The saddest thing is that l’m not surprised to hear how badly this poor teacher has been treated.

[HedgesNotFences]

The teacher taught a Yr 6 boy how to use a glue gun. He didn’t follow the instructions and gave himself 2 “tiny” blisters from a glue gun burn.
The teacher was unable to tell the parent straight after school as she had to deal with a serious safeguarding issue.
The Yr6 parent took to social media then the newspapers. She then went to A&E (for 2 “tiny” blisters - recorded as such by A&E). She then went to the police. She then went to the Health and Safety executive. Then she contacted the school.
In the week after the incident she was outside the school gates setting up a petition to get the teacher sacked (the teacher had already been asked to resign by then and had left her position).
The teacher had to face a government tribunal where it was found she brought the profession into disrepute and wasn’t safe (because she didn’t have a TA to constantly watch over every single Yr6 who was using a glue gun).
Because of the shortage of teachers and the fact that she was actually pretty good, the tribe kindly allowed her to continue being a teacher. Though God knows why she would want to.

The parent gets to remain anonymous.

I hope the teacher has been supported through her ordeal - her mental health must have suffered terribly.

The teacher was reported to the Teaching Regulatory Authority who have the power to remove her "licence" to teach. It's very serious and must have been absolutely hell for her.

Their findings are public in a "justice must be seen to be done" sort of way.

It's the same for other regulatory bodies such as those for doctors, nurses etc.

And shame on the school for not protecting her

I hope that mothers name was shared relentlessly on social media and that her community know that she is indeed a twat and is absolutely ostracised.
I'm sore she's looking for lots and lots of money ....

Thankfully she was given full backing and glowing statements from her current school and I hope she takes some comfort from that.

Luckily the TRA made a sane judgement and she's free to continue to teach, although no-one would blame her for saying bugger this quite frankly.

From the sounds of the report, reading between the lines, the academy trust the school was part of and the head were jumping at the chance to get rid of an expensive and experienced member of staff. People who know what they are doing are harder to force to follow fads etc. And cost more in an age of declining real terms funding and unfunded pay rises.

It's horrendous.

I have used glue guns with children in school.

There is one boy who is known to be dramatic, he gets it off his mother who has her head in the classroom door every morning over every little moan he has had the night before.

I was teaching him to use it safely, and he erratically pushed his finger into the hot glue after I squeezed it to demonstrate, despite my warnings you mustn't touch it.
I immediately rushed him to the sink and put cold water on it. The glue dropped off and there was barely a mark. He was writing normally that afternoon using that finger.
I mentioned it to the childminder and popped a note in his bag.

His mum still shoved her face into the door the next day demanding a run down if how it happened in a very accusing manner.

Horrid Parents like this make the job barely worth doing. It's specifically their kids I do it for.

I'm not sure why a primary school teacher should be using a glue gun.

There's no way in a class of 30 kids a teacher could ever possibly supervise effectively.

Seems like abject stupidity as opposed to blame culture

Really? She went to The Sun before she'd even spoken to the school. Incident happens last thing on a Friday afternoon, as a direct consequence of her son and other children failing to obey clear instructions. Mother's in touch with The Sun on Saturday, having already tweeted about it, and is clearly hoping for a big payout from the school. Nightmare parent. Who'd be a teacher?

And someone has shown up to remind us why we left teaching. Using those kinds of tools is in the national curriculum.

It seems the mum or her supporters have shown up.
And displayed their ignorance into the bargain. It's in the National Curriculum, right?

The kids got it out without permission, were told not to use it, started using it anyway, and she then showed them how to do it safely.

Personally, I think a group of 10/11 year olds are

a) old enough to obey an instruction to put something away

but also

b) old enough to use a glue gun safely if shown how

My own DC had access to glue gun, their own electric drills, penknives, a small hatchet for chopping wood etc by age 10!

I feel very sorry for that teacher. The mum sounds like an absolute nightmare parent and I imagine her precious DC are just as wonderful to deal with on a daily basis!

I just despair sometimes hearing stories like this.
The problem is, since the "compensation culture" leeched its way in from the US, nobody seems to be expected to take responsibility for their own actions.
" on your own head be it" was one of my mother's favourite saying when us kids were doing something stupid.
Perhaps it's time we went back to realising that actions have consequences, rather than actions have compensation!!

And this is why some people enter the world of work with no initiative.

She's probably looking for compensation to keep herself in eyelashes and nails.

My year 6 came home with a tiny blister from burning herself on a glue gun a few weeks ago. I rolled my eyes, asked her if she had run it under cold water and told her that it would teach her to be more careful next time. I had no idea that I was supposed to kick off and get someone sacked, do you think it’s too late to contact the school now she has left?

Wtf.

I had only read it in the OP

If kids just stuff out they shouldn't, you don't reward them by saying "oh well as you've completely ignored my instructions we'll do it anyway"

Yes absolutely there are old enough to use a glue gun successfully under supervision. If you're home as a parent you can risk assess that yourself. You don't have 29 other kids to supervise.

@Icedlatteplease I bet many European schools can use items like that without parents falling over themselves to blame the school if their child hurt themselves mucking about about. Some Forest schools/kindergartens in places like Denmark teach kids to use sharp knives.

This was Y6, next year these kids will be in Secondary school doing stuff like DT. Many Y6 classes no longer have TAs in them, how are teachers meant to craft like this.

And this is why so many science and technology practicals are no longer done or done as demonstration only. Resulting in diminution of practical skills when they enter the workplace or higher education.

The child was ten, not six. Old enough that once the burn was addressed and dealt with then he should have been the one to be disciplined for misbehaviour.

Finding a way to do want you want whilst using equipment that is available to you is using initiative no?

More than one way to skin a fish

I'm surprised. Genuinely what crafting is so essential it needs to be done and can only use a glue gun?

In law, there is a term for vexatious litigants. Their cases don’t even get accepted once they have a reputation, thrown out.

The same concept should apply to vexatious nightmare parents in a school setting. Schools and teachers need protection from them and they need consequences.

@Icedlatteplease The children are also expected to use a junior hacksaw, hand drill, craft knives and so on. In many schools, this is expected in Years 3 and 4. It is all about learning the most effective ways of joining different materials for different purposes.
I am not saying that I would have let my classes use these tools unsupervised, but I am equally aware that I do not have magic powers and children can have these minor accidents whilst I am standing next to them if they don’t follow instructions.

I suggest you take it up with the authors of the national curriculum which state schools are required to follow.

Frankly far too much has already been taken out of our children's schooling because of parents like this who don't teach their children basic behaviour. What a message from those parents to their child - disobey, muck about and we will get the teacher removed rather than tell precious darling that he needs to bloody well behave in class.

I feel sorry for the child being raised like this or perhaps his Mum will be doing sad face interviews in the Sun blaming his employers because the idiot didn't follow safety instructions there.

Oh come on.

The Sun newspaper knows exactly what they are doing. The photo of the tiny blister. Plenty of clicks for them in all the following social media indignant frenzy. I don’t think they intended to show the parent in any way sympathetically. It’s a non-story otherwise and feels sly.

The bit that got me was that the teacher was asked to resign straight away. I wonder if that really was because of her errors themselves (which are pretty understandable given her responsibilities that evening) or because it was already on the newspaper webpage before Monday. I wouldn’t want to work at a school which had so little care for someone on their staff who it clearly a generally very good teacher (going by what her current Head Teacher said about her at the hearing.) I would feel well out of there.