Dismissal - help me please!

Hi,

I had been dismissed from a teaching assistant role that I began this September. The reason was a one-off incident, whereby I attempted to comfort an aggravated student by tapping their arm to direct them to apologise to the teacher they were shouting at. The student's response was aggressive, and told me to "get off me".

I had no idea that I had to inform the principal that I touched the student, but told the assistant head about the scenario of the student shouting/making rude remarks.

I was called to the principal's office and to give the whole story. The principal seemed upset that I didn't mention touching the student (in my defense, I was not aware of this policy - having received insufficient safeguarding training). And was told to write a statement. Following this, the principal told me that they would be terminating my one-year contract, and would be dismissed ASAP.

I applied through this role via a teaching agency, who unfortunately will not be assisting me any further in finding another job - given the incident. I have tried calling the school, who are ignoring my emails and phone calls. Yet, the agency have accepted to take the position as being my reference for "most recent employee", but will mention my dismissal being due to a "safeguarding issue".

In my defense, I was not prepared for the basic safeguarding training, with how to deal with children who suffer from abuse, or distinguishing the fine line of inappropriate/appropriate comments. I was completely unaware that the school imposed a strict "No Touch Policy"!

I have received calls from other agencies inviting me to their office to receive more details/information about my history, education after assessing my CV. I am worried because they require a reference from my recent employer, which may jeopardise my chances.

I want to be upfront, but not badmouth the school's system. Would something like this be acceptable: "A situation in which I attempted to comfort a student by tapping her arm escalated into an issue due the school's No Touch Policy. Given my insufficient level of safeguarding training, I was not aware that I had to report such a thing."

I felt extremely tense (and quite suicidal at some point). I looked for advice, and wanted to know if there is anyone else who can give me what I want to hear!

Thank you

Reply 1

alleycat393

Original post by TEACHAA

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What you have drafted up seems like a good response and a good agency will be able to help you and run with that. Do you have any professional bodies that you subscribe to or that are in your profession that can help and offer advice/guidance? These things happen and they are unfortunate but sometimes you have to chalk it down to experience and move on. It sounds like the school and agency are not willing to have any further conversations about this so there's no point in flogging a dead horse.

Reply 2

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by TEACHAA

I want to be upfront, but not badmouth the school's system. Would something like this be acceptable: "A situation in which I attempted to comfort a student by tapping her arm escalated into an issue due the school's No Touch Policy. Given my insufficient level of safeguarding training, I was not aware that I had to report such a thing."

Don't use the phrase 'given my insufficient level of safeguarding training' - that is bad mouthing.

I was attempting to comfort and focus a student by briefly tapping her arm. However, I wasn't aware of the school's strict 'no touching' policy and so wasn't sufficiently clear about my actions during my first interview.