Inappropriate comments from teaching assistant

bestpud

Bettyboop wrote: »

I find it funny that what has happened here is clearly not racism but what goes on in South Africa for example is. I wonder if you would like the TA to loose her job over this? The Headteacher has obviously listened to you if he is already dealing with it but I wonder how much time this is wasting. I don't want to put it across that way but it also feels as though you have more of an issue with the remarks made about skin colour and not anyone else.

What is this world coming too? In some schools I hear they don't even sing Baa Baa black sheep in case it offends someone...absolutely crazy so instead this very old nursery rhyme has been adapted to Baa Baa Rainbow sheep!

Apparently, that was all rubbish spouted by the media. What actually happened was a nursery teacher came up with a rather good idea for teaching children different colours in a fun way. A parent heard of it, got the wrong end of the stick, and hey presto we are 'no longer' allowed to sing 'bah bah black sheep'!

SugarSpun wrote: »

I agree that the people who mean well but who go too far in the direction of caution are not doing anyone any favours. Coffee without milk is black. So is the sort of board on which you write with chalk. Words like "postperson" and "chairperson" failed to catch on; so should similar replacements for words that have some vaguely tenuous connection to race.

As above - there is no problem with anyone saking for a black coffee for heavens sake! Most of it is made up by the mdia to cause a stir, simple as.

Idiophreak wrote: »

I don't really follow.

Seems TA was talking about someone they knew who was dark skinned, got sun damage and ended up losing some of their pigmentation...

I don't see what's half baked or poorly educated about that?

Quite! :T

The boy was clearly arguing he didn't need suncream, and therefore drawing attention to his colour. :rolleyes: The TA has, sensibly imo, informed him he needs to wear cream.

What would the OP have to say if she let him burn, I wonder? That she needs training to know that black children have to wear sunscreen? Or that she treated this boy differently because he is black? :rolleyes:

Honestly, this kind of nonsense and over reaction is why people are afraid to open their mouths and that cannot be a good thing, surely?

Take the first instance: would it have been a problem if she'd said to a child with ginger hair that she gets him mixed up with another child with ginger hair, because there aren't many of them? I think not.

Take the second instance: would it have been such a big issue if the same ginger haired child had been told that he is more likely to burn than some other children (because they tend to have very fair skin) and may end up scarred? I think not.

OP - if you are not worked up or overracting then I'd hate to see you when you are.

Lighten up for goodness sake - you'll have people too scared to speak to your child!

And to talk of taking him out of school... What??

That will be great won't it? You don't want to make an issue of his colour but you will have someone sacked from their job and/or remove your child from school over a few ill-thought out perhaps, but not deeply offensive, comments.

Seems to me you have a major issue with skin colour.

Honestly, get a grip!

coolio_2

Kids should feel safe at school. And it's adults ignorant attitudes that get passed onto kids, otherwise kids would happily carry on. I went to school i a village where I think there was a total of about 4 non english white families yet I didn't even think anything of it until discussing it with someone many many years later. I was very good friends with a boy whose parents originally came from India, yet I never once thought 'oh, he looks a bit different to me'. Hell, it was the kid with buck teeth that got picked up as being different, certainly not skin colour. The argument could be carried over to kids of single parents, gay parents. None of it is ever an issue with other kids until adults start pointing out it's a bit different from the majority.

kjmtidea

bestpud wrote: »

Apparently, that was all rubbish spouted by the media. What actually happened was a nursery teacher came up with a rather good idea for teaching children different colours in a fun way. A parent heard of it, got the wrong end of the stick, and hey presto we are 'no longer' allowed to sing 'bah bah black sheep'!



As above - there is no problem with anyone saking for a black coffee for heavens sake! Most of it is made up by the mdia to cause a stir, simple as.



Quite! :T

The boy was clearly arguing he didn't need suncream, and therefore drawing attention to his colour. :rolleyes: The TA has, sensibly imo, informed him he needs to wear cream.

What would the OP have to say if she let him burn, I wonder? That she needs training to know that black children have to wear sunscreen? Or that she treated this boy differently because he is black? :rolleyes:

Honestly, this kind of nonsense and over reaction is why people are afraid to open their mouths and that cannot be a good thing, surely?

Take the first instance: would it have been a problem if she'd said to a child with ginger hair that she gets him mixed up with another child with ginger hair, because there aren't many of them? I think not.

Take the second instance: would it have been such a big issue if the same ginger haired child had been told that he is more likely to burn than some other children (because they tend to have very fair skin) and may end up scarred? I think not.

OP - if you are not worked up or overracting then I'd hate to see you when you are.

Lighten up for goodness sake - you'll have people too scared to speak to your child!

And to talk of taking him out of school... What??

That will be great won't it? You don't want to make an issue of his colour but you will have someone sacked from their job and/or remove your child from school over a few ill-thought out perhaps, but not deeply offensive, comments.

Seems to me you have a major issue with skin colour.

Honestly, get a grip!

Hang on, do you something I don't?! Were you there? As far as I am aware my son was not arguing that he doesn't need sun cream, he needs sun cream just like everyone else.

The t.a. has admitted to another incident that my son hadn't told me about, so now the head teacher is 'taking it further' whatever that means and I have another meeting with her tomorow.

poet123

kjmtidea wrote: »

Hang on, do you something I don't?! Were you there? As far as I am aware my son was not arguing that he doesn't need sun cream, he needs sun cream just like everyone else.

The t.a. has admitted to another incident that my son hadn't told me about, so now the head teacher is 'taking it further' whatever that means and I have another meeting with her tomorow.

Appeasing a parent is what that means.

kjmtidea

Well obviously not, I told the head teacher that I would like to speak to the t.a. and leave it at that. The head said that whilst she is happy to sort a meeting out for me and the t.a, she still wants to take things further.

With the new incident that the t.a. told the head about, that is 3 different things now.

elisamoose

Sounds like it will be a disciplinary for the TA. From my experience working in a school and as a governor it may result in a written warning and further training. All depends whether there have been any previous issues with the TA. Written warnings can stay on record for a considerable amount of time in education.

BTW it can be hard to remember names of children especially in a big school , and even after 9 years I still get some children muddled up. We are only human!

lilac_lady

kjm - I can understand your adult reaction to a possible case of bigotry/ignorance but it may not do your son any good in the long term as it may make him sensitive about it. A difficult time for you. You've passed it to the HM and he/she will deal with it - hopefully ensuring that it won't happen again.

My GS is going to the "big" school after the summer holiday (he's nearly 5) and he proudly showed me the Primary 2 pupil who would be his guide for the first few weeks. I'd heard all about Paul - he's got a budgie, he's in the cubs and he wears glasses. DGS didn't mention that he was black because skin colour doesn't mean anything at that age. There's Asian, Polish and Chinese children in his class too.

bestpud

lilac_lady wrote: »

kjm - I can understand your adult reaction to a possible case of bigotry/ignorance but it may not do your son any good in the long term as it may make him sensitive about it. A difficult time for you. You've passed it to the HM and he/she will deal with it - hopefully ensuring that it won't happen again.

My GS is going to the "big" school after the summer holiday (he's nearly 5) and he proudly showed me the Primary 2 pupil who would be his guide for the first few weeks. I'd heard all about Paul - he's got a budgie, he's in the cubs and he wears glasses. DGS didn't mention that he was black because skin colour doesn't mean anything at that age. There's Asian, Polish and Chinese children in his class too.

That's the thing; children don't notice these things and they won't see it as a bad thing to be different unless someone tells them it is.

I remember my son, then aged five, describing a new friend he'd made - he talked about him wearing a blue jumper and grey trousers (the uniform, so that was no help ) and then he said he had brown curly hair, and how tall he was etc.

Not once did he mention he was black; we only found out when he pointed him out.

It's far better to teach children to celebrate differences than teach them some differences are ok and and others are taboo.

bestpud

kjmtidea wrote: »

Well obviously not, I told the head teacher that I would like to speak to the t.a. and leave it at that. The head said that whilst she is happy to sort a meeting out for me and the t.a, she still wants to take things further.

With the new incident that the t.a. told the head about, that is 3 different things now.

I hate to say this, but if parents get wind of this, soem of them may be wary of letting their child play with yours for fear of issues. I've seen this happen in schools here.

The danger is other staff members will no longer see your child as one of the children, but rather the one they must tread carefully with, because his parents will complain.

It's not right but it's a natural reaction to something like this.

poet123

The thing is that to cover herself and the school the Head has to take it further. If she did not and you complained to Governors or the LEA it would reflect badly on her. She will be seeing you as a loose cannon that must be contained and pacified, and is undertaking damage limitation. All racially motivated incidents(involving pupils) have to be reported via the Sentinel systemtothe LEA.

In the case of the TA she can expect to be unable to find alternative employment in another school when this incident is on record, other schools would not know the background, but simply take the "incident" at face value as a racial one and take an application no further. Of course this is right and proper in the case of a serious, and intentional racially motivated incident, in this case it seems very harsh and unfair to me.

Bestpud is also correct, the staff will tread warily around this child in the future, quite rightly imo,who wants their career ruined?, and if other parents do find out,which they will, they too will be wary and view all involved differently.

Human nature is a funny thing.