Any other Scottish teachers sad and disappointed this week?

[tiredtiredteacher]

Year 15 in teaching and it's just getting too much.

The ASN failures are what are really getting to me. I am personally failing the most vulnerable children and there is no alternative. What can I do with a non verbal incontinent child while I'm trying to teach 24 others to read? Then there's the most aggressive, violent six year old I've ever encountered, who desperately needs psychiatric help but apparently only needs a play based curriculum- don't even get me started on freeflow.

What is it going to take? A child to die running away from school? A child to die being attacked in school?

I love my job but it is killing me.

If they are violent at school, they already have fallen into crime. It's just that it's not dealt with as what it is because it is in a school setting towards children or staff. Mind boggles.

This was our school yesterday - SEN kid kicked off, classroom evacuated for the rest of the morning while he smashed up the computers, other kids given time drawing instead of doing lessons, teachers monitor the situation in the classroom but can’t actually do anything no doubt for good reasons, eventually leads to teachers themselves getting attacked by the out-of-control kid. The incident was only resolved when the police came.

It sounds like a bad joke but this stuff really happens. The thing that gets me the most is you can see the results in the plummeting international rankings, but apparently nobody cares.

We are in England, my dc has just finished year 6, he hated school, called it a prison, because of the appalling behaviour of other children..SLT gaslit and manipulated...my youngest will not be attending the same school.

Staff were not supported in effective behaviour management. Just left to get on with it. My son saw a TA break down and say she couldn't cope (she's been there 15+ years). Nothing done...

so you do care that the specialist placements/units no longer exist?

To be I don’t think everyone needs a degree or that academic achievement is the be all. But this issue has led to schools not focussing on academic achievement at all. One of mine counts how long they spend in lesson on lessons (high school). They think 20 mins tops. The rest of the time is behaviour management. Obviously kids aren’t stupid and violence isn’t resulting in serious consequences obviously not completing work and low level disruption won’t.

its failing the kids causing the disruption too, obviously! What is the point in forcing them into stressful situations day after day - how does this prepare them for adult life.

its failing teachers too. The ones I know are breaking their heart when they have a child so disabled they need specialist teaching but can’t get it.

anyway got to make sure mine have what they need this morning.

I'm really curious, what's wrong with free-Flow? Is it more common in Scottish schools? But not working?

I work in Scottish schools as support staff. I cannot believe what's going on - the loss of enhanced provision units means we have children in classes that we cannot deal with.
We currently have one child that frequently screams, pees himself, hits and bites staff and children alike, smashes up rooms etc and with the best will in the world we can't teach 24 other kids while we are constantly evacuating. Add into that the other neurodiversities that are in the same class, plus the anxious kids and so on. No one stands a chance. After 9 years of this, I need to get out as it's getting worse by the year.

as a parent of a teen who wants to go into primary teaching, this does concern me. I also heard that our only ASN school in our LA is 'full' so kids who would otherwise be sent there are being sent to mainstream instead.

Yes I do. I think they need to reopen pupil referral units and they need to ensure adequate provision for SEN pupils. They need to remove these children from mainstream schooling immediately though as the longer they are there:

The worse teacher’s morale becomes.
The more anxious mainstream school pupils are.
the more vulnerable mainstream schooling pupils are to being physically attacked.
The worse educational outcomes of pupils who are subjected to this.

The Scottish government wonders why they are slipping down the PISA rankings. It’s really really obvious! No one wants to admit the problem. No one is wading in and sorting it out. Where teachers flag the issue they are told it’s their behaviour management skills that need work. We prevent children from viewing violent films at the cinema, and yet we willingly subject our children to real life violence in the classroom. Crazy.

I don’t see that labour have a plan though, and on the ground, they want councils to cut special places further as juicy cost savings. I suspect labour will take a leaf out of the SNP’s ‘trail blazing’ inclusive system (sarcastic) and do away with EHCP system, to cut costs.

and will anyone make a fuss?

The other depressing thing about labour is that they, like the SNP don’t seem to understand that diverse needs require diverse schooling options.

We don’t have EHCPs here in Scotland, just a mash up of bits and bobs.

When will this stop? It will only stop when something catastrophic happens. And it’s only a matter of time.

The reason the government is so keen on inclusion is that it’s cheaper than any other model. They are overlooking the economic benefits of a highly educated population, the benefits of a public with better mental health.

I know we don’t @Sunsgoingtokeepshining I meant I suspect England won’t have them for much longer either - we’ve got a terrible issue with lack of diversity in schooling options for children with ASN.

just pointing out that across labour and the snp I see no superior new ideas, in fact I’m beginning to wonder if politicians don’t think they can improve the SEN crisis so inclusion, and cost cutting is their only plan.

I do wonder what is causing so much SEN. And I speak as a parent of a child with SEN.

Two dc with SEN here - I agree, an important question - it’s a huge question, a crisis, and our politicians have no ideas..no plan.

The reason the government is so keen on inclusion is that it’s cheaper than any other model. They are overlooking the economic benefits of a highly educated population

Inclusion isn’t cheaper, if anything it is more expensive. We don’t have inclusion - we have children with ASN shoved in mainstream classrooms regardless of their ability to cope there. That is not inclusion.

The SNP are not interested in a highly educated population. Their flagship priority (which has completely failed) of ‘closing the gap’ makes it plain that it is about the gap between poor and better off pupils that matters, not raising standards across the board. The way children were treated as political pawns in the pandemic just shows their lack of interest.

I do wonder to what extent the basic antinatalism of progressivism creates a doom loop, whereby you get bad outcomes for children and those simultaneously become a lower and lower priority politically. It’s really terrible watching your kids be the guinea pig in this.

And then you bribe then with ‘rights’ (UNCRC), voting and bus transport not only so they won’t notice how you are shafting them but also to get them to support you and separate them more from their parents influence.

It definitely is because it's cheaper. Councils decide on what provision is available.

In HC , the lack of provision for violent children and the acceptance of violence by SMT is shocking. I saw it personally in my old school that I had attended as a pupil and returned as a teacher!

I agree what they provide is cheap, I disagree that it is actually inclusion. Inclusion for most autistic children would be small classes, low arousal spaces, additional staffing support, filtered lights, everyone using laptops so they don’t stand out, no bell, carpets in classrooms to deaden noise, blinds on windows, fidgets, a supervised space to retreat to…

Definitely. The best thing to do would be inclusion as above, the next best would be total separation, the worst would be the dire system we have now.

Ironically our school was entirely redecorated with neutral colours, jute on the wall displays, etc etc to provide a calm and inclusive environment. But once the children are in class, it is anything but calm- often the potential for violence, aggression, screaming, swearing, throwing and somwtimes ending up with the class having to be evacuated (although I've been told not to call it 'evacuation' by smt... they prefer 'asking the children to leave the classroom' 🤐) - really scary environment for the children. I think a lot of them must feel anxious coming into school every day despite the calm decor.......

Decor is no use on its own. And some children need a more specialist environment regardless. There are some children who should not be in a mainstream class or school. It is not fair on other children, staff or the child in question.

Yes - when a child has severe autism the colour on the walls is the least of anyone's worries - and yet all this nonsense gets trotted out at training courses

I see, yes I agree. I have had terrified ASN children hiding under tables.

Looking at Glasgow, the previous head of education essentially removed the ability to exclude. I have personally seen a pupil put a HT in a head lock. Very deprived area. No exclusion as the HT was already in trouble due to suspending very violent pupils.

We must stop HMiE praising schools who have had no exclusions in inspection reports.