Stoke-on-Trent teacher who developed PTSD after abuse blames Covid lockdown

[ad_1]

Receive the free Morning Headlines email for news from our journalists around the worldSign up for our free Morning Headlines email

A teacher with 28 years’ experience, who developed PTSD after being abused by her own students and facing daily threats of rape, says she has witnessed a massive increase in violent and sexual attacks in recent years, and thinks Covid lockdowns are to blame.

Wendy Exton, 51, from Stoke-on-Trent, had been teaching children aged 11 to 16 at an alternative school for around 10 years when she started noticing an alarming increase in school violence.

Over the next four years, she faced a tirade of mental and physical abuse from students who spat at her and threatened to rape her.

Wendy was diagnosed with PTSD in September 2021 and felt she had no choice but to give her notice to the school, which was not named to protect the students’ identities.

More than one in 10 teachers have been physically assaulted by a student in the past year, a survey by teachers’ union NASUWT revealed last month.

You have everything you need to push yourself, spit, punch, try to trap yourself in places or jam your hand in doors, Wendy said.

There was a week when I came home and my arms were black and blue.

I was mortified, I had to wear a long-sleeved top or people would think I was beaten.

People don’t realize how extreme this can be.

Wendy always wanted to be a teacher to make a difference and completed a Masters in Special Educational Needs at the University of the West of England in Bristol.

She decided to work in the alternative offer, a category reserved for children who do not thrive in traditional school environments, after a brief stint in mainstream education as a design and technology teacher.

When I started it was amazing, I loved the work, she says.

(AP Real Life)

Because I had done a Masters, I wanted to make good use of it.

When I started teaching, behavior wasn’t really an issue; it was literally after the covid lockdowns that everything became awful.

One incident in particular sticks in Wendy’s mind, in which she was afraid to move.

She said: Two boys cornered me near the classroom door while this girl was trying to kick out the window.

I couldn’t get out the door or call for help.

I was afraid to move for fear of what they might do to me.

It’s almost embarrassing to say that because I’m not that kind of person, I’m not one of those teachers that kids run around.

However, it wasn’t just the physical abuse that pushed her to her limits.

They always latched onto some aspect of your appearance or it was sexualized, like they were threatening me with rape or porn-style smut, she said.

In fact, I wrote it on the #MeToo website because I wanted people to realize that it’s not just for female students but also for teachers.

We had done so much work over the years to deal with sexist behavior and now it was worse than ever.

Although Wendy had taught for almost 30 years, the abuse had reached a level she could no longer cope with.

I couldn’t take it anymore, I just had to go, she said.

It left me with a form of PTSD because I woke up in the middle of the night and heard screaming.

It got so bad that it affected every aspect of my life.

I remember being in tears during the morning briefing and being like I couldn’t do this.

While there are many possible explanations for the sudden spike in aggressive behavior among students, Wendy believes Covid lockdowns are a key reason.

Things were relatively calm and violent incidents were quite rare, but due to Covid lockdowns and a management structure that did not deal with abusive and violent behavior, it deteriorated massively, she said. .

You have children who have spent a lot of time at home without structure or boundaries.

Many children had unlimited access to violent videos and online pornography.

Another challenge facing teachers since the global pandemic is ensuring students make up for the years they spent outside the classroom during lockdown.

Now you have 11/12 year olds behaving like school kids because they obviously missed out on years of formal education, Wendy said.

They just haven’t grown or matured.

We’ve never seen this before and it’s a totally different ballgame now than it used to be.

There are a number of steps teachers can take when faced with threatening or violent situations.

However, Wendy questions the effectiveness of some of these measures.

You could call someone from the leadership team to come talk to the kid, said Wendy, who is now a member of the NASUWT national executive.

But then they would remain in your lesson or be deleted and put back in place.

It is very rare for a child to be excluded.

Teachers also receive training to deal with hostile situations, but that was not enough to help Wendy deal with aggressive students.

We have what’s called Team Teach training, which includes de-escalation and safe handling of children, Wendy said.

But you are not expected to safely handle children who are above your shoulder height.

The teacher accuses the academic system of turning away from exclusions because these figures are made public and could damage the reputation of schools.

She thinks the Department of Education should be tougher on misbehaving students.

If you implement a rigid behavior policy, there will be a few months where many students will be excluded, she said.

But then the parents will put more pressure on them to behave well and they will want to spend time with their peers.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: No teacher should feel unsafe or face violence in the workplace.

We take action to improve student behavior through our 10 million Behavior Hubs program, which helps 700 schools improve their behavior.

We’ve also updated our school behavior guidance to provide clear guidance on how to create and maintain high standards.

[ad_2]