AIBU about this teacher?

[ladylush]

Ds is in Year One and I've got a few concerns about his teacher.
Firstly, she shouts at the children a lot. She also makes the whole class miss their break when only a few have been badly behaved. She singles out badly behaved pupils and puts their name on a board so everyone is aware who the naughty ones are and that they will miss their play time. She invited the whole class to keep a tally of how often a particular pupil did something anti-social (won't say what as it might identify me/the school).

I am a teacher. I understand you may not wish to say how you know these things, I'll try to explain possible reasons. I'm not saying I'd do these things - but the beauty of teaching is that we all have our own styles.

Shouting is often subjective. Now and again a child will tell their parents I shouted when I didn't think I had.

Breaks: Peer pressure is often used to try to get the others to behave. I suspect the idea behind it is to get the other children to behave because they're all losing out. It's a behaviour strategy, I'm not saying it's necessarily a good one. A lot depends on the children themselves whether you should use it.

Names on the board: Again, a recognised behaviour strategy. Can work brilliantly, the child does not want to be on the board. Can be counter-productive, the child may like the attention.

The tally thing: I understand you don't want to go into detail. It can be used as a peer pressure/intervention style strategy. Obviously depending on the transgression.

I suspect that Year 1 is a little young for these strategies. And I will admit that none of them are ones I am a particular fan of. But they are recognised strategies that are out there in education.

I guess to decide if you are BU or not you have to ask yourself: do these strategies actually work for this particular class? If so, then they're probably ok.

all v common. seen them lots.

you are allowed not to like the strategies used, but your children are unlikely to make their way through education without them cropping up a few times at one point or another.

we did have a parent who demanded their child be moved from a particular teacher's class for similar. eventually the ht decided to move the child as the parent was creating a situation where the child was unhappy about coming to school. the following year the child moved off to juniors and is again in a class with a shouty teacher.

i quite like shouty teachers tbh. better to discuss with your kids ways of behaviour that will not encourage shouting, names onthe board, or whole class detentions lol.

Thanks for your posts. Useful to get that feedback Shaz. Madwoman - I don't have a problem with some of the strategies used - but I question whether they are appropriate for 5&6 yr olds. I would also argue that as they are used so often I doubt they are effective.

Message withdrawn

Pitchouette - ds has only been reprimanded by said teacher a few times but I am concerned for the other children as well. The effect of her discipline style on ds has been an increased detachment. I don't feel that he is engaged at school whereas last year he was full of enthusiasm. It's sad but thank goodness there are only 3 months left of the term.

Her shoutiness (made up word!) is not perceived but real. She said she shouts to get the childrens attention, then lowers her voice.

sorry pitchounette

oh quite - and i think there are very few 'shouty' teachers who get left in yr r and 1 in particular. (they save them all up for yr 2 to 'prep them for juniors' lol.)

so i can understand why you don't like it, but i don't think there's much that can be done. i've seen the other stuff used in ks1, but again, most vary the theme (usually pegs moved from the green spot onto the yellow/ red one lol). it's exactly the same as names on the board tbh. missing play is never a good solution, but some still stick to it like glue.

my favourite (not) is when they leave the pegs where they are for parents evening/ briefings (hopefully inadvertently lol) and every parent in the school that see that little johnny is on the red spot again.

Unless at least two-thirds of the children were behaving badly, whole class detentions are a rubbish idea and completely inappropriate at this age when peer pressure on the perceived ?naughty? children to behave better just doesn?t exist. Class dynamics do not work like that at Y1 level.

In fact, it?s much more likely to cause resentment against a) the badly behaved children and b) the teacher, as children of this age will see it as being unfairly punished by a teacher who is either unable or unwilling to punish individuals. It?s an approach which is more likely to cause problems than resolve them.

Keeping Y1 children in at break is also not a great idea. As all mums know , children, especially boys, need occasional bursts of physical activity if they are to keep their mental concentration. This policy is also likely to be self-defeating in the long run.

Have you seen and heard all this first hand?
If not, this might just be your ds's perceptions of the strategies. The tally seems a bit strange tbh. I could understand if the class were keeping tally of how many times the child was 'caught being good' but 'caught being bad' sounds a bit like a witch hunt. I would clarify that if I was you.

It's not just from my ds but many other kids in the class. I do intend to ask about it at parents evening though as that one in particular is my least favourite.

Agree about boys needing physical activity to aid concentration. In my son's class the majority of pupils are male (two thirds) and a lot of them (like ds) have summer birthdays.