To ask teachers if you are scared

[crochetmonkey74]

I'm a career teacher (25 years) and have always loved it.
In the last year, parental complaints over tiny things are very very common, and often aggressive. More and more students are making wildly false allegations. We have had 2 lockdown situations at my school (not drills) for armed intruders. The news today from Ammanford has really shaken me. I actually feel scared for the first time in my career. If you're a teacher, how are you holding up?

I look around and think " where would we go if something happened" now. Also plan in my head where we would hide, how we would block doors ect

Not scared but teach in a very nice suburb in the NE of Scotland

Secondary - not scared. Rural south east Surrey/Kent area.

Awful.

Bloody hell

Hopefully they will take the risk more seriously now? Definitely demand more action

Why not? We are failing these young people and society by not teaching them right from wrong and respect/ responsibility. They need to experience harsh consequences for false allegations. Can’t believe this is happening

Yeah.

Was a governor for years.

Would never do it again.

Parents have lost their minds. I got tired of being told behaviour sanctions breached their child's human rights.

This country is doomed.

With the way that kids are around here (moving around in gangs, having knives and putting peoples windows through with bricks without any kind of provocation) I’m worried. DD goes to a the same Grammar school that I went to. She's in year 7 but has been threatened that she'll be "jumped" several times, even if it's just a case of not handing over her pencil case when another girl told her to. I have raised every threat with school but one girl lives on our estate and goes around with the idiots wearing balaclavas.
We have cameras but when the gangs walk past they spot it straight away and pull their hoods so tight around their faces I’m surprised they can walk in a straight line.
I’m sick with worry about escalation.

Yes, I'm scared, but not for my own physical safety. Kids squaring up to me is still rare and in 20 years of teaching I have (thankfully) not been hurt yet.

I am scared for my children, especially the youngest, who is yet to experience secondary school. My teenager got bullied for being a nice child who engaged in learning and my little one will likely be the same, but with them it's likely they will cease to engage in learning to fit in with others as they are much more easily led.

I am scared that my male child will experience violence; it's statistically a lot more likely. With both, I am scared of the world they are entering when so many of their peers have had no boundaries. I see the number of fights, the number of children who dish out casual violence (hitting each other over the head with books is common), the number of children involved in verbal abuse and that does make me scared to what he is and will be exposed to.

I am also scared of children knowing where I live (I am reasonably close to my workplace). An ex colleague had a number of experiences with harassment, house egging and attempted burglary once kids found out where they lived.

I am scared of false allegations. They are becoming more common, as are petty complaints about things we say which displease the children as in my school there seems to be a culture of children reporting their teachers to safeguarding all the time over tiny things.

I am scared for the future of this country on a wider scale. I see this year's Y11, conscious they will be released into the world soon and so many of them have few social skills but a huge amount of arrogance, the likes of which I haven't seen on this scale in my years of teaching. I see how unprepared they are for the world of work, for the harshness of real life and I wonder how many of them will turn to petty crime once they realise they are currently unemployable. Schools have failed them by not showing them that their actions have consequences and many will be in a sink-or-swim situation. I wonder how many will sink.

I am not a teacher and my kids have had a wonderful experience at school. But I believe these stories 100%.

I think it’s a reflection of society in general. Increased hostility and a sense of entitlement and refusal to accept responsibility. I am front-line nhs and we see it too. Very few sanctions for abusive patients or relatives. Regular threats. Never makes the headlines. We have to help the sick etc.

I know a lot of it is due to government cuts and poverty. People feel unhappy and unsupported. The pandemic made everything worse. There is less hope for many. People have lost faith.

My kids went to a large London private school and had a pretty amazing and almost perfect experience with wonderful teachers. The friends they chose were lovely and decent and respectful. They have just left. So being in a privileged bubble clearly plays a part. We were lucky and my kids know that.

But there is something else, isn’t there? People just being unpleasant. Does social media play a part and encourage bad behaviour which spills into modern life? I don’t know.

I’ve posted before that I was pushed down the stairs heavily pregnant and there were no consequences for the boy until DH involved himself (even then the boy was only moved classes).

I don’t feel scared for my life. I don’t worry about DD either despite there being a teen murder last year on her route home (the boys who lose their lives by me are all in gangs and target each other).

Personally, my worry each day, is how precarious my job is and how much power is in my pupil’s hands. I know I could be “investigated” over anything. Our Head reminds us to “watch our tone” (not even our language) as we have so many complaints that a harsh tone will trigger complaints from both pupils and parents. It’s like some pupils are actively looking to take offence so they can write a report - its amusement and sport for some.

There’s a bit more to it than this, I’m sorry but I fear Keir and his band of woke Labor warriors aren’t the answer either….
Not sure who is?! 🙈🙈🙈
Today, everyone needs a problem and has to be on social platforms telling everyone about it….it’s not normal to NOT have one.

100% agree with this. I work in mainstream primary and have done for years. I'm genuinely either walking on egg shells every day or scared of being hurt. I've had chairs and tables thrown at me, non stop verbal abuse and threats of much worse violence. This is all from 7-10 year olds. Never any consequences put in place if the adults are hurt, threatened or verbally abused. If we worked in a special needs school we would be given training and more support to deal with these things but we are given absolutely nothing and expected to just get on with it. Most parents of these kids have told them that they have ADHD or ASD so it's not their fault, which is what the children will now say on a daily basis. It's like a get out of jail free card.

@AiryFairy101 don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of Keir or his party and I don't think they are going to magically turn the country around.

I do think though, that the tories have and always will systematically and deliberately shrink the state and that has enormous consequences.

I don't feel scared, but I think it would be hard to carry on if I did. I do currently teach in a school where the behaviour is brilliant though. I started teaching in 2006 and previously have always come across some violent behaviour and kids carrying knives, so I don't feel like this is new behaviour (worst was breaking up a fight in the classroom and getting squashed between two fighting boys, one of whom was found to be carrying a knife). I'm definitely more scared for the pupils (and society in general!).

I work in a school and twice in 2 weeks have witnessed violence from year 9/10 boys...both over 6 feet tall....towards female staff. I have just handed my notice in...I don't feel safe.

Day to day, no. But there are certainly times that I have felt scared, both of children and of parents. Working in a primary school shouldn't be a 'scary' job, but at times it is - and I've been on a battlefield!

Im also scared for some of our children who lack resilience or confidence. This has become a huge issue and I sometimes look at children who are 10/11 crying over very small things ("X said I smell") ("Y told me to shut up") and I think "You are going to get slaughtered at High School"

Indeed. I am gutted that I felt I needed to take the decision to leave the profession but I felt that being unable to protect my unborn child was one thing but the fact the there were absolutely no consequences is just something I can’t get over. We are not helping pupils by teaching them (and the whole class that witnessed it) that it is okay to assault someone and there won’t be consequences. We will be seeing the consequences of this lack of discipline and consequences for a long time to come…and that is probably what I find the scariest.

So sad and unnecessary. You should have pressed charges…

I think teaching unions should support schools in excluding way more pupils and just make this a government problem. Teachers are so socially motivated which is laudable, but I think it’s time as a profession they took collective action to protect themselves and the kids who want to learn. Yes it makes a problem elsewhere, but if these kids are unreachable what’s the point of them being in school? No the services elsewhere don’t exist but that’s not the fault or problem of our dedicated teachers.

Schools should be able to ban certain breeders from the school premises and from a certain specified distance around it.
The situation yesterday sounds similar to one in which I found myself over twenty years ago, a known thuggish teenage girl chased another girl along a corridor. The chased girl ran into a classroom and the first tried to get passed the teacher standing there, with a blade in her hand. I grabbed her from behind and we managed to restrain her. The outcome was that we had to explain why we put our hands on a 'child', that emotive word, and I had over a year of shoulder pain that was ignored.

spiral of poverty and fundamental lack of hope, breakdown of societal structures and social mobility, cuts to services left, right and centre. The blame is with the government for designing and presiding over this (and partly the electorate for allowing it to happen by repeatedly voting the conservatives into power).

Older teachers will tell you this has been going in since the mid '60s and cannot conveniently be dumped on any one government. We noticed a deterioration in standards after '97 when it became the norm to find excuses for poor behaviour rather than tackling it and a strict teacher was vilified.

It's so interesting to read this thread, increasing numbers of good teachers leaving the profession due to threats, unfounded complaints and unsupportive parents. Then I see another thread with a parent questioning if it's acceptable for her DC to be taught by a HLTA.

@MrsMurphyIWish I was also pushed down stairs when heavily pregnant with zero consequences for the boy responsible.

I work in FE now. I’m not scared for me. I’m scared for DP who still works in secondary. He’s constantly threatened, squared up to, spat at, accused of being a racist or a paedophile. And he’s classed as a popular teacher.

I’m really scared for my lovey DS who is in year 5. He’s a big lad but a gentle and kind soul. He loves learning. He’s got hfa so he finds social interactions a bit confusing. I know what secondary school is like and I’m so frightened he will face violence and bullying.

@JudgeJ so you don't think 13 years of tories has made anything worse? What or who is to blame then in your opinion?