Quote:
Originally Posted by casstony
Mark, for someone with a self-confessed positive personal experience as a teacher you seem to be quite cynical.
If 'bad' kids don't get the help they need from somewhere they're likely to pass their dysfunction on to their own kids in future. Is it not a worthy goal for teachers to participate in trying to break the cycle? Or should teachers throw their hands in the air and say "That's not my job"?
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I am not being cynical just realistic (note the emoticons) and having a laugh to myself at your post. From my perspective the expectation of other teachers and myself having to pick up the pieces is ....well just a little too much I think, yet it is a common notion that we will do so by many governing and parent bodies and the public in general. We get abused in the media everytime some kid messes up as we obviously are to blame for out of control kids commiting crimes. Politicians use us as a scape goat when they are trying to draw attention away from their own incompetence and I like many other teachers are just a little sick of it. As I have said we have 3 full time fully qualified and registered psychologists at my college and they are kept busy all day every day. Problem is little if any information is ever fed back to us (confidentiallity etc etc) and we have to deal with all sorts of problems with no idea of what is going on which makes genuine proactive action and support for these children impossible unless you really luck out. Whats more if a student discloses information of certain types we are bound by law to report it to the child protection agency so there is little to no chance that we can promise the information a child tells us will remain secret....not the best for building relationships with troubled kids. The situation is untenable and even though you always try your best, I feel it is a losing battle at times hence my previous comment. The best we can do is encourage and support learning through innovative and thoughtful programmes, after all thats what we do best. The great thing about the college I work at is the strong sense of community. The kids are tight and really support each other and I have seen family's take these kids in, feed, cloth and nurture them without all the restrictions placed upon us. This is what is required, a stable loving safe enviroment not some bandaid placed by us to keep them from disrupting our classes. I have seen the positive effects this has had on troubled kids and the change in behaviour, outlook and willingness to be part of the class is astounding. Parents need to support teachers and be involved in the school community, it can only lead to better outcomes for all.
Mark