(Australia) Adelaide: Violent young students-'Teachers are crying out for help'

Aug 26, 2017, Adelaide Now (Australia): Boys and girls behaving badly: Teachers, principals plea for help to improve student behavior http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/boys-and-girls-behaving-badly-teachers-principals-plea-for-help-to-improve-student-behaviour/news-story/3256adaf0ebddbf553d3e738ec49220e THERE was no one incident, no straw that broke the camel’s back, behind Melissa’s decision to quit the teaching profession at the end of first term this year. But after eight years in the classroom, she knew she had to get out. It was, rather, the cumulation of hundreds of incidents — many of them violent, many of them perpetrated by very young children — that led to her decision to leave her northern suburbs school. ... Above all, when the sparking of young minds was secondary to management of chronic behaviour problems, it was not the job she had signed up for. “It got worse and worse. They came to school not ready to learn, so many social problems, so many language issues as well, not enough early intervention,” the 33-year-old says. “My first year of teaching I got no teaching done, I had to keep evacuating the classroom because of violent incidents. “These were Year 1 and 2 kids. They were throwing scissors, trashing the room. .. “Staff are constantly verbally and physically attacked. They cannot teach because students blatantly refuse to follow instructions and sit on the carpet,” she says. “Teachers are crying out for help. They need greater help to ‘control’ students in the classroom. They simply want to teach but have students who run out of the classroom, sometimes even school gates, who have constant meltdowns, hide under tables, assault other children in the class, and simply refuse to listen or co-operate. ...