Thoughts on this from fellow teachers

[Howmanytimes]

I am a teacher in a secondary school. Today, a male year 10 pupil who I do not know or teach, barged into me quite hard in the corridor on his way past me. He did it on purpose because the corridor was almost empty. When I turned to see who it was so I could reprimand them, he turned and said "Watch yourself Miss" in an intimidating manner. He refused to come back so I could talk to him, he swaggered up the corridor.

When I complained about him, lots of staff were sympathetic but the general consensus was that "he had a problem with female teachers" I was also told many times about his talent as a sportsman!

This isn't an isolated incident. Female staff are frequently told that certain male pupils have a problem with female teachers. What can be done to tackle this? Behaviour is generally good at the school and poor behaviour is dealt with, but I think there is an underlying acceptance that teenage boys are aggressive and try to intimidate female staff.

This would not be tolerated in my son's school, so why should it be happening in yours?
If te SLT isn't supportive, I'd be asking my union for advice, because getting a 'big, stwong male' to deal with the problem just reinforces the boy's opinion of females. He needs re-educating, and the fact he's got to Y10 with this attitude is shameful.

Does your school have a Dignity at Work policy? If so you could make use of that. Awful that this boy has been getting away with this.

Well a dreadfully disappointing day. It wasn't really dealt with at all. Thanks for all your support though. It helped.

Oh dear what happened?

At the school I teach at, many of the Y10-11 boys behave like this, attitudes soaked up from their families and firmly rooted by the lack of support given by SLT in case of incidents.

The whole 'oh but he has a problem' line is growing really old IMO, it's always dragged up for all sorts of reasons.

Oh no. What did HOY do?

I feared as much, howmany.

The thing is, "he has a problem with female teachers" is not really seen as a problem.

School are very hierarchical institutions - with a disproportionate number of men at the top end - and they pay lip service to the idea that their female teaching staff shouldn't be treated in a sexist way, but actually the boys' attitudes actually reflect (in a crude, not-yet-learned-to-disguise-the-contempt-they-feel way) their own.

What concerns me is not only the treatment of the teachers here but what about the girls in the school? If the attitude within your school is such, that it is seen to be 'acceptable' for male pupils to assault female members of staff, what are they doing to the girls?

I'm not a teacher but this is not a healthy environment for anyone as it is unsafe for women and is teaching the boys to devalue women

It's hard though, Dittany, because it's a really really big thing to say to the school that employs you, 'You are fundamentally institutionally sexist.'

Because they will immediately point to the papertrail of the sanctions that were given for each incident, thus "proving" that they take incidents of sexism Very Seriously Indeed.

It's much harder to get a school to acknowledge (or indeed recognise) that there is a subtle but strong underlying culture - perpetuated by them - that nurtures such behaviour from male pupils.

Like MummyBerryJuice I'm not a teacher, but have the same concerns as her about the girls in the school. As it's all part of the same issue, I think it possibly might be easier for you to pursue it that way - not saying "I think that we (female teachers) are being treated unacceptably" but "What does the school do to stop girls being subject to sexual bullying?" (see links I posted above). Sorry to hear you got brushed off the other day.

This is probably way off the mark (and I'm not a teacher) but if this is not being dealt with by the school would you consider reporting it to the police (if it felt like assault)? I can see that it would cause a huge problem and I'm not saying that this is what I would do but I'm wondering how this kind of thing can be tackled if the school won't actually deal with it?

This is a genuine question - I'm not trying to start a bunfight or anything.

What a crappy situation, Howmany.

I wonder - you say this jerk boy is a good sportsman and thus attracts leniency for his unacceptable behaviour to female members of staff.

What if the sanction/s for this type of behaviour hit him where it hurt? He has to sit out matches (if he's in school teams) or some such?

Maybe he could spend that time discussing with a male teacher he respects why he has the attitude he does and what he should do about it.

If the HOY is reluctant to go with a sports-related sanction it would also flag up the school's reinforcement of sexist/violent behaviour by allowing excuses like "he's a good sportsman" to lessen the degree of seriousness that his behaviour should warrant.

Good luck with whatever you do.

If a pupil "has a problem" with black, or Jewish, or Muslim, or homosexual members of staff, is that brushed under the carpet in the same way?

If not, I would suggest that you propose the situation is dealt with the same as a racist attitude to teachers would be.

Hi Everyone.

I wanted you to know that I keep checking back and I really value all your comments. I'm too worried about being specific about the events in case someone were to trace this back to me. Unlikely I know that anyone from my school would be on a feminism thread!

Needless to say you would be saddened but not surprised if I told you what happened on Thursday. DaisyHayes pretty much had it sussed. But I stood my ground, I attracted a lot of support from non-management teachers of both sexes and yesterday I was surprised with an out-of -the-blue turn for the positive from an interesting source!

Apparently when I go back in next week there will be news. I'd love to spill the beans but feel too nervous!

Again thanks so much for all your comments I was thinking of you when I went in to battle!