school discipline?

[robinw]

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How old is your dd? It does seem a bit harsh and I am against pupils being removed from lessons unless they are beign very disruptive. My ds's (9 and 5) attend the same school and it has quite a strict discipline policy but with a system of house points given and lost. The school has a code of conduct and each child gets a certificate every term for keeping the code of conduct. The house points system is greatly encouraged with special assemblies for the giving of points, a child who has struggles learning something may be given a point or so for learning it, points are given to children for reading at home, for helping one another and the teacher. They are lost for bad behaviour. It works very well as each child wants to be in the house that 'wins' each Friday and I am all for a bit of healthy competition esp if its a system where you don't have to be the quickest, brainest or best at things to win. Perhaps a word with the teacher? Or if you would feel uncomfortable about that, your board of governenrs will have a parents representative, you could ask them to raise the issue of discipline at the next meeting at your anonymour request? I would thing that members who are teachers will have good suggestions.

When I was at school we had a newly qualified teacher who did much the same thing. She was just trying to assert herself and within six weeks became so popular, probably because she made it clear that she wouldn't accept any nonsense. however, we were older. We also had the housepoint system which was very successful.

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I am a teacher (though in Secondary) and whenever I get a new class I come in hard, all guns blazing! It is MUCH easier to be hard to begin with then loosen up later than to be loose to begin with then try to tighten up on discipline later. This is how you are taught to teach in college, and I have to say it works!
HTH

I agree with susanmt, you are told in college to start of hard, then you can ease off. It may also be the case that the teacher has worked/trained in a school where they use the assertive discipline approach. It uses as its premise that I have the right to teach and that the children have the right to learn. If any child tries to disrupt this, then the child's name is written on the board, ticks are added if the child continues with the inappropriate behaviour and is removed when a certain number of ticks is added. Perhaps she is adopting this kind of thinking.
It's certainly not easy being an NQT, children do seem to sense it and try to find out just how far they can push you.

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Robin, does this teacher teach your dd? if so, at the next partents meeting (if there's one comingup soon) you could say something especially nice to her. Alternatively, if you are around the school during the next few weeks, could you take the opportunity to bump into her, and say something friendly and welcoming?

Or do you feel this is too obvious and does not go far enough? Could the PTA offer her a special welcome - perhaps a card with some nice messages from parents inside?

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being a teacher myself (primary school) i think her methods sound rather usual! at our school we adopt the Assertive Discipline model as described by allatsea... we have a sunny side and a sad side on the board and the children are given various ticks as warnings/congrats... each culminating in a reward... or the worst, sent to head teacher and a letter sent home.. the idea being that the children are given various chances before action is taken.

it is hard to judge your teacher as the context is unkown... but if something had been thrown in my class ...i would try hard to establish whether it was deliberate or not and take action... this sort of behaviour (if deliberate) would be quite severly dealt with.

I hope your teacher is sending positive messgaes to her children/parents... as the sad thing would be to highlight all the negative aspects of behaviour...

if i were a parent i would take my stand from how i felt about her as a person as well as a teacher... is she the type of character who you think is coping well or just reacting out of frustration... as a NQT i'm sure she is well informed of the schools discipline policy and has a mentor within the school who is guiding her through the methods of dealing with unruly behaviour... have faith...

I hate to say this, especially now that I am a parent but when I was a full time class teacher the aspect I really disliked was PARENTS!!!!

I loved teaching and I was a good teacher (much better at that than being a mum!) but parents are hard work. Each parent has their own view of how their angel should be taught and disciplined and many just cannot see how hard it is to maintain discipline in a classroom of 30+ children who have all grown up with different boundaries.

I think your dds teacher is doing the right thing by starting out tough. All children, however young will test a new teacher to the limits and she needs to be strong and show them where the boundaries are. Throwing things at teachers and assistants is UNACCEPTABLE behaviour in my opinion!

I always started out tough with my classes but it was never long before I could ease off and become their friend. The best thing about starting like that is that once you are an established teacher sometimes you never need to discipline - just a 'look' will do!!!

Parents have got to let teachers do their jobs. If children see their parents complaining about fairly standard discipline policy they will never have respect for that teacher and nor will the parents. If there is real cause for concern and parents feel that the children are being treated too harshly then the management of the school will soon pick it up.

This NQT is probably now very unhappy and wondering why on earth she got into teaching - she shouldn't be made to feel like that.

One of the best things that happened to me in my first year of teaching was about halfway through when I realised that the parents supported me...

Now this is turning into a rant - do you think robinw that maybe the other parents are winding eachother up by going on about it at the school gates at drop off and pick up times? I used to hate seeing parents with their heads together at the end of the day ....

Two quick stories of school discipine coming up.

At one local school a 5 year old boy was very out of hand in his class and was excluded for an afternoon. His mother turned up at the school and had to be escorted off the premises by the female head. As they approached a flight of stairs, the mother pushed the head down them. The head suffered injuries to her face but was back at work within a few hours, accepting it as part of the job. The child has since been expelled and the mother faces prosecution.

At another local school, the head (then new and with a reputation for extreme strictness) banned three siblings at his school from taking part in their end of year plays because their parents had not given enough notice about a holiday they were taking in term time.

Can't say more, running out of time, but thought these were interesting in the light of this discussion.

I'm a teacher too, used to do class teaching, but secondary, and now do individual tutoring. Ghosty - I agree about boundaries - I remember being told that children will always test the boundaries, but that it is part of their security that they don't break them. i.e. if you have a rule, a child will try to break it, but will feel happy and secure when it can't (although he/she might scream in a tantrum if he's like my ds..!) - if the child is allowed to break the rule, he will feel uncomfortable and insecure - something the child knew as a constant has now been removed.

I also think the NQT sounds like she's doing really well - in my experience of being at school, the most popular and respected teachers were the strict ones with a twinkle in their eye.

Why don't you try spreading some positive gossip about her at the school gate - just drop in a few "my child's doing really well" or "my child really likes her" or something like that - gossip is gossip after all, and sometimes it doesn't take much to turn the tide!

My dds teacher made the comment during the open house that she is a tough teacher. I got really nervous at first but my dd loves her to death and the children really respect her. She is tough but shows equally lots of love.

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Robinw - sorry if you thought they were stupid ideas - I didn't mean you should brag about your child - more, praise the teacher for helping your child get on with their reading say. But if all the parents are really against her, then you're probably right to be cautious.

I just think it's a rough time for an NQT - trying to establish themselves over a new class, and parents can be horrible to teachers - at my first parents evening as a teacher, one mother started to lay into me about how I, my department, the school had all let her daughter down over the last 6 years - I had been at the school 6 weeks! The daughter herself did not think this - only the mother!

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