Categories: uncategorized
Date: 24 October 2009 08:04:41
I will never forget the day that a young man walked into the classroom where I was doing some prep and said, "I've done something really stupid, I pulled a knife in the library". My initial reactions were mixed as I heard the story. I was annoyed that this young man had been so stupid, I was angry that he had chosen to threaten another person with a potential deadly weapon and I was slightly scared as it became clear he still had the knife. But I also felt sorry for him, I knew the circumstances surrounding this and had given him some advice a week or so earlier which, had he taken it, would have meant the situation would have been avoided and he would have been getting the help he required. The end of this story was that I walked him over to the college reception, handed him over to senior management and security and he was excluded but no one got hurt and no charges were bought. It could have been so different though if he had decided to use the knife.
Another incident that comes to mind, in another college I taught in, was when I heard that a student had been hurt when a bunch of young people, who weren't students came on site and attacked him. The street had spilled over into the college. He recovered and security was tightened, but again it was the sort of incident that brings fear.
These are rare incidents but they do happen. One of the reasons they can/ do happen is because FE colleges are the places which are more likely to pick up the disaffected youth staying within education and with their skills based core of courses they also pick up the "non-academic" kids. I could get into class here....but won't, suffice to say you are more likely to find 16 year old Chavs in a FE college than traditional 6th form environment.
Beyond the social mix and make up of colleges part of the reason the second kind of incident can arise is because within a college environment people don't wear uniform and you have huge numbers of people coming in and out. Some are only in for one day a week and so you the people on the gate can't get to know everybody. I say people on the gate because both the FE colleges I worked in did have security on the gate checking who was going in and out.
The BBC Education section has this report about a "Safe Colleges, Safe Communities" guidance being offered. Amongst the recommendations is the call for hoodies not to be worn up. This is the one I have an issue with. Whilst I can see some of the reasons for this I am aware of some of the reasons why some young people need to wear their hood up. For some it relates to sensititivity to light. Additionally it can make young people going into a potentially threatening environment feel safer. By potentially threatening I am not referring to the type of threat the article refers to but the fact that for some people who have negative previous educational experiences, however welcoming we seek to be, a classroom is a potentially threatening place. I am not convinced that somebody having their hood down is going to make life safer. Rather it appears to be giving into the increasing paranoia related to working class youth. Whilst I have taught a number of middle class chavs in my time, it is primarily a working class style of dress.
In terms of the other measures mentioned I think they make sense, to a certain extent. However, their introduction and implementation must relate to the individual context and level of risk / deviant activity. I believe that security overkill can be counter-productive. I have seen where clampdowns on ID checks, for no apparent reason, have caused resentment amongst students and given them a new excuse for lateness.
The key I believe is to be sensible, but also to treat them with respect outside aswell as inside the classroom. There is a line in a Billy Bragg song which says, "You don't turn criminals into citizens by treating them this way". I think to a certain extent you could subvert this and say "you don't turn chavs into citizens by treating them this way".
Within the recommendations I do think are important are alarms for staff. Because of some of the types of students you get in FE colleges personal safety is a major issue and staff should be able to get security quickly if needed. I know of one incident where we were aware that something had happened outside of college and were all having to take our mobiles into class so we could phone security if it did happen to spill over into the classroom. Also random ID checks are useful. My concluding words would be proportionate response rather than scaremongering.