Teachers Are Being Targeted with Scissors
When Sophie Walker entered the teaching profession 10 years ago, she was very much looking forward to her future. This week, however, she and 50 other teachers at her Ipswich school went on strike over students' behavior.
Teachers have reported being subjected to chairs and scissors being thrown at them, with much stress being felt, according to Ms. Walker, while some students are skipping lessons, disturbing others in their lessons, and even disrupting examinations. She further says that "students are generally wandering around in huge groups, not intending to attend any classes."
Ms. Walker, who is representing the Union of National Education, has her doubts about continuing the profession because of these issues. "I'm still here for the kids who want to learn. They deserve an education," she says.
An anonymous teacher says that she left the school after being pushed and insulted many a time by the students. The body that runs the school agrees that there is a "small but important group of students who behave badly" and is trying to bring about a change.
Different teachers say these incidents are not all handled equally, and there should be more support from the main leadership.
Marc Emmanuel, an English teacher and union officer, points out that four more senior teachers stepped down last year. While striking over student behavior is extremely rare, he sees this one as a final attempt to garner support: "For five hours a day, students are misbehaving in the corridors."
They are kicking doors, throwing water bottles into classes, and creating havoc by shouting during exams. It's just not being handled properly. There must be strong rules in place, and they should be followed in order to prevent this," he says.
Social media and phones are partly responsible for the misbehavior, Ms. Walker explains. "It's just not enforceable because phones are banned. They see people making money through social media and feel that they too need to not bother with working hard."
The school's new principal started in September and is still trying, but, Ms. Walker believes, much more needs to be done. "I've worked hard to get here, and I want to support the students who care, but I'm not sure how much longer I can manage," she says.
A mother said that "small things like school uniforms are punished, but bigger problems seem to be ignored" and that "her son was attacked twice outside the school, and he was even threatened with a knife," going on to state that she feels there was very little follow-up from the school.
That created further mistrust among some parents; one father shifted his daughter with special needs to another school, believing that the school didn't help her when she was being bullied.
The trust running the school insists that it does care about staff wellbeing and the support of teaching in a calm environment while mentioning that most parents are happy for the education of their children.
One spokesperson for the government puts stress on behavior in schools and mentions the new teams who will give support to schools for this purpose.
Vic Goddard comments that behavioral problems have perhaps increased since the Covid pandemic, partly because of budget cuts, and expresses support for maintaining teacher support and keeping good staff in schools.
