2 terms in and I want to quit teaching

[ilovebreadsauce]

Posting on behalf of my 21 yr old niece.
'I am a first year ECT and in my class is a year 6 child who is extremely violent an extremely unpredictable.Everyday he hurts the adults in the ckassroom and would hurt other children if i didnt position myself between them to take it myself.i am in fight or flight all day and just can't stop crying as soon as I get home.The HT believes in killing him with kindness and no consequences of any kind. There is usually no SLT on site , as they are shared with other schools.The SLT cannot control him.There arev10 other kids with soecial needs, 3 of which have very challenging behaviour.i have asked fir restraintbtraining but the HT says I don't need it!!!
I wsnt to leave asap without completely wrecking any future career.
How can I do this?

Tell your niece to leave. I wouldn't advise anyone to work as a teacher and I did it for decades prior to retirement. It is a thankless job now, it was wonderful up until about 2010 but has steadily become worse and that will continue. She is young enough to change career. She will look back in years to come and be so glad she did.

She needs to move schools.
Tell her to look for other positions before leaving completely.

Thank you. I guess Easter will be the soonest.i don't think the HT will release her sooner as they do not want and cant get any other mug to come into that class for mote than a day.

Who is in charge of the school when SLT are out at other schools? There’s got to be someone who is responsible for the school? Not sure why they are out supporting other schools anyway when its clear that leadership / behaviour management in your niece’s school is poor.

Could your niece not at least hang on until the end of the academic year to complete her ECT year and then move onto another school in September - as a HT myself I would be questioning as to why an ECT is leaving during their first year.

This is awful! Poor girl. I've been teaching 16 years and wouldn't want to face this. She needs to keep pushing for support from SLT and from her ECT mentor, and if this doesn't happen, she needs to resign and look for something else. She should not have to put up with this - SLT are not doing their job. Not all classes and schools are like this.

Small rural schools share headteacher

Could your niece not at least hang on until the end of the academic year to complete her ECT year and then move onto another school in September - as a HT myself I would be questioning as to why an ECT is leaving during their first year

Induction is now two years.

She needs to ask her appropriate body for additional help, and probably her union too. If she can make it to the end of term 3, she should aim to find another job for September, with a year under her belt.

She needs to resign to leave at Easter. She can join supply after Easter which will potentially lead her to a school she does like. She could then complete her ECT years in a better school. She just needs to get out of the school and hopefully find a better school.

Agree with Primaryteacher123
If the slt do not have your back you have to get out. I would be aiming to extricate myself carefully. Think of a vague reason for leaving such as wanting a job closer to home or wanting to work in a larger school etc etc. Get on supply and work out which svhools you would like to teach in.

She needs to make sure that she gets the terms she's done signed off.

Join the "Life after teaching - Exit the Classroom and Thrive" Facebook group. Lots of info and advice.

It'll just be another class teacher. Some schools are so small they don't even have a deputy head position, even though the head teacher might be off site 50% (or more) of the week. The most senior teacher will technically be in charge and most likely a DSL but will be physically teaching their own class. It can be extremely difficult because there might also be very few extra adults - that other class teacher might be the only one and the only TAs already allocated to other similarly needy children or early years. I wouldn't want to be in a tiny school as an ECT - I'd advise she looks for a 2 form entry.

I agree with @Bainbridgemews , working in tiny schools is the hardest. I thought I'd seen it all after working in tough inner city schools, and I then moved to a tiny, beautiful school nestled in rolling countryside next to a church. I thought it was going to be a piece of cake: hardest job I've ever done. Mixed age classed so even wider range of abilities. No one to share planning with. Couldn't re-use plans as had the same kids 2 years running. Was head of 3 different subjects for no TLR. TAs only in the mornings and even then shared between classes. The head had to clear the playground of frost and ice because even the caretaker was part-time.
Your poor niece needs to get out and find a bigger school with more support to do her ECT.

Definitely hand in notice in this school but don't give up teaching altogether as hopefully the next school will be completely different so worth one more try. I have 40 years experience and encountered this twice . So it would be a pity not to try another school. If she can't cope get a doctor to sign her off with stress as she should not be left carrying this by herself.

https://workshoplearner.gumroad.com/l/zxlag

Thanks for your replies.She has 4 year groups and no one to share the planning.she is going to have another 1 to 1 TA for a new student so that might help.

Wow, that is so hard. My school moves between having 2 KS2 classes (so 2 year groups) and 1 class (4 year groups) depending on pupil numbers and I think I'd leave if it went back to one class. The curriculum just isn't written for mixed year classes, Ofsted progression expectations are essentially impossible and a 4 year cycle is a nightmare. Workload in small schools is also excessive as you end up dealing with things office staff, caretaking staff, TAs and SLT would deal with in big schools just because sometimes you're the only one there. Hats off to her for getting this far. She needs to understand how very difficult that job role is. Whatever she does next will feel like a breeze!

That sounds really difficult for an ECT. I would encourage her to look for jobs in schools that are at least one form entry, so at least she is only catering to one year group at a time- 2 form entry is even better as someone to share with! Even in rural areas, there are bigger schools in the towns.

In the meantime, she should definitely seek union advice re the child who is attacking her, and also if she is very distressed then look at getting signed off.

In my opinion, unless she has specific training e.g. Team Teach, she is putting herself at risk by putting herself in between the child and other children. I know she won't do this, but if she didn't do this and another child was hurt that might bring about some action from SLT.

I’d advise her to resign and have a fresh start in a different school before she completely looses her confidence as a teacher. A new school will hopefully reignite her vocation, if it’s a nice, supportive, well run school.

100% start looking for another role. If it affecting her MH then also consider getting signed off if she gets to the point of not coping.

She should go to another school. Lots of schools are much nicer than this. They have strong behaviour policies and behaviour is good. Choose schools carefully!

She needs to go to her GP and explain she's being regularly injured at work and is scared to go into school and it’s making her unwell. They will sign her off. She needs to do this asap. Ideally tomorrow, or Tuesday if she needs to go in and collect anything important. Does she have keys? Can you go with her tonight any collect her things? She can sign herself off for the first few days if needed.

She also needs to go to her union for advice and to log this. They will help. This is not okay. It's not her fault and she does not have to stay in a workplace where she is being attacked. Of the child is aged over 10, they are criminally responsible and she has the right to report assault to the police (although SLT will tell her this is unnecessary) and get it logged.

Please advise her to gather evidence of everything that has happened and all the times she has asked for and been denied help. Take photos or screen shots of any logs and emails. Any written evidence. Also photograph any injuries. Forward emails to a personal email address.

Everything else is fixable in time but her workplace is not currently a safe place and SLT are not supporting her or ensuring she has a safe work environment.

I've been through this myself and had to demand the child was not taught in my classroom (also a tiny school). I stated that I would not be teaching again until I felt that I and the other children could be kept safe.

I was lucky that I was much more experienced and my SLT were proactive and did the right thing. Our very experienced headteacher removed the child from my class immediately. Sadly, it does not sound like the SLT in your neice's school will be as helpful.

Do not let her be persuaded to put up with this "for the children's sakes". Teachers are replaceable and children are resilient. Her health and safety need to come first.

Definitely talk to her union. Make sure she has it documented that she asked for restraint training and was told she didn't need it (if there's currently no record, email the head asking them to confirm that they are unwilling to provide her with restraint training). Should anything happen where the restraint training would have made a difference, that protects her from being blamed.

She has been to the doctors and got started on sertraline and is starting to feel a little better.
However she has had an email from her mentor saying a lot of things wrong.She doesn't really understand as she had a really good report after her last observation and hasn't been observed since so she doesn't understand where the evidence has come from ?.For example the children aren't finishing their work, where she says she is always careful to make sure they do and many more unfounded examples.
The union have said that the class is unsuitable fir an ect as it is by far the most difficult class in the school.it is tge biggest ckass has 4 year groups and much higher kids on the SN register ( over 50%).
We are concerned if she returns to finish the year she will have a target on her back, but she does want to, as she does fundamentally like teaching and the kids

Union now. They will negotiated something called a settlement agreement and can negotiate an agreed reference.

Is she signed off?

This latest behaviour is classic toxic SLT behaviour. I would advise her not to return to school.