It’s not a teacher’s job to be a parent for students.
Why are teachers increasingly being asked to teach children life skills? Surely that’s the parents job?
So, they want Teachers to be parents?
​
Is… did I wake up in a Black Mirror episode?
Absurd. Teachers already don’t have time to deliver the content in the NC. TAs time certainly wouldn’t be effectively used watching children brush their teeth.
Solve the NHS dentistry crisis? Sounds expensive.
Force teachers to supervise tooth brushing? Sounds like a cheap way of further exploiting the goodwill of an underpaid and mistreated group of staff.
Nothin wrong with teaching kids to brush their teeth. Shocking amount of people don’t learn to get the habbit
I swear the tories are just saying shit to divert attention
Whilst I agree that teachers should not be responsible for supervising their students whilst they brush their teeth, it should certainly be taught in schools. When I was a little kid growing up in Canada a dentist visited our school, checked our brushing technique, the time we spent brushing, the amount of toothpaste we were using etc. and gave us advice where it was needed.
My girlfriend’s sister is a dental hygienist here in the UK and I’ve heard her say in the past that many of her clients in their 40s, 50s and 60s don’t know how to clean their teeth properly when she meets them for the first time. I know it sounds ridiculous, but perhaps it’s best if somebody with the relevant training teaches children this basic function, rather than assuming their parents are capable of doing so properly.
Teachers – now also parents because you can’t be fucking bothered.
It’s not even that it’s a terrible idea. It’s just so offensive to be announcing education policies like this when we’re in a teaching staffing and funding crisis.
Good idea as part of a class on looking after our bodies and the allowing for teeth brushing time after lunch but only if kids can do it unsupervised
I can’t disagree with this. I was one of those kids who fell through the dental cracks, and I’ve suffered incalculably because of it, and will continue to suffer going into the future. This is a policy that could have spared me from so much pain and despair as a child, and later as an adult.
Single mother household, mum was more preoccupied with the various men in her life than the welfare of her five childen. She didn’t teach us anything about dental care growing up, didn’t keep toothbrushes and toothpaste in the house. Deliberately kept us away from doctors, dentists and every other authority figure that might twig onto the abuse and the neglect going on at home.
Result is multiple abscess and pulp infections all throughout my childhood. I had my first extraction at age 9. My most distinct memory of my suffering was at age 12, sitting in a computer chair at three o’clock in the morning, weeping, a pair of pliers in my mouth, just praying for the strength to pull. I know a lot of people who’ve experienced this will agree when I say that you’ve never known misery like a pulp infection. It is a uniquely singular brand of suffering.
Instead of taking me to the dentist my mum bought me clove oil and drugged me with her prescription opiates. I didn’t manage to get my teeth sorted until I stumbled into a dental teaching hospital and collapsed after a month of not being able to eat properly due to another raging infection. Today I have a filling in almost every tooth, I have one crown, two root canals, and I’m missing five teeth. I’m now a complete zealot about my dental care, but the damage is done. I can’t afford to get any of the missing teeth filled with implants. Bone loss in the jaw due to multiple missing teeth is considered a cosmetic issue as far as NHS guidelines are concerned. I’m totally stuffed.
Yes, it isn’t the teachers responsibility to be doing this, but if the parents aren’t going to, then what should be the outcome? Just let children suffer?
There’s a lot of kids out there who are little lacklungs in the making, kids who have parent(s) just like I have, parents who don’t care, who’re are feckless, and are sending them into a future filled with agony and despair
It seems to me that this is a policy that could spare a lot of them from this.
[removed]
Quite ridiculous, the current situation.
For many kids, it’s home, school, home, school, home, school, home.
As the world has become more strapped to the internet, it is vital for children to have another third influence. Massive decline in the number of kids playing football in the park or roaming around with friends doing whatever.
Council-funded optional local youth groups could help, in providing these essential life skills, taking pressure off the education system, increasing sports and practical skills development.
Whoa nice idea! Make the underpaid surrogate parents do more work because parents can’t do their job!
Teachers in UK already have shit salaries, don’t add more work.
If they want to fix NHS dentistry they should make it illegal for dentists to tell you “sorry not taking any more NHS patients right now”.
15 comments
It’s not a teacher’s job to be a parent for students.
Why are teachers increasingly being asked to teach children life skills? Surely that’s the parents job?
So, they want Teachers to be parents?
​
Is… did I wake up in a Black Mirror episode?
Absurd. Teachers already don’t have time to deliver the content in the NC. TAs time certainly wouldn’t be effectively used watching children brush their teeth.
Solve the NHS dentistry crisis? Sounds expensive.
Force teachers to supervise tooth brushing? Sounds like a cheap way of further exploiting the goodwill of an underpaid and mistreated group of staff.
Nothin wrong with teaching kids to brush their teeth. Shocking amount of people don’t learn to get the habbit
I swear the tories are just saying shit to divert attention
Whilst I agree that teachers should not be responsible for supervising their students whilst they brush their teeth, it should certainly be taught in schools. When I was a little kid growing up in Canada a dentist visited our school, checked our brushing technique, the time we spent brushing, the amount of toothpaste we were using etc. and gave us advice where it was needed.
My girlfriend’s sister is a dental hygienist here in the UK and I’ve heard her say in the past that many of her clients in their 40s, 50s and 60s don’t know how to clean their teeth properly when she meets them for the first time. I know it sounds ridiculous, but perhaps it’s best if somebody with the relevant training teaches children this basic function, rather than assuming their parents are capable of doing so properly.
Teachers – now also parents because you can’t be fucking bothered.
It’s not even that it’s a terrible idea. It’s just so offensive to be announcing education policies like this when we’re in a teaching staffing and funding crisis.
Good idea as part of a class on looking after our bodies and the allowing for teeth brushing time after lunch but only if kids can do it unsupervised
I can’t disagree with this. I was one of those kids who fell through the dental cracks, and I’ve suffered incalculably because of it, and will continue to suffer going into the future. This is a policy that could have spared me from so much pain and despair as a child, and later as an adult.
Single mother household, mum was more preoccupied with the various men in her life than the welfare of her five childen. She didn’t teach us anything about dental care growing up, didn’t keep toothbrushes and toothpaste in the house. Deliberately kept us away from doctors, dentists and every other authority figure that might twig onto the abuse and the neglect going on at home.
Result is multiple abscess and pulp infections all throughout my childhood. I had my first extraction at age 9. My most distinct memory of my suffering was at age 12, sitting in a computer chair at three o’clock in the morning, weeping, a pair of pliers in my mouth, just praying for the strength to pull. I know a lot of people who’ve experienced this will agree when I say that you’ve never known misery like a pulp infection. It is a uniquely singular brand of suffering.
Instead of taking me to the dentist my mum bought me clove oil and drugged me with her prescription opiates. I didn’t manage to get my teeth sorted until I stumbled into a dental teaching hospital and collapsed after a month of not being able to eat properly due to another raging infection. Today I have a filling in almost every tooth, I have one crown, two root canals, and I’m missing five teeth. I’m now a complete zealot about my dental care, but the damage is done. I can’t afford to get any of the missing teeth filled with implants. Bone loss in the jaw due to multiple missing teeth is considered a cosmetic issue as far as NHS guidelines are concerned. I’m totally stuffed.
Yes, it isn’t the teachers responsibility to be doing this, but if the parents aren’t going to, then what should be the outcome? Just let children suffer?
There’s a lot of kids out there who are little lacklungs in the making, kids who have parent(s) just like I have, parents who don’t care, who’re are feckless, and are sending them into a future filled with agony and despair
It seems to me that this is a policy that could spare a lot of them from this.
[removed]
Quite ridiculous, the current situation.
For many kids, it’s home, school, home, school, home, school, home.
As the world has become more strapped to the internet, it is vital for children to have another third influence. Massive decline in the number of kids playing football in the park or roaming around with friends doing whatever.
Council-funded optional local youth groups could help, in providing these essential life skills, taking pressure off the education system, increasing sports and practical skills development.
Whoa nice idea! Make the underpaid surrogate parents do more work because parents can’t do their job!
Teachers in UK already have shit salaries, don’t add more work.
If they want to fix NHS dentistry they should make it illegal for dentists to tell you “sorry not taking any more NHS patients right now”.