Teacher questioned over attempted murder of pupil

[Frasersmum123]

This happened near to me

poor boy, I hope he will be ok

Of course teachers can be under such stress, but this is something else. (are you a teacher flat? No disrespect, but think this isn't a matter of the person concerned being a teacher, but a very unwell individual)

Any ideas what happened?

Yes I am and I agree this is clearly very unwell individual. But perhaps this can prompt a wider discussion on the stresses of teaching in a tough school. Such schools can tear to shreds any teachers who are not incredibly strong and spit out the remains.

But yes this is an extreme case and it does concern me that snap decisions will be made because of it.

Definitely must be way more to the story than first look.

How awful.

Clearly it is never acceptable to snap and assault anyone, let alone a child.

But it does also look like the man was unwell, already off with stress - so his mental health must be called into question too.

Prior to this it seems the teacher had an excellent reputation.

How sad

I hope the boy comes thrugh ok.

LeninGrad - severity I think. You need intent for them all I believe. If there is mental health they may appeal on grounds of diminished responsibility.

APPARENTLY he had had a stroke and the kids were taking the piss out of him and saying they hoped he had another one he just snapped

I have this rom some dodgy internet source but it is a situation that you can imagine happening

Oh, I can definitely imagine some kids saying stuff like that.

I had a lovely teacher working with me for a while. He sadly had a heart attack following a Y9 class we took together. He was in hospital for a while and didn't return. But that Y9 class, well some of them were awful. They would laugh and joke about it, to me, that they wish he'd died (he was a lovely teacher, never shouted, always gave his all, infact not employed at the school at all but the LEA) that they wanted it to happen again, they were glad they were able to cause someone to have a heart attack, etc. They really were horrid about it and I wouldn't have put it past them syaing it direct to him, rather than just to me.

Again, never an excuse to assualt anyone, esp a child. But I do see how some children would be capable to winding up an already ill person.

I thought murder has to have intent otherwise it is manslaughter.

I think there has to be more to this, it just doesn't make any sense. I would say there must be mental health issues.

Terrible. I hope the boy fully recovers - I think he's improved overnight.

I wonder how many teachers heard about this and thought "there but for the grace of God..."

I tought in some extremely tough environments, I've been taken to the edge by students before and I can see how it might happen. Like the time a student threw and office chair at me the day after i returned to school after having a miscarriage for example.

A mob mentality, teenage hormones and the knowledge that in UK schools there are no real consequences for bad behaviour can make for a truly frightening work experience at times.

when I read the story I thought that there must have been extreme provocation for the teacher to react like that.

BBC website is reporting that there is a lafleting campaign planned outside the school in support of the teacher.

sorry that should say leafleting.

Murder has to have the intent to cause serious harm, SoupDragon, but not specifically an intent to kill. I'm not sure what that means for attempted murder.

I am amazed that more teachers don't snap.

From what I hear (my dad is a maths teacher in a rough school) some children can push you to the edge. Threatening you, hurling abuse at you, sneering at you, spitting at you, swearing at you, refusing to work, being backed up be "don't you say anything to my child" parents who think it is ok for their child to throw a chair at you, but not ok for you to push their child away from you to prevent them from punching you in the face?

Of course it is totally unacceptable to bash a kid round the head, of course it is, but can you imagine what a person must have endured for their mind to snap and for them to do something as terrible as that to a child?

And of course a reply is "If you can't handle it, get out of the profession" and while that is an option - how would our children be educated? Because if every teacher who had to face unacceptable behaviours just quit... there'd be nobody left. And then what?

Something needs to change. Some kids are out of control and teachers have no authority or power and the parents of the worst kids tend to be the least supportive of teachers' efforts to keep discipline.

He should not have hurt that child. But he should not have been in a position where he was driven to the edge.

I agree Hecates..the contempt that some teachers face on a daily basis would grind anyone down. When my friend started teaching in a secondary school she was utterly traumatised and in tears every evening.

The situation is so bizarre that surely it must be some kind of psychotic episode, or at least a mental health problem?

'he just snapped' doesn't quite cut it does it?

I don't know... if you've been off having had a STROKE and people are taking the piss out of you, I think it would be pretty easy to snap

A STROKE ffs

I have this impression that things go wrong when kids move to secondary, so perhaps it would be better to a have a system where children stay in the same school from age 5 till 16/18.

If the class were all yelling 'I hope you die and have another stroke' and the victim was inches from his face yelling these words [no evidence this was the case], this still does not justify the teacher's actions. If the victim had been hounding him for weeks that still does not justify his action.

Yes, teaching can be stressful. I taught in inner London for 9 years and had a pupil once tell me he would kick my head in until the bits of brain were splattering his shoes. My focus was on making sure the rest of the class felt safe. A professional should have a distance that enables them to see the bigger picture and ensure that 'losing your temper' is very very rare. I only taught with one colleague who genuinely used to lose their temper (as opposed to the majority who occasionally raised their voice under control) and it made life very difficult for them.

If the teacher was not well enough to return to school and was suffering from mental illness it is obviously tragic this was not picked up on. Lots of teachers are under stress and coping with very difficult situations but I don't think that makes an attack for any reason justifiable on any level.

Well, the teacher has clearly done wrong, but my sympathies are with him and not the 14 year old boy. Time we instilled a bit more respect in our children for teachers imo.

I agree, that kind of piss taking is absolutely repulsive, but the response was so extreme that maybe there is some neurological damage that has affected his behaviour?

I guess I'm struggling to comprehend how a usually liked and respected teacher can become violent and cause that kind of damage to children. But maybe I'm just naive.

I am relieved by the tone of this thread tbh. Awful that a child is hurt, but there must have been a major incident.

Having read lots of news reports on this, i feel far more sympathy for the teacher than the kid - although I realise that's unreasonable on my part.

It seems as though the teacher was a good guy, well liked and rated by former pupils.

He clearly returned to school too soon after his illness (perhaps under pressure to do so) and snapped.

I hope the boy is ok but I also hope the teacher gets sympathy too.