My child was hit by a pen, thrown by a teacher

[Tiredallthetimelaura]

So my daughter who is in year 8 was in a lesson when her teacher 'cold called' her a question. My daughter responded she didn't know the answer and the teacher then threw a highlighter pen at her, hitting her on the arm. The teacher then did it again to another student, also hitting them on the arm. We have reached level 2 of a complaint, but it's always investigated by management within the academy. The school keep down playing what happened and not investigating what we ask. This teacher is still teaching, although my daughter isn't going in on the day of that lesson, which is greatly affecting her attendance. The school said they would move my daughter so she could do a different lesson (double Maths or double English), but we said no! This feels like a punishment to our daughter. She wants to do that lesson, just not with that teacher... and we agree.
Any advice on what/how the school legally should be handling this? Happy to answer any further questions Xx

The OP is dealing with it dreadfully and disadvantaging her DDs education.

It sounds like it was a game, I remember teachers doing something similar. You say your DD was sat with her face in her hand, so she probably wasn't paying attention properly.
Let it go. You've already made it worse by dragging the whole class and their parents into it. A highlighter weighs hardly anything, tell her to get over it.

IMO teacher was out of order but with objection and complaint noted a line should be drawn.

The Cold calling 'game' using a highlighter pen stretches credibility and school principal should have a word but that 'word' needs to be informally or formally documented on the teacher's record.

Reflects poorly on standard of teaching and professional discipline.

Better practice of questioning used to be - pose, pause and pounce... then throw something heavy to get their attention (jk) 😁

Can you explain the game?

Answer the question catch the pen. Engages the brain.

😂

Does the teacher also wear tweed jackets with leather elbow patches and use a chalk board?

The whole school ended up talking about it.

You should be first and foremost thankful that such little happens of note happens at your DDs school that this was talked about by the whole school.

Presumably your DD (supported by you) is choosing to cut their nose off to spite their face and not attend these lessons, therefore being offered an alternative is the schools only option really; rightfully so they wont sack a teacher for this.

You seem to have spent a lot of time on this, whilst the teacher shouldn't have done it, it sounds like its in process of being looked into. Going around asking other parents for statements and entertaining this over the top response from your DD is wild, I'd be so embarrassed if my parents had done this when I was at school.

Utterly ridiculous.

hey op. "Cold calling is actually a teaching term and technique."

Cold calling is not a term I have heard of. I am a teacher (well, lecturer). Asking direct questions to students / pupils is a technique that is very effective and widely utilised. In fact, at universities the term is called “Harvard style”. In college system, we ask our tutors to do exactly this - so the quieter students get a chance to voice their opinion and the ones who dont apply themselves as much as others are encouraged to do so.
Some classes are run entirely in this mode - especially case study or discussion/ debate based ones. So insisting on a lesson style change because some students dont find it comfortable would ruin the lesson - the style is the result of educational research and many subjects are taught this way because it is effective. We would advise those students to take another subject.
It is technique that I use very often (we also sometimes do throw a soft toy or some such to the person supposed to answer and then it is thrown back to the teacher for the next round).
I am not sure what was intended in this classroom, and if intended to harm the student, of course not acceptable. But I would not make such a big deal out of it, to the extent you described. Both the school and the teacher have received your message, and I dont think there is anything else you can do after five weeks of complaining.
Just to warn you that your daughter might have the same experience at university. In my class we aren’t given a list of “selectively mute” students, and even if we were, the class is too big, the lesson too fast paced to implement a filter. We have some students who clearly do feel uncomfortable at the beginning - some because of previous educational contexts in the countries they come from - but they get used to it. Education is supposed to change you as a person and get you out of your comfort zone. If a student is very visibly uncomfortable, and I can see it, I would avoid them at that point, but then go to talk to the student after the class to try and find a solution.

On mumsnet teachers are considered unquestionable

In society generally children are often not believed.

I would never post on mumsnet about a school issue as teachers treated like gods

I work in safeguarding related investigation role and nobody should ever 'assume' any adult will be telling the truth simply because of their job

This is how we end up with institutional abuse

Who doesn't believe her? I haven't seen anybody say the pen wasn't thrown. The school has clearly investigated, and offered a solution. What more would you expect to happen?

I agree. (Although cold-calling is a really commonly used term in education).

Really? Teachers are often criticised on here, the feverent support for teachers is usually the result of some extreme criticisms or ignorant assumptions being posted by others. It sounds like its still being investigated and the real issue is the school aren't taking it as seriously as OP would like which is often the case with parents but doesnt mean they're right. The school isn't denying the pen was thrown.

What is the outcome that you want? What more needs to happen for you to get it?

A full investigation including the LADO is already a solid response from the school.

As you weren’t there, you may need to accept that the picture may be different or more complex than your daughter has said - as implied by the fact that student statements differed.

If your daughter’s reply included the sassy response about a cover teacher then she was quite rude. (Not that that would justify having something thrown at her)

All this ‘home country’ business is ringing alarm bells for me. Why bother mentioning it ?

teachers treated like gods

🤣

Did it actually hurt her? I think a complaint is a complete waste of everyone’s time. Get a grip

What? I’m a teacher and I’ve never heard that term used. It’s just called asking questions.

No I don't work in the school, I reached out to the parents of the kids in that class and asked them if they could ask their child if they remember an incident regarding my daughter in music. The parents all replied back

So unless all these other parents were somehow there it's become a case of chinese whispers, no doubt with plenty enjoying the drama?

Much better to deal with a ccomplaint personally than attempt to drag countless others into it, especuially if they're not in a position to know what happened

with all due respect though, the majority of people are telling that you have overblown this. I think you are living a very sheltered life if you think this is a big deal. My friend has to get through lessons occasionally breaking up fights, stoping children throwing things at each other and other general disturbances.

If this happened to my child, they would have just thrown the pen back to the teacher and the lesson moved on and they would have given it no more thought. I actually am beginning to think this thread is a bit of a joke now!

At least this thread has given me an idea for when I start teaching English at work next week. I shall take a box of pens to throw at my colleagues (and my boss) when they get questions wrong. I think it might liven things up and ensure they all pay attention.

This post has vibes of the one recently where the OP made a massive issue of complaining about something crass a teacher at her kids old school said to her in a bar. OP was like a dog with a bone harassing the old school (don't know how it ended, I stopped reading because it was unhinged).

In the event this is true OP, you're not doing your DD any favours in continuing to make such a drama out of this and allowing her to miss school.

To be fair I think a complaint is reasonable, but the extremes OP is going to is wild.

I'm a teacher and it's a term we often use where I am.

It isn’t that the pen throwing is advisable, it is the extreme reaction to it that is the issue. By all means the OP should raise it with the school and ask to doesn’t happen again but there was zero harm done apart from a perceived humiliation over a question the child didn't know the answer to. I think now this is a made up issue.