To refuse to teach this lesson

[cantthinkofausername26]

Secondary teacher of a practical subject. Maximum amount of students doing practical at one time has always been 16. Suddenly this term it has increased to 25! Boys school so big kids, year 10.
Head of department has decided this particular practical should be taught. I feel it is dangerous. Multiple hazards, too many kids, accident waiting to happen,
AIBU to say I'm not doing it. WHEN an accident happens I will be held accountable as class teacher.

British Standard 4136:2021 is the document covering that, and a DT teachers good companion in terms of concerns on risk.

It should be on the bookshelf in every department office

Not really, if the OP is worried about it and the HoD is brushing it off.
Unions have specifically trained people to give advice. Why would getting that support be anything other than a good thing?

Contact cleappss

Are you science or a dt subject

But the average class size for year 10 at my school is 32. And they work in 2s so 16 groups.

I would not do something I felt was unsafe.

Doesn't matter if a load of other people on the internet thought they could do it safely.

@ThatCalmHelper if only all HODs were as reasonable as you!

So for context. It's a food lesson. We have enough cookers for 2 kids to share one, but one has to be shared between 3. The practical requires 3 pans per kid so obviously not doable. Other teacher suggested using one pan twice so two pans per kid. That's 25 boiling pots of water, 25 frying pans with chicken and bacon. There's some areas of the room that are very narrow, the boys are big now, it's claustrophobic. The classroom is designed for 16 kids. It just seems like too much going on at once to be safe. 3 severe SEND kids (with LSA) at least 4 with adhd and behavioural issues.

My job share likes to run to HOD with anything I suggest.

It would but CLEAPPS of DATA are more useful in this situation unless the union rep is a teacher in the subject area. Or indeed the Health & Safety Officer, our Health & Safety Officer is fully NEBOSH trained and could bring any activity to an end if he was concerned.

Going to the union infers dispute, it is better to address the issue on professional grounds of Heath & Safety management rather than it seeming like a dispute.

It's tricky to advise without specific details.
I teach science so usually have classes of 30.

Colleagues in other subjects openly say they would sooner stick pins in their own eyes than do a practical involving chemicals and Bunsen burners with 30 pupils. I am fine with it as I risk assess.

Ultimately, if you have spoken to the HoD and still don't feel comfortable, I would email the SLT link, cc HoD and explain your reasons. Put forward your suggestion of splitting the class and possibly making use of a technician if available. See what comes back. Emphasise that you are concerned for the safety of the pupils.

As a HoD myself, within reason, I wouldn't force a team member into a practical they were not comfortable with. Obviously, they couldn't refuse to do any practical work but if it was something specific, I would try to arrange a swap/another solution.

I am a union rep. If my member came to me with this, I would put them in touch with our health and safety rep.

Going to the union is about advice. If people want to see it as dispute, I would question why that's their first response.

Could your job share do it then? If they dgaf?

I would ask for the risk assessment that's been completed by your HOD stating the ways of mitigating risk.

It's poor but 25 isn't that's big. But I guess subject such as woodwork metal
Work etc big machinery and big accidents it's definitely not good.

I used to teach PE which I realise isn't as bad but regularly would be told 'there's no cover' and to 'collapse classes' meaning 60+ kids to one teacher. Absolute shite. No teaching happening just crowd control. One of many reasons I don't teach anymore.

OK, I see your concern - and I agree it's not workable.

You have two very strong arguments, 1 the room is not big enough for the number of students, sharing a cooker is like sharing a machine in a workshop, not really on.

2 The added complexity of the SEN students and the likelihood you have to keep an eye on them more than the others, hence increasing the likelihood of others having an accident.

I would advise you call the CLEAPPS helpline and discuss it with them, they are very helpful on such matters, if they confirm by email that they feel the situation is unsafe (and they do) that puts you in a strong position to go back to your HOD or to the Health & safety officer if you don't get anywhere.

I'm not a food tech expert, but it does sound like a nightmare scenario and a high likelihood of someone getting burned.

Your HOD is remiss for thinking its OK, it isn't.

It's never unreasonable to refuse to do work which you feel is unsafe.

And It speaks volumes of your safety culture if leadership are ignoring the risk & telling you to crack on.

The school's duty of care to it's staff & pupils should be first priority. This change does not reflect this.

As an absolute minimum the risk assessment needs to be revised as it's a substantial change.

YANBU to seek further advice.

Tbh i dont think cooking compares with practicals like brazing - cooking should be a daily activity in most homes with kids well aware and used to the dangers associated with pans of hot water, cookers. This shouldn't be new and novel to kids its daily life and many secondary kids will go home after school to an empty house and boil the kettle and make hot drinks, some may well cook themselves some pasta.
I appreciate there are dangers involved - can you prepare a risk assessment clearly stating the risks you think are specifically heightened by having 25 kids doing it rather than 16?
When i did food at school the food room had 5 kitchen bays with 4 kids per bay and it honestly never felt dangerous at all.

You as the teacher need to right the risk assessment. If this shows it is not safe to carry out the practical in this environment then show it to your HOD and the health and safety officer, if your an academy your school should have one if LA they maybe based in the council. Also ring CLEAPSS, helpline for more support, if you need the schools details for login then contact the science technicians as they will use it all the time . But CLEAPSS cover DT, food tech and art as well so they should be able to support you with this.
Writing the risk assessment first is a good idea though as it shows you've though through all the practical issues and problems with trying to run the practical the way your HOD has requested.

Can you encourage the kids to plan their time at the cooker in pairs to minimise risks eg while one is setting their pan of water to boil at the back of the hob, the other is at a workbench chopping chicken, then they can swap and one be frying while the other chops?

It won’t work if they’re all cooking individually, can’t they cook in pairs/threes? With LSA support for those with SEND.

This is a good shout, they dont each need to individually prepare the meal they can do it as pairs with only one person stood at the cooker at a given time.

Well i wouldn’t do it.i was a teacher but would always stand my ground over anything I felt strongly would affect my pupils. If you belong to a union, ask them for advice.

I’m a teacher. I think your HoD is being very remiss here not to listen to your concerns. Even if they feel you are being difficult, they need to hear that you are worried and not force you into a situation that makes you feel unsafe.

In the first instance I would go back to your HoD and together see if you can work out a way to make this lesson work safely. Do they all need to make separate meals or can they work as pairs to produce one meal? If they all need to show the skills, why can’t half do it one lesson and half the other? Can a technician or LSA come in to support you for that lesson to be an extra pair of hands? Allow your HoD the opportunity to work through some potential solutions with you. If after that process you still feel like you’re being put in an unsafe situation, I would escalate to whoever is responsible for H&S in your school and ask for a risk assessment to be carried out.

You may well have to go ahead with the lesson if no one agrees with you that it’s unsafe. But if you have a paper trail, then if something goes wrong, you can evidence that you flagged the issues, tried to mitigate/avoid them, were not supported, and were forced to go ahead against your will. You are probably worrying unnecessarily - I remember similarly chaotic food tech lessons when I was at school, with loads of us using the same cookers - and none of us were ever hurt. But I appreciate as a teacher that some school environments can be more anxiety inducing places to work than others and if you feel something will go wrong then you are right to push this.

I understand that cooking is something virtually everyone does in our daily lives, normally safely - brazing, not so much!

However the concern the OP has is a risk based one, whilst a smaller number can do it safely, she is clearly at a point where there are going to be too many pupils in close proximity, using the same equipment, plus she has 4 identified behaviour pupils and SEN in the mix.

Every factor increases the likelihood of an accident, if it were 2 children per 4 burner hob, each with their own side and clear work area its much safer.

And be of no misapprehension, if it all goes tits up and a kid ends up in A&E with burns, suddenly it will magically be all Ops idea and the HOD won't know anything about it!

CLEAPPS have some diagrams of safe working positions in food tech rooms, worth seeing if you can find those OP.

If you are not familiar with CLEAPPS visit the science technician, they tend to use them a lot more than we do in DT and will be able to access your schools member account to access all the info and contacts.

Problem is OP says the room is physically too small and no support.

cooking compares with practicals like brazing - cooking should be a daily activity in most homes with kids well aware and used to the dangers associated with pans of hot water, cookers. This shouldn't be new and novel

It shouldn't but in many cases it is new and novel.

However, even if they are aware of the dangers, it doesn't stop it being dangerous. Boiling water can disfigure and at worst kill someone and the OP can't minimise the risks of this happening if the whole class are doing it

I work with tools in a primary school and that's not how risk assessments should work. They should be detailed and thorough and cover every eventuality.

I would update the risk assessment and put it in a email that you are concerned so if anything goes wrong you have some proof of poor leadership