Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
The staffroom

Whether you're a permanent teacher, supply teacher or student teacher, you'll find others in the same situation on our Staffroom forum.

Original poster

public humiliation

71 replies

WeirdOne · 27/01/2017 05:45

My DS, 13, was recently upset by the way marks for a routine class test were given out. Everybody was made to stand up and the marks were then read out from highest to lowest. Each child was allowed to sit down once their mark had been read out, so the children with the lowest marks were standing until the end.

I wondered what the educational value of this might be and whether this kind of approach is encouraged or discouraged in schools and during teacher training.

Sorry to intrude on your teacher space - I know how hard you all work, but I wanted some perspective from teachers not parents!

OP posts:
FairModerateGood · 27/01/2017 06:08

I wondered what the educational value of this might be

Zilch.

Original poster
WeirdOne · 27/01/2017 06:12

Thank you! I'd quite like to ask the teacher what the thinking behind it was, but at secondary school we never really see them.

OP posts:
TheoriginalLEM · 27/01/2017 06:14

I'd go ballistic if this were my chikd. email the HoD

Bambambini · 27/01/2017 06:17

That's awful - i'd be futious. is this in the UK?

Original poster
WeirdOne · 27/01/2017 06:23

Yes, UK.
I have a meeting with school next week.

OP posts:
BeingATwatItsABingThing · 27/01/2017 06:26

Wow! I would never do that. If the children have tried their best, every mark would be celebrated in my classroom.

Moonshine86 · 27/01/2017 06:32

That is awful. I would also take matters further. x

Letmesleepalready · 27/01/2017 06:36

I remember one of my teacher doing that, but in reverse. Lowest marks first. He was an old set in his ways type guy. I don't think it followed current guidelines though!

flumpybear · 27/01/2017 06:45

I'd be really annoyed by this - it's really wrong!!

dailyfailplagiarism · 27/01/2017 06:49

My year six teacher did this with the end of year reports. It was so humiliating. She did the worst reports first so you had to do the walk of shame to get your report if you were getting a bad report. Still makes me angry.

jennielou75 · 27/01/2017 06:50

Mr Baker my business studies teacher did the same. Mine was the last name caked with 'an embarrassing 29%'. I took the test and sat down in tears. My friend nudged me and said look at it. I didn't want to but when I did I saw 92% at the top. When I spoke to him he told me it was to teach me to be more modest.
I hated him and never forgot his treatment of us. As a teacher myself my aim is to never be like Mr Baker.

Original poster
WeirdOne · 27/01/2017 07:16

Oh jennielou75, it's amazing the impact one small event, from the perspective of Mr Baker, can have on a child!

DS suffers from anxiety and although he shrugged it off I feel it's really bad for him. He was second from bottom with a perfectly respectable 22/30.

OP posts:
Nataleejah · 27/01/2017 07:24

Where i went to school, it was a common practice. Nobody cared about how children felt. So it was a very pleasant surprise to arrive at uni where marks were strictly confidential. Only a rare lecturer would congratulate a student who scored the highest.

SawdustInMyHair · 27/01/2017 18:45

That is not something I'd expect to see a colleague doing.

In Y6 we have the weekly arithmetic marks on the wall, but it's very much about the children tracking their progress rather than naming and shaming.

SnugglySnerd · 27/01/2017 18:48

I've never done that to a class. I sometimes mention individuals who did especially well in a test but I'd never shame those who did badly.

Original poster
WeirdOne · 28/01/2017 00:05

Does anyone think there's anything positive at all about this approach?

OP posts:
Finola1step · 28/01/2017 00:07

Nope

dataandspot · 28/01/2017 00:12

Sawdust

That's appalling!

Would the teachers like their appraisal/observations put on the walls?

Pud2 · 28/01/2017 15:22

That happened to me at school. We had marks and places each week that were read out. We then had to sit in ranking order for the following week. I was always near the bottom. Didn't scar me but times have changed and it shouldn't happen now.

Aducknotallama · 28/01/2017 15:44

I would never do this and see no value whatsoever

PotteringAlong · 28/01/2017 15:47

Should never be done.

HolisticAssassin · 28/01/2017 15:56

I'll own up. I did this once - and only once - as an NQT. From 'worst' to 'best' but without giving the marks, I think I only read out the top three marks. I was - quite rightly - hauled over the coals for it. Never did it again. There was no defence other than me recalling an old teacher of mine having done it and the build up to the top three as we all drummed on table tops to build up the tension (I was in the top ten not top three but liked the drumming). This was setted rather than mixed ability. I was only 22 as an NQT and was bloody naive/ignorant/insensitive. So, yes, school should know so teacher does not repeat the mistake which may have been thoughtlessness rather than malice but will nonetheless have hurt your child.

Bambambini · 28/01/2017 15:59

Aren't young teachers/ student teachers taught about dealing with this stuff?

HolisticAssassin · 28/01/2017 16:00

We did have rolls of honour on staffroom wall where members of staff had their names on if their random book inspections were up to scratch/marked up to date. No walk of shame but evident to the rest of us that we had been judged and found wanting. I think it was meant to be motivational Confused but had a Big Brother vibe to it.

Original poster
WeirdOne · 28/01/2017 16:01

Thanks all of you.
So I can safely go into the meeting at school and say I can't find a single teacher who thinks there is any value in this.

OP posts: