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Original poster

Weird things your teachers did, which they would be fired for today.....

499 replies

muriel76 · 27/09/2011 19:15

Bit of a random question, but I was chatting with an old school friend the other day and we were remembering our teacher at primary school having a new bathroom fitted and she wanted to check how the workmen were doing.

The whole class was told to 'line up at the door' and off we marched down the road to her house, with teacher leading the way (small town BTW she lived near the school!) but no other adults in sight.

We then all sat in her back garden while she chatted to the plumber!

Ok this was back in the 80s but it made me think - you would never get away with this today.

Anyone else got a similar story from before the days of the national curriculum and parental consent forms etc?!

OP posts:
Skinnywhippet · 04/05/2013 19:22

And that was only in late 1990s

Lavenderhoney · 05/05/2013 13:46
  • teacher in primary - if anyone spoke out of turn or giggled, the whole class would be made to sit cross legged on the floor with your arms and hands straight up above your head whilst she read the paper.
  • rota of small children to clean the staff room of wine bottle and ash trays once a week. Disgusting.
  • secondary
  • given " moral education lessons" by barmy deputy head and told not to tell parents as they wouldn't approve.
  • German teacher who didnt check when I said I had " special lessons" with the mad deputy head and spent every wed and fri afternoon walking in the woods by the school instead for 2 years. If it was cold I went to the lesson and just sat at the back.
  • French teacher who clearly hated us and shouted abuse in French whilst smoking.
  • history teacher who smoked a pipe and hated us, shouting abuse and didnt bother teaching, just complained about having to teach.
  • art teacher who tore up your work if it wasnt creative enough. Or she didnt like it.
  • not one teacher in 10 years questioned why I didn't do homework, cried at anything and was always white faced and exhausted, a nervous wreck really, and very jumpy. I really hope any kids with obvious home issues get some help and support now.

One primary teacher when I was 5 questioned my dm about me being so well, reserved and well, different - and I got punished at home for drawing attention to it, plus my dm had all my hair cut off. The teacher was visibly horrified the next day. She was very kind to me after. But no one did anything useful.

All in the eighties. I hated school. It was dreadful.

Steffanoid · 04/06/2013 21:31

a music teacher at our school was renowned for throwing things at students from books (tame) to a chair and one of those individual tables at a girl because she was singing out of tune...

tungthai · 04/06/2013 21:37

Primary school:-

Hitting including pants down and bottom smacked in front of class.

Telling children they were useless.

Secondary school:-

Male teachers discussing the female pupils bottoms and boobs.

Ranking the girls in order of attractiveness.

I do remember some good teachers, honestly!

thefuturesnotourstosee · 30/07/2013 13:20

Got to read this when I have some time (a lot of posts)

When I was 9/10 we had a teacher who used to throw chairs at misbehaving pupils. He was very very scary and I was terrified of him. When he was in a good mood he was a very good teacher though but you never knew what sort of day he was having until a chair was flying through the air at you. luckily he was a crap shot

thefuturesnotourstosee · 30/07/2013 13:23

Oh and we were once sent to boots with a shopping list and a budget. Each gropu had to buy different types of condoms. We then returned to class and were taught how to put them on bannanas.

I got a big shock when I discovered a mans penis was not curvy and yellow Grin

CircassianLeyla · 30/07/2013 13:32

In equivalent year 4 we had a fantastic teacher. (My friends and I still watch everything that comes in TV related to WWII and the Aztecs due to him).

He was incredibly passionate and used to fly into a rage from time to time if the class wouldn't listen. He once picked up his chair and threw it down so hard that the cup on his desk broke. I am convinced that it shattered from him throwing the chair but I realise the chair may have actually hit the cup.

He was my first big inspiration though in spite if the rages. Hmm

Wishfulmakeupping · 30/07/2013 13:37

Our maths teacher used to throw the whiteboard rubber at your head if you weren't paying attention and he used to escort any girls wearing makeup to the toilets and make us wash it all off

RobinSparkles · 30/07/2013 14:09

She probably wouldn't have got sacked but, I did Media Studies for GCSE, and our teacher used to make us take off our shoes to go into the back room, where the cameras were. Confused

I have no idea why we had to take our shoes off! It felt very odd walking around with no shoes on.

PenguinBear · 30/07/2013 14:14

We went on a geography trip to swanage for the week in secondary school. The teachers left us in our own and went to the pub each evening - it was fab and we had great fun playing on the beach and in the arcade!

DaleyBump · 30/07/2013 17:59

When I was 14 (in 2009), my chemistry teacher poured petrol all over three desks and set them on fire, to "demonstrate a chemical reaction." Loved it!

SueDoku · 30/07/2013 18:41

I had a chemistry teacher (in the 60s) who shut misbehaving girls (and only girls!) in the fume cupboard and turned the fan on, leaving them desperately trying to stop their skirts from being blown upwards and with their hair standing on end... Shock

orangepudding · 30/07/2013 18:57

I went to a Roman Catholic secondary school, the head was an alcoholic. He built a fully stocked bar in the school in one of the hallways, doubt it still there....

orangeandemons · 30/07/2013 19:18

The history teacher who used to tell us it was a waste of time teaching us, as we were all going to die in a nuclear war anyway....the Cuban Missile Crisis was just a trial run according to her. We all used to sit there white and terrified praying that Regan wasn't going to press the button.

She was a fantastic teacher though, I still love history now.

Also the headmaster of our junior school who used to rub his hand up and down your back to see if you were wearing a bra or not

Pawprint · 05/08/2013 09:46

I went to a Scottish school where teachers were allowed to punish pupils with a leather belt. I remember one teacher nearly broke a child's fingers because he belted him so hard.

My history teacher got so sick of me and my friend giggling that he locked us up in the book cupboard for the rest of the lesson.

French teacher being lecherous to one of the girls in my 1st year at high school.

Art teacher couldn't be bothered to teach us the history of art part of our course. It was, I believe, half the course but he just didn't teach any of it. I only passed because I went to the library and taught myself the course.

Teachers smoking in class.

Kids being hit over the head by their teachers.

cardamomginger · 11/08/2013 20:08

DH's headmaster got him to service his car in the lunch hour.

NichyNoo · 11/08/2013 20:21

My year 8 maths teacher spent the entire year pretending we were in a relationship. He used to say to the class "me and Nichy had a great time last night. Shall we go out again tonight" etc.

EugenesAxe · 11/08/2013 20:27

My biology teacher (in an A-Level class) suddenly dashed out of school because she had left something on the stove (I thought it was honey, but can't see why you'd need to heat it?).

We were just copying notes from the board so like bloody dull and good little girls we just carried on until the bell went.

She would get sacked probably for both her desertion, and the lack of real teaching...

gandalfcat · 11/08/2013 20:27

Maths teacher who used me, a rather top heavy 14 yo to explain "top heavy fractions"

ourlittlestreet · 11/08/2013 21:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ourlittlestreet · 11/08/2013 21:15

This reply has been deleted

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Kasterborous · 12/08/2013 21:57

Miss Potts gave me a lift home once when I missed the bus.
When I was 11 we had a school trip to London and we went in the chamber of horrors at madam tussards. I was scared and my (male) teacher held my hand in a purely platonic reassuring way, they wouldn't dare do such a thing today.

sashh · 24/09/2013 18:07

I was once squatting down talking to a couple of girls sitting at a desk. Our English teacher thought it appropriate to come up behind me, wrap his legs around my waist and squeeze his thighs together.

He was about 60, still lived with his mother and wore the same clothes for a term so stunk.

So there I was feeling sick with the smell and sick because I could feel his erection and looking at the girl opposite me whose face showed she couldn't quite believe it either.

mrspremise · 26/09/2013 19:49

My art teacher hung a boy (by his collar) on a coat peg because he wouldn't stop getting out of his seat. Our head of drama was alsosacked for passing a joint around at an after show party, so we'll say no moee about that Confused

dontmakemeslapyou · 27/09/2013 20:54

i might be abit late but i remember at primary school our pe teacher (male) used to call me legs eleven that would probably be wrong on so many levels nowadays