School Fights

Many teachers feel intimidated when a fight occurs in the playground. Fights are things that are skirted around by teaching institutions and rarely spoken of in PD other than in strict legalistic terms.

I'm of reasonably slight build and am considerably smaller than many of the year 11 and 12 students. I'm bigger than many of the female staff also on duty.

So what happens when a fight occurs? How do you, as a teacher, alter an out of control situation when you are physically incapable of stopping students from injuring others and yourself.

The school and how students view the school is a big part of this. I am lucky in that students at our school respect teachers and despite diffusing multiple fights in my career (with male students many times larger than myself and females that had little control over their actions) in all cases my status as a teacher has meant that I have not been at risk. Students seem to know a line that they cannot cross.

Yet I fear this may not always be the case. Students with disabilities are common in school grounds and anecdotal evidence suggest that mainstream students are becoming less able to control their actions.

Practical (not legal) training of staff is necessary before real injury becomes more common. My suggestions are based on practical observation.

1) When on duty stay in line of sight of another teacher on duty. Be prepared to render assistance at short notice. Know the parts of the duty area where you pass from line of sight from one teacher to another.

2) Survey who will take the primary role in diffusing a situation.

3) Issue a command(using full teacher voice) to stop to both parties and (if wise) get between the two students. Hopefully you can skip stage 4 if both students react appropriately. If you are taking the secondary role call for assistance (preferably from a deputy or someone that students are more likely to take seriously.) Seek out the amateur camera people and ensure that they are dealt with.

4) Have the secondary escort at least one of the parties to a safe area (such as the main office, tell the student where to go if you are the only one present and restraining the other student). Do not try to ascertain blame at this point. You may need to restrain the most out of control student for a short time to prevent a running fight towards the office if you, other students or the out of control student themselves are at risk of harm. Speak in a soothing tone to the student being restrained. As soon as the other student is in a safe zone release the student. Be prepared to restrain the student again if he has not regained control and is at risk of causing further bodily harm. Restraint is a last resort and usually indicates that intervention was too late. Holding a wrist is often sufficient. Usually they will seek somewhere quiet although be mindful of students seeking self harm at this point. Damage to property is repairable, staff and student injuries may not be.

5) Diffuse the audience and escort the remaining student to a team leader or deputy.

Students need you as teacher to be in control. Being calm is a key part of this. Don't do anything extra during a crisis time that is unnecessary to the safety of the students. If you are not able to fulfil your responsibilities in stage 4 then consider the legal ramifications of your actions and the risk of injury to other teachers and students.

I am not a lawyer and suggest this article only as a way to promote discussion within your school. I am not a principal - it is your school executive that will dictate what you may or may not do as a teacher on duty. This is an article purely of opinion and you as a teacher need to decide what you are willing to do in the course of being a teacher.

The effects of discipline

I was thinking and remembered my first week out of university. I had attended my new school, an independent all girls school in the outer suburbs (a far cry from my current school). The principal had made an edict that all students were to wear their boaters (straw hats). For the first four days we were to warn students that boaters were to be worn at all times. On the fifth day we were to give detentions to any student not in a boater.

Now on the fifth day I had two yard duties, one at recess and one at lunch. During those two lunches I gave out 57 detentions including one to the head girl. Needless to say I wasn't the most popular new teacher at the school. It was/is the most detentions ever given out in one day.

I thought I was really in for it with the students and I had a really bad time with one of my year 12 classes soon after.

The funny thing was, I wasn't the only teacher on duty yet the only one that gave out more than a few detentions. The majority of students receiving detentions were popular students and mostly in the upper years. They were indignant that they were getting detention. Later I was to learn that a number of different students had welcomed the "black and white" approach to the school rules and were sick of the popular clique getting away with rule breaking.

Luckily for me, for the most part, it blew over. The question remains though, if I was placed in a similar situation would I still give the 50 odd detentions?

Am I still the idealistic student teacher that blindly follows administration edicts to the letter? Probably.. but now I know to do it with a smile :-)