Former Head Teacher Chris McGovern has warned that teachers are facing a "gathering storm" following a damning report revealing widespread abuse from parents.Speaking to GB News, McGovern described the situation as a "crisis" in education that threatens teacher recruitment.READ THE FULL STORY HERE
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00:00Does this report, I mean it's pretty shocking in its detail, does it ring true for you and your experience, Chris, in the classroom and schools?
00:08Yeah, when I've taught for 35 years, I was one of those teachers who wasn't assaulted, but undoubtedly it's a deteriorating situation.
00:16And some people will say, well, it's COVID and it's smartphones and so forth.
00:20This is all true, but let me reassure you, in any classroom, someone is always in control.
00:25It just helps you as the teacher, and too often it isn't.
00:29And as Sophie says, teachers on the whole do a great job, and they've got a hard job to do.
00:35It's a very rewarding job, and it's a fantastic job, but there is a breakdown, and we're not really dealing with it.
00:41And I think probably next year we'll be back again talking about a continuing breakdown.
00:45So we have to look at what are the underlying causes, and we have to deal with those.
00:50But the situation cannot continue because we won't recruit teachers into the classroom.
00:54So we're having a gathering storm here.
00:56Chris, I want to ask, obviously it is a damning report, isn't it?
01:01What can we do?
01:02How do we begin to tackle this?
01:04As Ben said, is it the parents?
01:06What more can be done to try and reduce this, what I would call a crisis in our education system?
01:13Well, it is a crisis, and Ben's right to mention parents.
01:16Look, some parents, many parents, probably most, are very supportive of schools, but you get a minority of parents who don't support the teacher.
01:23I remember when I started my career in a large comprehensive school in Yorkshire, 2,000 children, and I had a child who was a problem child, misbehaved.
01:31And on parents' evening, mum and dad came in.
01:35Dad said very little, but after a while he spoke, and he said, Mr. McGovern, if you have any problems with my lad, just stamp on his fingernails.
01:42Now, I didn't like what he said, but the message was clear.
01:45You have my support.
01:47Too often these days, you know, parents aren't supporting their children.
01:50Quick solution.
01:51First thing to do, get rid of mobile phones, ban the mobile phones from the classroom.
01:55It's an obvious thing to do, but the government doesn't have the courage to do it.
01:59It's a real problem there.
02:00Second thing to do is make the curriculum more relevant to the oldest children, because not all children are suited to do an academic study after about the age of 13 or 14.
02:09So I would say by the age of 14, as in many other countries around the world, some youngsters who are not academic, but may be very talented in other areas, go on vocational courses.
02:19Yeah, and Chris, sorry to interject, we are running out of time, unfortunately, but also schools are just afraid to exclude people now.
02:25There seems to be some blanket exclusion bans, which for me is completely bizarre.