Miss, can I go to the bathroom?
When the toilet rolls disappear into the bowl and the glasses are always wet, it is time for a clearer toilet policy in the group.
Picture: Type tank
A student who scratches 'Yolo' in a toilet door, poop on the wall: former teacher Marije Molenkamp still has the toilet misery clearly on her mind. “I had a group of 6 that I had a hard time getting to grips with. I was regularly at the end of my energy. As a result, I unintentionally gave students too much space. That caused all kinds of problems, including on the toilet. And I couldn't find out who made a mess of it."
Messing around in the toilet, Greta Kramer, teacher of one of the two groups 4 of primary school Et Buut in Zaandam, has also experienced it. “If one had to go to the toilet, they all had to go at once.”
WC duck
A solution in Kramer's group nowadays offers the toilet duck, a rubber duck on the cupboard at her desk. The use is simple: if the duck has a rubber reindeer with a red nose on the cupboard in December, the toilet is free. Whoever needs it takes the duck, puts it on his table and writes his name on a list that is on the same cupboard. The group then knows that the toilet is occupied.
“My colleague from the other group 4 and I set up the list of names because the toilets were always dirty. Children check in advance whether the toilet is clean. If it is dirty, it means that the previous user forgot to flush or dropped a paper towel on the floor.” The problems since the introduction of these agreements are no bigger than that. “No more writing on the walls.”
“If one had to go to the toilet, they all had to go,” says teacher Greta Kramer
Flee
According to Lisa Jansen, teacher at a small primary school in South Limburg, unwanted toilet behavior is mainly the result of children's need to escape from class. “In my experience, sometimes kids just need a break from work. And those are really not just the students with concentration problems or children who can't handle the material. If a trip to the toilet is the only detour they are allowed to take, peeing is used as an excuse.”
At her own school, a village school with only one junior and one senior group, the problem is overcome with the curriculum. Instruction and independent work moments take place in different rooms. When those moments change, the children walk from one classroom to the other. And that saves unnecessary toilet traffic, according to Jansen.
She also prefers to use as few rules as possible. The kids can go when they need to.
They turn over a card from the green side to the red side, so that everyone can see that the toilet is occupied. From group 4, the agreement applies that children only go if they really have to. Jansen: “At another school where I worked, a colleague came up with the idea that children were only allowed to go to the toilet twice a day. Each child had two toilet papers per day to spend. Subsequently, the children who normally did not go to the toilet outside of breaks also made a sport of writing up those notes.”
If a trip to the toilet is the only detour they are allowed to take, peeing is used as an excuse.
Controlling
A sophisticated system with all kinds of rules and agreements is indeed no guarantee for trouble-free toilet use, believes Molenkamp. As a teacher coach and trainer for her agency Wenk, she has now watched enough classes to know that the state of the toilet is related to how the teacher manages the group. “Just look at what happens if there is a substitute in front of the group who is not yet sufficiently familiar with the agreements. The first thing students do is hang around in the toilet,” she says. “Teachers whose children think they have eyes in their backs suffer the least from toilet problems. They ask, 'What are you going to do? To the bathroom? You can't, because someone is already on the toilet.' If they suspect that there are several children in the toilets, they step out of their classroom and confront students about their behaviour. 'What are you doing in the toilet? You're not supposed to be there. Come back again.' It's simple: students who know they'll be screwed if it's discovered just don't do it.”
Teachers whose children think they have eyes in their backs suffer the least from toilet problems.
By means of on-the-job coaching Molenkamp lets teachers experience how that works. She stands next to the teacher in front of the group and sometimes pauses the lesson to show what is happening and to give suggestions for a different approach. “I also do that when I see that a lot of students go to the toilet. 'Watch out, another one is going to the toilet', I say. And often a teacher then says: 'Yes, but they have to go to the toilet.'
Control
If you walk along for a while, you can show that you realize if a child doesn't have to go to the toilet at all. “The fun is quickly over,” says Molenkamp. “It is a simple and effective way to regain control in the group: to show that you see everything.”
A system such as the toilet duck then helps to clarify agreements about when students are allowed to go and how many students at a time. “It is especially effective when children have to grab the duck from your table, so that you can make eye contact with them and, if in doubt, ask whether a child really has to. If you are in control as a teacher, the last thing a student wants is to disappoint you.”
This article is from the Education Magazine. The magazine of de Algemene Onderwijsbond that all members receive monthly. Do you want to become a member? More information can be found at this link.
