I am a teacher in a school - is this right?

[TTlover]

Hi all.

I am a primary school teacher (UK) and after the racism that has been happening in the football, I taught the children in my class a lovely lesson on equality.

The children then made equality posters and anti racism posters.

We then went to put the posters up around the school.

The head teacher approached me and asked all of the children to take them down.

I feel really upset by this. It wasn’t an issue with the blue tac on the walls as there are always posters going up from other classes.

I had to turn all of my children around, ask them to take their posters down and then come back up to the classroom with the children confused.

Perhaps I should have asked first, but I really didn’t see it being an issue.

Did I cross the line? Now I feel anxious.

@Unfinishednam

So a very similar situation for me recently. I also work in a school (secondary) and noticed that some children had put up posters supporting a particular movement. I was the one to take those down and was later told it was the right thing to do...

While it's one thing for schools to teach the different movements that are happening, the school is not a place for political agendas as such. Not everyone will agree with things that are being posted and it is a cause for possible conflict. Let children be children imo.

I don’t think racism is a political agenda or one of many movements???

Slightly concerned if this is the thinking of a teacher 😞

@Unfinishednam I wouldn’t say inclusivity and stonewalling racism was a political agenda and more of a foundation for civilisation.
If people have an issue with those ideals then that’s on them. It’s not for them to be pandered to and instead challenged.
If we make racism abhorrent from day one then perhaps society will be a bit better and we won’t have to hope teachers will be educating our kids on it.

An occasional reminder that being against racism is not a political act. It's just not being a twat.

Having said that, I would have thought permission was needed to put up posters all around the school.

This might out me - I had a French teacher who, on Bastille Day, had our class march around the school singing La Marseillaise. She got in to trouble for that as we all missed our next lessons. I think she was trying to inculcate in us a bit of rebellion. We all thought it was an excellent idea.

There seem to be people on the look out for a bit of bullying here.

Yes. It's appalling.

I like the way that lods of teachers here assume that the rules about putting things up in the corridor at their school clearly applies at the OP's. At mine we were free to put posters anywhere we liked (though obviously not on display boards) and this would have been a non-issue.

I think it's most likely that, as OP has recognised, some of the posters might have been on the negative/mildly aggressive side, or referenced an organisation rather than a philosophy.

You had some good advice early on, OP. Simply go to the head, apologise, get feedback on where you went wrong, and show that you'll learn from it.

*don’t think racism is a political agenda or one of many movements???

Slightly concerned if this is the thinking of a teacher*

Aaarrrgghhh should have read I don’t think anti racism is a political agenda!

This thread is massively concerning. Children need to know that they can and should challenge racism whenever they encounter it.

It would seem other posters are stuck up around the OP’s school so my concern would be the fact that the Head took exception to anti racist posters - OP I would speak to the head to find out the rationale.

Well, I'm not a teacher.. I just said I work in a school. I also said I am fully supportive of these things being taught and making sure that the children know how to behave and what is right and wrong in these situations. I simply passed on a similar situation to what happened in my school as the OP asked why they may have needed to be taken down. Please read my PP properly before assuming anything about me.

@TTlover

There wasn’t one!

Without wishing to stoke an argument - that's a poor manager. I would never dream of telling my staff to do something without telling them why.

@Unfinishednam I did read your post carefully- I challenged your linking of anti racism with being a political agenda or a movement- it is neither!

@Bettyboopawoop

If you were a teacher in a school then you would know absolutely everything will be coming off the walls ready for the start of the new term in September.

^this

I think PPs were saying BLM is a political organisation

I made a mistake and I learn from it.

Just because I am a teacher does not mean I know absolutely everything - we are learning a lot of the time too. Especially when moral issues like this arise.

I made a mistake with the posters, as I have made many mistakes in my short teaching career. There will probably be many mistakes to come - every day is different and brings a new set of challenges. But I can confidently say that I always put the interests of the children at the forefront of my mind.

We discussed stereotyping, ethnicity, race, white privilege, diversity and I’m proud of this.

Bottom line is that I should have asked about the posters as I now know that this would have been necessary.

I was naive to the fact that I didn’t realise it would spark such a political debate. I presumed that this was something great to teach at this particular moment. I didn’t realise it would open up a can of worms. I know that now.

All I can do is learn and do better next time.

TTlover After your last post I believe you made a genuine mistake - don’t beat yourself up about it.

OP - I don’t think there are any trolls on here or any ‘apologists’ for racism. No one is saying that racism shouldn’t be addressed in schools but people are saying that it needs to be done properly. Your posts come across as a bit naive - you say you aren’t politically aware and the lesson can’t have been planned in detail given the time scale, that’s why some people are suggesting that you may not have tackled it in the best way. You haven’t said what you did in the lesson other than the posters so it’s hard to assess the content. The fact that you think that racism is illegal is a bit concerning (and no that doesn’t mean I think racism is ok) - surely you realise that some people may hold abhorrent views about all sorts of things they are free to hold those views as long as they don’t incite hatred / act in a discriminatory fashion etc. As others have said this needs to be taught from a secure knowledge base and with careful planning. You say that I’m ‘overthinking’ it, from my years of teaching experience I really don’t think that’s possible and it appears that you haven’t thought about it enough.

Ahhh, MN. Tis the Daily Mail of the www.

For those teachers who have now decided OP must be an incompetent teacher: some schools make you plan everything down to the last detail and submit weeks in advance. Other school less so. This is especially the case outside of maths and English. Its even more so the case in a one-form entry school. So calm down with your judging of OP.

FWIW, I work in a 2-form entry school where we have to submit planning for all subjects the next week before we leave on Friday. Leadership is tight and consistent at my place.

However, within that context, the HT would have absolutely no problem with a teacher adapting a PHSE lesson in reaction to current affairs. In fact, as long as any missed PHSE content was covered at some point, she'd see it as good teaching. And she'd she that as part of her role as a good leader to let CTs make these micro-decisions themselves.

Re posters up in school, no, that really couldn't happen in most schools. The corridors are for end products. While its okay to whack a poster up about the talent show or whatever, kids work does need to showcase the best they can do.

OP what you did was fine. Better than that in fact.
I’d take the earlier advice and apologise and ask why they were taken down. Hopefully it’s just because it’s the end of year when everything gets stripped. Ignore the odd commenters who think we shouldn’t upset those that are troubled by anti racism and inclusivity.

You did a lovely thing so I’m sure even if the head needed to approve first, nothing was said to you because he/she recognises it was well intentioned.

I am a teacher and what you did completely comes under the teaching of British values. I personally would make a meeting to speak to the headteacher about this, because there are two issues here - firstly asking you to take children’s hard work down (surely it could’ve been left until the next day if it was an issue) with no explanation. Secondly and more importantly, the fact that the headteacher said this to you in front of your class which is completely unacceptable in my opinion. This totally undermines your authority. I would like to know why the headteacher couldn’t approach me at the end of the day and voice their concerns. At the moment I honestly cannot see what the issue is or concern could be? I have been teaching many years and I have found if there is a difficult headteacher unfortunately there isn’t much you can do other than move schools in the long term. Speak to the head & good luck.

I am a Teaching Assistant and I think you sound lovely!! Don’t beat yourself up!! X

Can someone explain what is problematic about an anti racist poster (people have suggested that BLM is a political movement and so is problematic but a) what is political about saying Black Lives Matter and b) the OP has not actually mentioned BLM).

I am genuinely saddened that with recent events highlighting the appalling racism within this country that many poster, many who say. They work in schools, don’t feel they have a duty to challenge racism proactively.

We all have a duty to challenge racist attitudes - that is not political or a movement- it is basic human rights - if you do not challenge it essentially you are supporting it.

As others have mentioned.. I don't think racism or equality in themselves are politically based and I definitely think they should be an important lesson in schools. However as others have mentioned, the groups that have formed as a result of these issues absolutely have a political agenda.

KittyMcKitty

The OP hasn't mentioned a lot of things.

the content of the lesson
what the posters showed etc.

unless she does all of the posts supporting her or disagreeing with her are all based on supposition.

Right! Who's up for MN bingo with me??

Fellow wokesters and snowflakes, come join me. Someone mentioned race on MN, cue lots of absolute nonsense.

So far, we've had:

Declaring that anti-racism is political. And obviously therefore we can't talk about it cause other people might disagree and we would hate to offend the racists' feelings. BINGO

Describing anti-racism actions as performative. BINGO! Because, you know, posters genuinely can't think of any other reason why people might challenge racism.

Whataboutery. What discussion about race is complete with this MN classic? Cause its only possible to talk about equality in relation to one group of people. And then that's it. All the equality is used up. So we must either choose only one issue or never talk of any of them at all. Bingo. Obvs. Too easy.

Declaring black lives matters to be an anarchist organisation. Bingo once more. Though obvs I'm gutted that it wasn't also declared to be a bunch of communists/socialists cause then I'd get to tick another box off.

Use of the word woke, obviously.
No snowflakes mentioned yet though
And no one has used the word cancelled

Gutted - I'm nearly at a full house. Maybe by the time I've posted this, my bingo card will be full. Or whatever it is you do with a bingo card.

@MissKeithsNeice

some schools make you plan everything down to the last detail and submit weeks in advance. Other school less so. This is especially the case outside of maths and English. Its even more so the case in a one-form entry school. So calm down with your judging of OP.

This seems mad to me. I’ve taught for years and years and never once submitted my lessons plans to anyone! Even Ofsted don’t ask for lesson plans.

I couldn’t work like that. Some days I change my lesson plan as the class walk in as I get a sense they won’t be in a calm enough mood for what I had planned. Or I was planning a lesson on euthanasia and a min before the lesson get an email that someone in my class has had a death in their family.

First thing yesterday morning we talked about the racism after the football- no lesson plan needed, did it all off the top of my head and was led by the class

@Sittinginthesand

The fact that you think that racism is illegal is a bit concerning (and no that doesn’t mean I think racism is ok) - surely you realise that some people may hold abhorrent views about all sorts of things they are free to hold those views as long as they don’t incite hatred / act in a discriminatory fashion etc

But that's exactly what the racists have done this week It wasn't just holding these views - what we've seen this week is widespread incitement of racist hatred across a range of high profile platforms. If we can't challenge that, what can we challenge?

MissKeithsNeice

Maybe you should choose another game as you don't seem to understand bingo.