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Wellington primary teacher Ken
Hodson with children from Clyde Quay School: NZEI guidelines on physical
contract provide sensible advice, he says. Wellington Teacher Ken
Hodson is completely relaxed about being a male primary teacher. He’s been teaching at
Clyde Quay School for eight years and is aware of the risks surrounding
physical contact with his students. “I am aware about
keeping myself safe. Being a male teacher you have be, but I have no anxiety
about it.” Ken says he was told at
teachers college that he should never touch his students but realised that
was not practical. “You can’t teach little kids unless you do touch them.
That’s my experience. It’s a question of how and when and doing it appropriately,
that’s what important.” “It’s a common sense
thing. It has to be defined, of course. I don’t see a problem with touching a
child on the shoulder. I don’t think that’s a sexual thing and let’s be
frank: that’s what we are trying to avoid. It’s not talked about in those
terms but that’s exactly what we don’t want to be accused of.” Ken says he learnt by
observing his principal and other experienced teachers and the way they
interacted with the children. “That showed me how to have physical contact with
children that was appropriate and safe for me and the child. “I could see there were
times when I needed to take a child’s hand to comfort them because they
needed that contact. It may be all they need to calm them down when they’re
anxious. Hold their hand and get them to take deep breaths. “Other kids don’t like
their hand to be held. You learn that too. They just want you to stand there
while they tell you what’s wrong.” Ken says he read the
NZEI code on physical contact when it was issued in 1998 and saw it simply as
a set of guidelines that schools can use to develop their own policies on the
issue. “They provide sensible
advice. Maybe they need to be looked at again and tweaked a bit, but I think
you’d be silly to throw them out like the baby with the bath water. Ken says it would be a
shame if what happened to Mike Neville put men off becoming primary teachers
because it's a very rewarding career with a great future. So what would he say to
men who are thinking of going into primary teaching bust are concerned about
the contact issue? “I’d tell them to go
for it. When you enter teaching you get plenty of advice and guidance on
what to do and you can work out a way of dealing with the issue that keeps
you safe and the child safe.” |
