Toddlers Terrorise Teachers

TODDLERS TERRORISE TEACHERS

With 1,000+ small children a year - some as young as two - being suspended from nurseries and schools, we ask are children becoming more violent or are teachers more reluctant to take them on?
 

When conducting interviews with nursery and primary teachers, sociologist Frank Furedi reported that many actually felt intimidated by violent little children and said their behaviour was providing a serious challenge to classroom authority. 

Government figures show that 1,000 + small children from two upwards have been suspended from state schools and nurseries for ‘crimes’ such as physical assault, threatening behaviour, racism, sexual misconduct and theft.
 
Is it the Teachers or is it the Kids?

Furedi reckons these figures say more about the changing attitudes of teachers rather than moral decline amongst children.  In the Times he says:

‘Today some schools regard kiss-chase as sexually inappropriate behaviour. .. Instead of simply telling the youngsters off…teachers crank up the machinery of warning letters to parents, followed by a suspension’. 

Furedi believes that it's adult authority that’s actually in decline.  He quotes Sam Harris, teacher in a Manchester primary school, who says her colleagues - instead of openly challenging bad behaviour – hide behind petty rules. She says they are ‘scared to do what they know…is right’.   Why? 

Some may be reluctant to punish bad behaviour in case they are themselves reprimanded.  Nursery assistant Sarah Poole was criticised for raising her voice to a child who had bitten her.  Feeling like ‘a powerless servant’ she quit her job.  

Says Furedi  ‘The kids are all right.  It’s their teachers who aren’t.  Suspending toddlers represents an irresponsible example of how those who should know better evade confronting the real issue of classroom discipline’.

Have YOUR Say

Do you think childrens’ behaviour is getting worse or is it the case that teachers are afraid to discipline kids these days?   Tell us what you think by leaving a comment below!

More Info

Article:  Teachers Terrorised by Toddlers?  Oh Grow Up!  (Times)

Book:  Wasted: Why Education Isn’t Educating.  Frank Furedi,  Continuum Press