Teacher and F-word

Union backs teacher over F-word note | Victoria | News.com.au

Union backs teacher over F-word note

By staff writers

Herald Sun

September 02, 2008 10:58am


* Teacher sends boy home with note spelling out f**k you
* Child ordered to write the note to his parents
* Parents make formal complaint

A TEACHER who forced a young student to write an apology letter using the F word has the backing of her union.

The Victorian branch of the Australian Education Union accused the little boy's parents of overreacting, the Herald Sun reported.

Bendigo prep student Maguire Pinner, 6, was put in time out and ordered to write a letter home to his parents explaining how and why he swore in the playground.

He was made to explicitly write the profanity “f*** you”, which was then repeated by the teacher in her comments to the parents.

Victoria Teachers' Union president Mary Bluett defended the teacher and said it was parents who did not like to believe their child had done anything wrong.

“All parents think well of their own children,” Ms Bluett said on 3AW radio this morning.
I think the problem here is with this timeout policy its not always the teachers seeing or hearing and then issuing timeout the kids can tell on a child and then the teacher issues ...

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Jo of Bendigo

She said the teacher had done nothing wrong and said the punishment was part of the learning behaviour.

“Many schools where students break the rules as part of the learning process have to write down exactly what they have done,” she said.

“Writing it down and 'fessing up to their parents is part of the learning process to change that behaviour, you would think that the parents would actually welcome that.”

“If the child was using that word I don’t think there is too much wrong getting them to write to their parents and tell them.”

Maguire's dad Kirk wants the White Hills Primary School teacher to be counselled, saying the school had failed to properly respond.

"What teacher in their right mind could think it is acceptable to have a five-year-old write and correctly spell the F-word?"

Mr Pinner said the punishment had left his boy traumatised and suffering nightmares.

He has made an official complaint to Education Minister Bronwyn Pike and the Education Department.

The school also backed its teaacher.

"We encourage our students to reflect on their behaviour and learn from their mistakes, and this has proven to be a very effective system overall," said school principal Peter Davey.

"In this particular case, we acknowledge that the student repeating these words in writing was not the most appropriate course of action. We have since reviewed our response to dealing with isolated situations where a student uses bad language."

But child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg called the punishment the equivalent of putting a child in psychological stocks.

"It's madness," he said.