are vulnerable or have a difficult home life and often the school staff are the only people they feel safe with. Teachers aren’t robots and I don’t like the way they condemned her for using affectionate language about the children.

I’m not saying she was completely in the right but it’s a shame the school didn’t support her more.

@ToryHater

Thank you. I would not want her or anyone like her near any children. I wonder if those feeling sympathy for her would feel the same if it was a male teacher.

and an investigation into her condact found a pattern of small indiscretions which ‘make a bigger concerning picture’
Hmm, there's obviously more to this story.

Exactly. You don’t get sacked easily as a teacher

Just seen this before posting my reply
Knew there must be more to it.
There should be no contact between pupils/parents and their teachers on social media accounts.
Not professional and just asking for trouble

There should be no contact between pupils/parents and their teachers on social media accounts.
Not professional and just asking for trouble

Class Dojo isn't social media. It's a platform used by schools to communicate with parents.

You can message the whole school or class. Or just one parent. You can share photos. But anything on there can be seen by whoever is in charge EG SLT or the head.

That works in larger cities I imagine. It doesn’t work in small villages where the teachers are close friends and family of most of their pupils and their parents.