That school episode in Adolescence

[JillAndJenTheFlowerpotMen]

Really? Is that what schools are actually like, or did they make it more disrupted and chaotic for dramatic effect? Is what we saw in Episode 2 realistic?

Dd (y10) said mixed ability lessons can be like that, quite disrupted, but phone use has been restricted for so long in the school that its not much of an issue within class. Certain teachers get absolutely roasted. Her GCSE option choices and the lessons they have in sets are better, but she is top set and those kids don’t behave in the aggressive, disruptive way. So I can well believe that grammar schools will have better behaviour. In areas where the bright kids are selected out, the local comprehensive schools may well see a lot more disruption as the student population is probably less motivated by school.

The simpering teacher said she was usually y5, I think? So it must be an all-through school. I wouldn’t necessarily expect a y5 teacher to have experience with Andrew Tate and the like if I’m honest.

No... i would say not.

Grammar schools would create aa hierarchy with a bigger divide. We have a selective grammar near us... house rents, tutoring etc all cost money and create a divide of those who can afford to throw everything at their chold and those who can't. It is an insanely competitive area, most children attending are well.out of area as only 25% of soacrs are for a local radius.

There are good children who want to gdo well who are not high achievers and not grammar school entry material, and there are hufh achieveds that are very disruptive.

All high schools should be a well equipped, adequately funded and staffed place to help every child attain their full potential.

PRUs should be remodelled to adequately cater for the increasing number of pupils that need them to be positive places of education.

If that’s a true representation it’s frightening.

I think it's true of a lot of schools. Even my ds who is at a small independent school recognised some of the behaviours and attitudes.

I’m a secondary teacher
it’s accurate sadly

My son said it isn't like that for him, but it's a school in a leafy area and he's in a top set. I'm not sure what the other sets are like.

I thought the ineffective teacher from the lower school was an unlikely character. Sure if there has been a murder of one of the pupils plus an arrest of another, one of the SLT would be anxious to keep tabs on the police and their investigation.

@ Madameweb
a leafy area?
bloody hell 🤦‍♀️

Sorry I don't quite understand?

My kids say no, nothing like that. Phones are banned though

Why are the kids walking around with phones? Don't they get taken away in the morning?

Thank you!!! All the threads and posts saying it was shocking buy me and DP found it really tame 🙈🙈🙈

I spent a decade teaching in secondary schools in and around London. This is very much accurate and in some cases better than some I worked in.

a lot of kids hand them in at the start of the day but there’s a lot that don’t, and the parents will back the children up saying they need to be able to contact them in an emergency (they will not be told otherwise that they can contact the school). Children will refuse to hand their phone over when asked or just ignore you when told to put it away.

I've not seen it, but in terms of kids walking round as if they're untouchable; I've worked in three secondary schools and one out of the three was like that. The other two, no. One an all girls school and the other a mixed comp (where I still work). Kids this age one to one are usually perfectly civilised, stupid in big groups. They are worse hanging around after school than when they are in school IME

My teen dc watched that episode open mouthed in shock. They’re at a private secondary and have been in independent schools since age 3. They didn’t recognise any of the behaviour. I did and told them that’s why I was paying for them to have a different experience from me…(and our local London comp is like the school portrayed according to teacher friends who work there)

My DS is in a single sex state school (faith). It is not like this. Having grown up elsewhere but watching Grange Hill as a child, that was my view of English schools and was pleased my DC’s wasn’t like this. However it’s on fringes of leafy well to do area although many of the pupils aren’t necessarily from the area but it’s a good school and DC commutes an hour to attend. No way would I want them attending a school like this. I’d pay over that or send them to grandparents or home school. It felt like a prep-school for a young offenders institution.

It was ridiculous that a child was beaten up by another child and he was bleeding and he was still in class with bloody clothes. Wouldn't his parents be called to get him?

There is a big difference between your average secondary school day and the days after one student has murdered another. Unfortunately, I have worked in a school where a very similar incident occurred, and to be honest, the goal was to just get through the days that followed. It was horrendous, and I will never forget it.

I've been teaching in inner London schools for 20+ years and wouldn't say episode 2 is an accurate reflection of my experience in schools. I watched Adolescence with one of my DC who recently finished sixth form and they said their (state comprehensive) school was nothing like that either.

For the past decade I've been teaching in PRUs and although there are definitely students who are disrespectful, refuse to work, would climb out of a window if feeling intimidated by a police officer, most students have good relationships with most of the staff and want to learn, or at least to do what they have to in order to get whatever qualifications or experience they need for their next step. I was surprised by the seemingly random wandering around of the police officers in Adolescence, popping into classrooms as they fancied and all without some kind of lanyard or visitors badge. Even at the PRU where I teach, the school police officer wears their staff lanyard over their uniform. Any additional police that come to the school are given visitor lanyards and anyone without one is challenged by staff or students.

As to the doddery lower school teacher escorting the officers around, she absolutely needs some CPD on online safety. I've had conversations with Y5 children whose sudden enthusiasm for playing chess on a particular platform was related to the opportunity it presented to engage with Andrew Tate and similarly-minded individuals.

30 years at the chalkface face.
It was an accurate depiction of how classrooms have changed in the last 15 years.
It's not just mobile phones,it's the utter contempt many parents have for teachers because their own experience of school was negative.
The parents of these parents also had a negative experience at school so they pass their contempt for education on to their children.
The parents of pupils who disrupt learning seldom attend parents evenings but will email or call the school to scream at receptionists, heads of year or form tutors if their child is given a detention.
A mobile phone is a portable porn film/ mag/ casino but some parents refuse to acknowledge this.
Two years ago our safeguarding training included a section on the rise of misogyny and the influence of Andrew Tate.
We were advised to report any 'banter' any sexist comments ( from either sex) on our system.
There were 30 boys who were hardcore offenders and several of them tried to trap girls in the toilets.
We had cameras that recorded awful incidents of boys rubbing up against girls, rubbing their genitalia as they wandered the corridors gesturing to girls.
Chairs thrown in classrooms , chairs thrown out of windows.
Despite the odd day of exclusion nothing is ever done to tackle this hardcore disruption.
Tiktok influences are encouraging pupils to film themselves disrupting lessons or walking out of lessons .
The crux of the problem is there are only 2 or 3 boys in each class who caused such mayhem but it's only in the classes with female teachers.
So in our English department that's 15 boys per year group.
On Drama it's 20.
In Science 15.
Maths 15.
Even the male teachers are being squared up to now.
I could weep for the pupils that come in and get stuck in despite all the disruption .
So yes, it was accurate and there are only c800 pupils in my school.

Recent primary school isues on visits:

Pupil who "rules the roost at home, what can we do?" kicking a wall and door and smashing a window

Online searches including OnlyFans, gambling sites, porn

Social media arguments referring to appearance etc

Phones smuggled onto residentials and used for potos, fortunately not safeguarding / high risk, just arsing about using filters, waking people up taling photos of them being woken up / asleep

Racial abuse

Online chats about staff appearances

Shoving staff

Swearing at staff

I'm sure there will be posters with plenry more.

As another poster has said, if I had children just going into the education system I would be really worried

Edit re incident

I’m a teacher in a large state secondary school and watched Episode 2 this afternoon expecting it to be an accurate reflection based on what I’ve read here. I can honestly say it’s nothing like my reality. I’m not every school or every teacher, but I think my experience is pretty representative based on school size and demographics.

Some thoughts on key differences:
Any child back-chatting or speaking disrespectfully to a teacher is send directly to their head of year - it’s never just accepted or ignored.
The level of calling out in the classroom and lack of teacher control would be picked up on straight away by SLT or our dept heads who walk the corridors. It wouldn’t become normal.
We’ve all attended sessions on online bullying and radicalisation with regard to misogyny, know who Andrew Tate is and have been instructed to treat it as a serious safeguarding matter. No one can claim ignorance.
Form tutors really know the pupils in their class. Welfare & progress is a huge part of their job.
Mobile phones are banned on the school site. They’re generally confiscated until the end of the day, plus phonecall home and detention.

I know schools like the one in Adolescence are out there, but don’t believe that this is normal. But then, normal schools wouldn’t make such good TV.

(Edited to add mobile phones point).

I’ve just watched episode 2.

I’ve been a teacher off and on for getting on for 30 years, and anyone who thinks that was a particularly bad depiction of a secondary school must be living in some kind of educational dream world.

That was nothing. Nothing. I honestly had no idea how naive people are.

That was nothing

that was a normal secondary school

there are worse

there are much worse

there are better

But that was not particularly disruptive or chaotic

I’m surprised that people haven’t a clue and are so naive