Sorry for long post, but I have to get this off my chest….
Although new to teaching (just finished NQT) I am quite sure that the behaviour problems at my school are made much worse by the inconsistent way that teachers apply the school's behaviour system.
I am "hated" and "too strict" because I use the system as it was meant to be used. I do now have good working relationships with lots of pupils in my classes, but not at first. They really do not like teachers that follow the rules properly.
If I see a phone I always take it and the pupil gets the standard consequences. There is no middle ground. The rules are there to be used, not picked at an applied in different ways on different days!!! If a pupil is late without a valid reason they always get the consequence as stated in the school rules. My pupils know not to be late. Consistent application of the rules is the way forward, but does not make you popular with the kids and some staff seem confused by it too. I have had one member of staff say I was “on a power trip” when I confiscated a phone once. She walked past the pupil and did nothing, while I spoke to them and explained the rules and took the phone. Not a power trip, simply me doing my job.
Other teachers seem to want to be cool and don't give consequences as stated in the school rules. I know that there are some exceptional circumstances when following school rules like a robot teacher is not the right thing to do, but for everyday bread and butter classroom/corridor management if we all did the same thing I think the pupils would quickly get the message and the situation would vastly improve. I know it would not solve all problems, I am just thinking of ways to improve things.
Example 1
At my school you get an after school detention if you turn up to lessons without the correct equipment. You must have pens, pencils, planner, books, etc. At the start of the year, every day a whole stream of pupils turn up to my lessons with no pen, no pencil, no planner, no ruler and a “so what” attitude about it. I always from day 1 have followed the school rules and given an after school for this. As a result the pupils rip into me with verbal abuse: “to strict”, “you are pathetic”, and much worse. Kids do bring things to my lessons now, but they hate me for being so “picky” about it.
In every room around school there will be teachers turning a blind eye to this lack of basic equipment, which does make me appear too strict. Many teachers just ”lend” out pens in class. Despite SMT stating that this should not happen. This inconsistent approach is crap! If we all followed school rules regarding lack of equipment I am sure it would not take long before the kids got the idea.
Now take this to the next level and think about how it could work if all school rules were consistently applied by all teachers. I know it is utopian, but I am “mid-rant”, so bear with me…
example 2
If we see a mobile phone turned on in school at any time we are supposed to confiscate it and give an after school DT. Then why do I appear to be one of the few teachers that actually has the balls to do this? The number of teachers that seem happy to just walk past whole groups of KS4 kids on phones is beyond a joke. “It is too much hassle, they will kick off”. If we all had the balls to follow the school rules the problem would be far less common. Yes there would be a period of unsettled adjustment from a whole school of shocked pupils that just realised they can’t just do what they want anymore! Good!
These are just examples of relatively trivial rules that teachers do not apply, there is plenty of serious and anti-social behaviour at my school that also seems to go unchecked.
I just wish all my colleagues would go for it and properly challenge the unacceptable behaviour we have and use the school rules properly. I think it would transform my school.
Too many teachers seem to want to be popular or just take the less confrontational approach of pretending not to see rule breaking stuff. I have even seen staff walk up to kids and complement them on their new phone have a look at it and hand it back to them. This is sending out the message that teachers that apply the rules are b**tards.
Would it work if we all went for it and applied the rules? Do all schools have the “cool” teachers that turn a blind eye to little rules and give the rest of us a bad name? Should I turn a blind eye take the easy route and stop applying the little rules?
Rant over. Comments welcome…go easy on me I am touchy on this topic.
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