PUPIL’S THREAT TO ‘KICK BABY OUT OF TEACHER’

Conference told it took school three weeks to get thug suspended

A PUPIL who threatened to “kick the baby out” of a pregnant teacher wasn’t suspended until more than three weeks later, a conference heard yesterday.

Delegates were told their members were suffering work-related stress linked to a failure by school chiefs to address the behaviour of indisciplined students.

Audrey Cepeda, chair of the Dublin City branch of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland, said the situation ignited when a misbehaving pupil was reprimanded and “reared up and went for her”.

She said her shaken colleague felt she had a duty of care to the other students but decided reluctantly she had little option but to leave the room. The pupil is said to have followed her, causing the teacher to lock herself in a room and phone for help.

Speaking in Wexford, Mrs Cepeda said: “It is much better if there are to be consequences that it happens very quickly.

“If nothing happens for three weeks you are setting a precedent – this is what you can do without suffering consequence.”

Delegates heard how teachers felt they were unsupported and that has led to work-related stress. Ms Cepeda added: “Some of them are quite bad; teachers would have objects thrown at them – nuts and bolts, cans of coke, coins, some might be pushed. Some may be physically assaulted before someone gets a chance to intervene.

“Sometimes it is verbal assault where students could be inches from the teacher’s face, threatening them in front of class, and they don’t know if it is going to escalate further.

“Then, sometimes, a student might swing for a teacher and may not connect but the following

WEXFORD YESTERDAY

day that student could be sitting back in front of you.” She also claimed sometimes a portion of blame for pupils’ behaviour was being attributed to teachers – making them reluctant to admit they were suffering from stress.

Ms Cepeda said her branch, which represents over 800 teachers, is set to carry out an anonymous survey to get a clearer picture of how work-related stress is affecting their members.

A motion was passed by the conference to investigate the scale of the issue due to indiscipline and get a response as to how school managements intend to tackle the problem.

Teachers get nuts and bolts thrown at them and some are assaulted AUDREY CEPEDA