Teacher safety at school.

byhookorbycrook

http://www.thejournal.ie/woman-knife-attack-mayo-1645060-Aug2014/?utm_source=facebook_short

Some of the comments are almost funny,seems as it was a teacher it was ok.

spurious

I can just see the Indo headline now...'Lazy teacher back after three months off provokes passer-by to violence'.

ian87

Report about a woman entering a school with a knife. I don't know the circumstances in this case but it got me thinking about how open we are as teachers to assault or worse.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0829/640248-ballina/

I had an incident in recent years with a child in my class. I don't want to say too much as I would be easily identifiable by my name and location but let's just say if it was an adult it would have been a serious criminal offence. The child admitted their wrongdoing, no problems.

When I called the, admittedly volatile mother in for a chat, I was greeted with a barrage of abuse and screaming. I genuinely feared for my safety and thought I would be on the recieving end of a fist at any time. Even my seasoned principal with 25 years experience said she was scared!

Another colleague from a few years back was given a hiding by a father over discipline issues.

Anybody out there ever have to deal with a violent or dangerous parent in their careers?

spurious

I think many of the assaults on teachers never make it to the papers. Many of them never make to to the guards.

I know of a number of cases in schools I had dealings with at a union level, ranging from clumps of a teacher's hair being pulled out, teachers knocked out with punches, teachers with injuries such as broken noses to at least one stabbing.

Then there are the multiple cases of damage to teachers' property, which never get properly compensated.

If anyone had done similar to a stranger on the street the guards would have been involved.

ian87

I'm at primary so wouldn't be exposed to problems with children as such but I've had parents in who can be very intimidating. The teacher bashers over in after hours should hear and see with the things we have to deal with at times. It might soften their opinions of us having it so easy!

spurious

The holidays Joe, the holidays!

Again, without wanting to identify schools, as these were isolated incidents and we know how some like to tar schools with labels, I have experience of cases where some parents would only be spoken to if they stood outside the school railings, following assaults and threats on staff; a case where two women rampaged along upstairs corridors in a school, kicking doors looking to find and do harm to a particular teenage girl who had allegedly 'said something' about one of their daughters; teachers held hostage with weapons such as lump hammers and knives - it's not all 'Dead Poet's Society'.

implausible

Only yesterday, a student was sent home for threatening other students. An hour or so later, several members of his family turned up at the school. There was a lot of roaring and shouting, but thankfully, our principal and deputy principal have very cool heads and managed to defuse the situation. When I left, the mother and father were in the office speaking in quieter voices. I'll be very interested to see what the outcome is later on.

It galls me that people can be allowed to behave in such a way. In my opinion, the Gardaí should have been called. The family involved seem to think that the rules don't apply to their child and the extended family. Our school is the one in the town who is obliged to enrol students from this particular community and we end up with a reputation as being 'rough', just because we put equality into practice.

spurious

Similar threads merged.

aunt aggie

This report only made the papers because the armed response unit had to be called. Granted it is an extreme example of dangers to teacher safety as this woman apparently had no connection to students or staff in the school.

I'm surprised the unions don't survey reps or general teachers to highlight the types of low level abuse they regularly encounter. In a similar way to how the numbers on trolleys highlights some of the stresses on the health services.

icebergiceberg

spurious wrote: »

I think many of the assaults on teachers never make it to the papers. Many of them never make to to the guards.

I know of a number of cases in schools I had dealings with at a union level, ranging from clumps of a teacher's hair being pulled out, teachers knocked out with punches, teachers with injuries such as broken noses to at least one stabbing.

Then there are the multiple cases of damage to teachers' property, which never get properly compensated.

If anyone had done similar to a stranger on the street the guards would have been involved.

An abusive, threatening parent on the phone 'you ******g ***t etc etc etc. Then the next day same parents denies making these comments and again using the same comments in calling school personnel liars etc. Surreal really.

Abusive parents can be banned from school premises by the school/BoM. Guards should always be involved for threatening behaviour. That is what the Guards told us. That is what they are there for.

How do people feel about:
1. Office phone being put on speaker so that there is/are witnesses to abusive and threatening language. Why? In the event of any action taken by the school this is evidence. Would the callers need to be informed they were being put on speaker?

2. Like in some companies phone conversations to be recorded with a notice: 'Your phone call is being recorded'. If some callers wonder why the school is doing this, simple answer because some parents are as the above. It does not feel right that a school should be doing this but it is one suggestion to counter abuse.

TheDriver

It would be great in theory however sone things parents ring about are sensitive so recording could be counter productive. Maybe insist that the certain parent must come in in person so no more telephone abuse and easier to prove in person..

icebergiceberg

TheDriver wrote: »

It would be great in theory however sone things parents ring about are sensitive so recording could be counter productive. Maybe insist that the certain parent must come in in person so no more telephone abuse and easier to prove in person..

Point taken re sensitive stuff.

How about informing only certain parents, that they are being recorded ie the abusive ones ? That might shut them up.