If you're a teacher?

Question

What powers would you like to see installed so that you can control and discipline a class? Or do you think they're fine as they are?

obzi tsk tsk - that's a bit harsh!

Hi John R - Just curious - what country do you teach in? I admire teachers tremendously and support them in every way.
We hear so much about indiscipline in the schools and I'd love to hear the viewpoints from the persons on the receiving end - the teachers.

Answer 1

I am from Argentina and I am a teacher, too. I really thought we were the only country with high degrees of indiscipline at schools.
I don´t know what you do in the UK, but here, when there is too much indiscipline and it becomes out of control, the school provides you a kind of notebook, where you state what happened in the classroom, including the names of the students involved, who have to sign the book as well as the teacher. When they have three signatures in that "indiscipline notebook", they are not allowed to enter school unless they are with their parents.
This method is not 100% effective, but it´s rather helpful.
Good luck!

Answer 2

I'm a male teacher in a very rough primary school in the UK. When i say rough i mean rough! The street the school is on is one of the most deprived in the country. My colleagues and i have experienced behaviour you rarely hear about in the papers it is so extreme. Nothing more needs to be done, we don't need anymore powers. The fact is that a lot of the teaching profession are whingers. The number of children who arrive at our school throughout the year having being expelled for something trivial is amazing. I feel a lot of teachers have unrealistic standards and need to wake up a bit and toughen up. Yes secondary school is a different kettle of fish which i can't comment on but in primary school there is no need for change.

Answer 3

All you need is a school that sticks by its guns.

If the school policy is always upheld, and the kids know crocodile tears will get them nowhere, they'll behave. If they know there are weak links who back down if a parent won't believe their darling could have done something or if a child cries, they'll try it on with everyone to see who will crack.

It isn't so much the severity as the consistancy of discipline. The press and knee-jerk reactions make people nervous of just doing stuff fairly nowadays, and the cracks that form can be problematic.

Answer 4

I personally did not have any problems with either class control or discipline and I speak as someone who has worked at the chalk face in a variety of schools for thirty six years.
I do believe, however that teachers in their probation year and in the early years of their career be given lots of practical support of how to improve their effectiveness in this area. After all, if their classes are disruptive they are not going to be able to deliver their part of the curriculum.

Answer 5

Teachers who are organized, prepared, and use every minute of every class period to advantage, rarely, if ever, have discipline problems. Discipline comes when there is good communication between the teacher and students. All the outside forces with all their rules will NEVER create discipline in a teacher's classroom. For many, those rules become a crutch which usually helps little.

Chow!!

Answer 6

It is now increasingly difficult to install powers of discipline - I think that the belt should never have been removed in the first place. I am not an advocate of corporal punishment, but the threat of it was enough to deter those that might think twice from those that don't care - and now the one ones that might have thought twice are in the don't care category since there is nothing to deter them! It is criminal that the discipline problem has risen to the heights it has.
On the spot detention can't be given out any more - it has to be arranged to give parents warning, giving out lines is actively discouraged in case the child has motor skills and we give undue pressure and stress to the child, they can't be made to stand outside the class in case they run away, and so on...........and my experience is only in the Primary. I just would not want to work in a secondary school!!
Things are certainly not fine as they are - just look at the rising crime rates, absences, etc., but I am at a loss at to what can be introduced and implemented to return the school to a place of manners, discipline, good behaviour and a place for active, purposeful learning.
Good organisational skills, consistancy and respect (for both the teacher and the pupil) are vital for the foundations of productive learning but that has to come from the teacher to begin with and leadership skills that set good examples to the pupil. If you can start with these and keep them going then that is a good start! You can't expect a child to learn if they have no respect for the source of the information and their elders - something that is sadly lacking nowadays. And a lot of parents now have little or no respect for authority so how can we expect their children to have that respect when there is constant reinforcement from home that disrespect for anyone they don't agree with is perfectly acceptable and normal behaviour.

Answer 7

I think a lot of the discipline problems that arise, occur due to problems outside the school. A number of students at the school I am training at have severe behavioural issues, and the vast majority of them have severe difficulties in their home life as well.

That is why I am all for the government plan on 'extending schools' (due in 2008, they think...) to incorporate parents far more into taking responsibilty for their children's welfare. If the parent is in support of the school and its policies, it is going to be far easier to maintain them.

I think that no teacher should have to put up with abuse at any time, and that any situation like this should be dealt with by simply removing the child from the environment, where they can be talked to without interruption and in a calmer place. No teacher should have the right to use aggression as a counteractive force- and this includes shouting - as what example does this set for the child? They are probably shouted at at home as well, so they will grow up thinking its ok to resolve your problems by acting aggressively to maintain power.

Rather, if the student will not respond to calm, rationed conversation, and persists in being disruptive or unpleasant, they should simply be removed from the class, and dealt with on a more pastoral basis.

It should be remembered, NO CHILD IS INTRINSICALLY EVIL. They may be destructive, aggressive, rude, spoilt etc - but I guarantee you, these are all by-products of how they have been brought up. Probably inside, they are just desperate for someone to listen to them and like them.

Answer 8

As a teacher, discipline is not the serious thing in school I think rather crucial thing is how to engage the students in the work. That is because empity mind is devils house. Promote the social skills like groups work, project work, collborative work rather than your ideas, which actually control class to go in vain.

Answer 9

Dear Ceaser's wife
Haven't you ever heard the saying "Knowledge is Power"?
I do not know from where you have come, but the place where I work is filled with boisterious pupils and it's absolutely difficult to control the wards with the iron discipline alone. It requires: to great extent knowledge, discipline, love and concern and some feigned forgetfulness, catching up with the things our wards meander for example net and cell phones and mobikes. I'm pulling through my job of teaching english to the students who actually are not fully literate in their own mother tongue.
The rolls of my class, you can never imagine, 120 to 150.

Answer 10

If I ruled the world I would demand that $$$ and resources be invested in school students as they are our future:

Limit class size to 12-15 students

Provide professional training and continuing education in special
education theory & techniques, educational psychology, developmental psychology, emotional support issues, special content areas (sciences, history, art), communications, computers, and writing skills to ALL teachers FREE of charge as long as a teacher continues to teach in public schools for 2 years following the courses.

Make teachers aides available to work one-on-one in the classrooms with students who are stressed or disabled by emotional or physical issues. Have this aide accompany the student to lunch, gym, and all other leaving the room so that there is continuity in support and disruptions can be avioded. Have this service for chiildren who have been truant, so that if there is a school based reason for avoiding school it can be identified.

Set up a program to meet the needs of students with difficult home situations -- have an trustworthy advisor that they can check in with to solve everyday problems like no lunch money, or claming down after a fight with parents or peers, - so that one incident or anxiety does not ruin the whole school day.

Provide safe and comfortable staffed and stocked places in the school for students to study and do homework before and after school -- this would help kids who don't have a desk or quiet or school supplies at home or need a safe place to stay because no one is at home.

Morally the schools need to set as part of their mission to respect all people and base all procedure and disciplinary action on modelling and stressing respect. The teachers are to be respected, and they must not tolerate or engage in speach or behavior that disrespects teachers or students. Name calling, belittling, shouting, cannot be part of teacher or student behavior.

When a student expresses boredom, frustration, fear, or anxiety, this puts the student under stress. If the child is immediately taken seriously and intervention is at least promised or planned ie. "You seem ________, we can talk about what to do about this right before lunch, so hang in there," there is less likelihood of a "melt down". There should be a system of communication in place which allows for individual student needs to be communicated and appropriate communication skills should be taught early on.

These improvements will help the school function better as a positive environment for learning and teaching. Relying on the "cane" or other reactive corporal punishment teaches some children that violence is a valid way to get what they want - is this the message we want to communicate? Isn't undealt with anger and the choice ot seek retribution through violence behind school shootings and bullying?