Secretly filmed: never again uninhibited in front of the classroom
Seems like a lesson like any other. But afterwards it turns out that you were recorded with a mobile phone, that the clip was shared on social media, that parents came to get a story and that the management dropped you. It happened to these two teachers.
Picture: Type tank
It was only at the end of class that Betty de Loos, first-degree German teacher, saw that a student had smuggled a phone into the classroom. So she imposed the usual sanction: turn in the phone and report it the next day at eight in the morning. Case closed.
I wish it was true. Because in that lesson (at 3-HAVO) she had addressed a student rather harshly: "Take part in the lesson, open your book, answer me." Firm, but not over the top. A friend of that student had made an audio recording of it, and it had been cut and pasted. “I'm not very handy with the beamer, so I asked a student to help me in that same lesson. As a joke I had said about myself: Well, blond, huh? ” The student whom De Loos spoke sternly in that lesson was also blonde. So that 'blond huh' fragment was pasted behind the stern speech.
Pasted
The sound fragment began to circulate among students, the team leader heard about it and warned De Loos. “I didn't understand it. I really had to think for a few days before I understood that - and how - the fragment was put together.”
How can you expect students to respect teachers if parents and management don't?
On the parents' evening the parents of the addressed pupil then came to tell the story in a high-pitched way. They would make sure that De Loos was fired. She is not so afraid of that: the first-grade teachers of German are not there for the taking, and De Loos is almost ready to retire. But fun is different. “I always did my job with heart and soul, I was always concerned with taking care of the students. But this way I get really disappointed in my profession. ”
Sabotage
Ellen de Boer (not her real name) recognizes the latter very well. In her English lessons (also 3-HAVO, but at a different school) two friends were structurally sabotaging the lesson. "They didn't do anything, they didn't work, they just sat sucking." In the test week they both got a 3 for the course. "And then they were lucky, because I was not allowed to give a lower mark." De Boer was looking forward to the parent meeting a few weeks later. "I thought: Now I can finally agree with their parents about the work attitude of their daughters."
That went a bit differently. Because it turned out that one of the girls had secretly filmed De Boer. Nothing strange had happened in that particular lesson: De Boer had explained the material for ten minutes and then put the students to work. “Making assignments in the workbook, learning from each other - and I was walking around to help where needed.”
The parents just didn't fly to my throat
However, according to the parents, the video proved that De Boer taught poorly. Frontal classroom teaching, all hour long: that's what she should have done. “The parents just did not go to my throat. The father almost crossed the table and kept pounding his fist on the table top: what was I going to do to make his daughter get better results? And meanwhile that daughter was sitting next to it, with a victorious one smile. I don't remember how I got through those ten minutes. ”
After the conversation, De Boer immediately went to the vice principal. Could he perhaps sit down for a moment at the next meeting with the other friend's parents? You could. In that conversation, the criticism of De Boer continued as usual. “The parents felt that I 'should just start teaching', that I had to practice my profession. I responded that I didn't tell those parents how to practice their profession. And that was, according to the vice principal, a comment I should not have made. ”
To cry
The parents wanted to continue talking with the vice principal after the conversation, while De Boer did the rest of the parent conversations. “In the last conversation, a mother complimented me that her son spoke English so well. I burst into tears. The mother did not understand: she gave me a compliment, right? Yes, I said. But I had such a terrible evening. ”
At the end of the evening, De Boer saw that the parents were still talking to vice principal. And later the parents also went to the rector. "Everything behind my back, of course." And she absolutely does not feel supported. “The management is afraid of bad PR, so the parents are treated with all respect. But how can you expect students to respect teachers if the parents and management do not already have that? "
Betty de Loos (from the 'blond huh' fragment) also does not feel supported by her management. “I have contacted the AObbecause I wanted to know what my rights are. To my surprise, the next day I received a message from the AOblawyer: a school must have a policy on the use of cell phones in the classroom, the school had to see that those recordings were deleted, and also had to declare in writing that that had happened.
Familial
So De Loos informed the school management about this in a formal letter. “I'm not into 'dear sir' and 'dear madam', but I thought: If this is going to be a file, I shouldn't be too familiar.”
And then the turnips were done. Because the problem was not that the students had secretly made and edited recordings: the problem was that De Loos made it a formal matter. “We didn't treat each other like that at school, was it? According to the management, I should never have gone to the union. It was a very unpleasant conversation. ”
With an unsatisfactory outcome, because the management ultimately did not know where that sound fragment was exactly. Yes, somewhere online or on social media, probably. But where? “They told the student to erase the fragment and the student says she did. I trust that. ”
Debt
Both Betty de Loos and Ellen de Boer were further told afterwards that the incident was properly considered their own fault. Because students are not allowed to bring their phones with them in class, and the teacher must supervise this. And they had both failed. “Like my colleagues, I have a telephone bag hanging in the classroom,” says De Boer. And all mobile phones have to be placed there at the beginning of the lesson. But that's, first of all, a fight every time. "When I'm not standing next door to make sure the cell phones go into the phone bag, almost everyone keeps them with them."
You can hardly frisk thirty students upon entry
And secondly, how can you check whether thirty students are actually following that rule every time? “Pupils sometimes hide a bit, and it is difficult for me to search them,” says De Loos, who also has a telephone bag hanging.
Third, mobile phones are increasingly used for educational purposes. De Loos: “Sometimes a student asks if he can take a photo of the notes on the board. He then puts it in the group app. Then I say: Okay, get your phone out of the phone bag. I also use a modern teaching method from Malmberg, with a lot of digital material, and for some exercises students are allowed to use mijnwordbook.nl. The telephone is therefore just a learning tool. ”
Anxiety
The incidents have had major consequences. “Secretly recording is a form of aggression,” says De Loos. “And I now realize that students have a direct line with their parents via their mobile phone. At another school I once saw a student texting under the table and I knew her father was in a motorcycle gang. It's a scary idea that parents can wait for you after class. ”
During the next parent evenings, De Boer was accompanied by two burly colleagues. “They really stood up for me. They said: You don't just come across a colleague of ours. ” But De Boer still does not sleep three nights in advance for a parents' evening.
French example
It is time, she thinks, that management boards support and respect their teachers unconditionally again, instead of fearing parents. “Maybe we should follow the French example and ban cell phones completely at school. Then we protect the students from their dependence on mobile phones and teachers can again carry out their core business: just give good teaching. ”
Although in her case teaching is no longer the same as it used to be. “I will never again be open-minded in front of the classroom. I always did something extra for the students, but I don't do it anymore. I have lost my spontaneity and I will never get it back. ”
The real name of Ellen de Boer is known to the editors.
Also read: 'School must have a policy for cell phones in class'
