Teachers bitten, kicked by pupils
Conference hears of growing problem with violent kids
Teachers are struggling to cope with growing numbers of children who are violent — and often still in nappies. Two-thirds of 380 mainly primary and early childhood teachers raised their hands at the NZ Educational Institute conference in Rotorua when asked if they had been hit or assaulted by children recently.
Three-quarters raised their hands when asked if they were working with children with increasingly complex needs.
Teachers spoken to by the Herald said they had been kicked and bitten.
A behaviour specialist said many children were starting school without the social skills required to “selfregulate” their behaviour because their main interactions had been with technology, not people.
A rural primary principal struggling to cope with a child who was not toilet-trained said she was “blown away” at a regional meeting where every principal said they had at least one child in nappies in their school.
“I'm the one who has to leave my own class and deal with these students because they are not toilettrained and wee on the floor, refusing to leave the classroom. I have to remove them. They will kick me.”
Teachers said there were not enough psychologists and behaviour specialists to help them cope.
Kathryn Moss, a principal in a small rural school in Taranaki, said it took eight months to get Ministry of Education support for a child who had been to six different schools in another region until his “mum couldn't handle him and sent him back to dad”.
“I have been in this area 22 years and both the severity of the behaviours, and the number of kids with behaviour problems, have definitely increased,” she said.
“It's spitting, swearing, throwing objects, throwing objects at other children, ransacking classrooms.”
She said the boy who had been to six other schools had never developed a relationship with any of his teachers and she was finally able to stop the violence when she developed a relationship with him.
“He said to me, ‘You actually care about me and that makes the difference.'”
It's spitting, swearing . . . throwing objects at other children, ransacking classrooms.
Mark Potter, principal of Berhampore School in Wellington and the person who asked for the show of hands, said many children had been passed from house to house.
“The family is not there, necessarily. These kids are hyper-vigilant, always looking for something that to them feels like a threat, and their response . . . is often violence.”
Ministry data provided to the institute shows that the number of primary school children given interim support jumped by 41 per cent from 1512 in 2013 to 2134 last year. There was a similar 43 per cent jump, from 1775 to 2434, in the numbers of primary and intermediate school children stood down because of physical assaults on other students or staff.
Kindergarten teacher Helen Hansen said she has had problems with a boy since he started aged 1. Now aged 4, he is pushing other children around.
“We restrain him. While we are restraining him he's trying to headbutt you, bite you.”
She said that in theory the new Ministry for Vulnerable Children Oranga Tamariki could bring in support from other agencies, but she was unable to get their help because the parents denied there was a problem.
Ministry of Education head of sector enablement and support Katrina Casey said that last year about $95 million was spent on behaviour assistance for about 10,000 children.
Kathryn Moss, Taranaki principal