A student I'll never forget.

I was once, a few years ago, sent to work in a notoriously tough school. I was going to be there for a few months, and to have my own classes in this time. 

 

 And it was the year 10 class that I will never forget. 

 They were a group of students who had been put together as they couldn't behave in other lessons. The head of department had decided to put them all into one group and take them himself, but now he was off sick, and I was going to take them on myself.

 Now, these were not in any way easy going, but disengaged students. They could be angry, violent and needlessly argumentative, but little by little they began to thaw towards me.  

 My first lesson was a complete disaster, and ended with them all walking out of the lesson with 5 minutes remaining. However, with patience and time I managed to win them round.

 

I never shouted, or patronised them. I just stuck to my guns and handed out consistent sanctions when they were needed, which they frequently were.

 

 I could tell you horror stories about these students, but I loved that group. We had lessons where they worked, we had lessons where we did absolutely nothing as we battled with eachother, and we had lessons where we just talked about them, and what they liked .

 I was building their trust, and it was a long and drawn out process, but with some of these students I felt like I was really making a breakthrough. 

 One student in particular stood out. She was a tiny girl, named Charlie, with a fierce temper, who'd tormented teachers everywhere she went. 

 

 Charlie seemed to hate me at first, and tried her best to disrupt already difficult lessons. However, over time, she seemed to warm to me. After a month she started to contribute positively to lessons, and started to produce good work.

 Suddenly she was a different girl in my lessons, but unfortunately this was not reflected elsewhere in the school. 

However, I was seeing her mature and become a student I was really enjoying teaching.

 Sadly, the time came for me to leave the school, and I explained this to the class at the end of a lesson. They didn't seem overly bothered, such was their way, and they left without really saying a thing. At least they left on time, which showed a marked improvement from my first day with them.

 

 An hour or so later, whilst clearing the room after a year 7 lesson, Charlie walked into the room. 

 She handed me a folded piece of paper, and said "I wrote this for you sir" "oh, thanks, when?" I replied a little choked "In my last lesson, sir, I never work for Miss Brown, so thought I'd write this instead" was her grinning response. 

 It was a letter, which I thanked her heartily for, as being a supply teacher you tend to come and go without any thanks or fanfare. 

 It might seem like a tiny thing, a letter from a student, but to me it was incredibly touching and more than enough payment for being able to teach that "difficult" class. 

 Within the letter she thanked me for being patient with her, and not shouting at her when she made mistakes. 

 The letter made me cry, as it was the last thing I ever expected, and it was a moment where I could see that I'd made an impact on someone's life. It might have been a small contribution but I was proud to be a teacher that day.

 

 I went back to the school a year later, and asked a teacher about Charlie and said I'd been wondering how she was getting on. They shrugged indifferently and told me that she'd been permenantly  excluded.

 

 I've never been more gutted for a student, and was so disappointed that she couldn't fulfil the potential that she'd shown in my lessons.

What did you say to me?

A short post here on a few of the worst things students ever said to me. It's amazing what kids will say to someone they don't think they'll ever see again. 

 "Aren't you ashamed to be a supply teacher? Could you not get a proper job?" 

"Do you just work to get paid and get laid?"

"What the fuck are you doing? You fucking cunt" 

 "How big is your cock?"

"I wish you were dead, I want miss back"

"You look like a gypsy, do you live in a caravan?" 

 

"Where's sir, is he dead?"

"We don't have to listen to you, you're only a supply" 

"No offence sir, but I'm not going to do any work"

"I'm not calling you sir, I don't respect you, and you don't have a knighthood"

"You look like a serial killer"

"Want to go out with my mum"

"What do you think of miss, sir? I think she's fit as fuck"

"I don't fucking care, I'm going to work for my dad anyway"

"I'm leaving this lesson and going for a shit"

"Your voice is so dull, it makes me want to kill myself"

"Nice arse, sir"

"You're sound, as I don't have to work in your lesson"

"Oh good, a supply teacher, I can text my boyfriend all lesson"

Behaviour: it's getting worse

 Now, I don't like to be all doom and gloom, despite the output of this blog suggesting the contrary at times.   

However, having worked in education for a number of years, I can say objectively that behaviour is getting worse, to the point where it is out of control at some schools, with the most worrying fact that very little is being done.

 

 Last year I was assigned to a school during an Ofsted inspection, which is a topic I shall discuss another day, and during those two days the behaviour of the students was near perfect. 

 I'd been to this school before, a highly thought of school in an affluent area, but the students had not behaved like this at all. In fact I'd had a child storm out calling me a "wanker" when I questioned their lack of effort, confiscated 4 phones from a "great" class, and had to clear up the mess after one class decided to stop working and make paper aeroplanes. 

 So why was the behaviour good this time? 

Well, it's simple: there were members of the management team all over the corridors. Not a minute went by without the heartacher or a deputy passing the classroom, or poking their head in to check on things. They had made a special effort to leave the offices they usually seem glued to, to patrol the school like vigilant police officers.  

 The school was rated "outstanding" for behaviour, and gave itself a huge pat on the back for an inspecting team well fooled. 

 

 For fooled they were, as in the past few months I've been back to that school and seen: doors kicked of hinges by students in PE; children roaming the corridors at will throughout lessons; and I know two teachers who have been punched by students, whilst breaking up violent fights in classrooms.

 This is at a "good" school, but in my time in the classroom at a range of schools I've seen a whole class throwing pencils at eachother; witnessed a student throw a cloth on to a heater to start a fire in the classroom; and I've broken up more than 20 fights. 

 I've personally been grabbed round the throat when I asked one student to sit down; had to kick more than one student out for trying to make a phone call in my lesson; and been called a "stupid fucking cunt" when I closed down an inappropriate website that one student was viewing. 

 

 I've also witnessed a sickening fight where two girls were pulling one another's hair out, caught hundreds of students smoking, and know schools where some students aren't even allowed into mainstream lessons, as their behaviour is just so bad. 

 Now not all of these examples are daily occurrences for me, but on an hourly basis I have to deal with students who can't be quiet, who interrupt the lesson constantly, who throw objects, who swear and steal, and on occasion those who just decide to walk out of the lesson.

 Classroom behaviour is getting worse, and less is being done to combat it and it's cause. The majority of the crimes go unpunished, or the blame is shifted to the teacher, and exclusions only happen in the absolute worst case scenarios. For example: neither of the students who punched a teacher were given so much as a day of exclusion. 

 Teachers are seemingly told to try and make their lessons fun to keep these students attentive and improve their behaviour, which to me feels like rewarding poor behaviour and empowering those students who already like things their own way. Misbehave all you want because you'll be rewarded by fun lessons designed just for you. 

 Behaviour should be a huge concern, but so many school leaders seem more focused on their statistics, and how their school is viewed by outsiders, that they've taken their eye off what is happening inside the classrooms, playgrounds and corridors of their school. 

 It's frightening what happens in schools, and I personally cannot wait to escape it all when I leave education behind in July, and I know plenty of other teachers who feel exactly the same.