Teacher physically attacks students - mother: "Don't tolerate him hurting him" 

Created: 06/01/2022 11:23 am

At a school in Gießen, a teacher grabs an eleven-year-old student from behind by the neck and puts him in a kind of clamp or stranglehold.

(Iconic image) © Sebastian Kahnert/dpa

A student is physically attacked by a teacher in Gießen.

The boy's mother is shocked, while the teacher continues to teach.

Gießen – Physical assaults and violence by teachers towards students have been banned for around 50 years.

But it still happens today that teachers become violent in the classroom - mostly towards younger, physically weaker children.

What happens then and what follows?

The answer is sobering: there are apparently no clearly defined procedures for dealing with and sanctioning physical violence by teachers.

This becomes clear in a case that occurred at a secondary school in Gießen at the end of March: In the middle of a lesson, a teacher grabs an eleven-year-old student from behind by the neck and puts him in a kind of clamp or stranglehold.

He threatens the child: "I can become aggressive." The marks of the physical attack can still be seen six hours later on the sixth grader's neck.

"That was my teacher," the child says to his mother when she is wondering where the big red spot on her son's neck came from.

The mother is shocked, as reported by giessener-allgemeine.de.

The reason for the teacher's attack on the student's neck is said to have been that the child had been talking to a classmate in class - an everyday occurrence that in no way justifies the illegal physical violence of the teacher.

Because at German schools there has been a ban on violence for teachers since 1973.

Children also have the right to a non-violent upbringing at home.

It is enshrined in the Civil Code.

Gießen: Mother of the sixth grader is horrified and shocked

“I expect teachers to respect my child's physical integrity and will not tolerate a teacher causing pain to my son,” says the mother.

On the same day, she writes an email to the school administration and the class teacher and asks that steps be taken to ensure that such a crossing of borders does not happen again.

She is also considering filing a complaint.

But contrary to the mother's expectation that the headmaster would take care of the matter, two days later she received an email from the violent teacher, who asked the mother and her son to have a face-to-face talk.

The mother can hardly believe that the headmaster is leaving the processing of the forbidden attack to the »perpetrator«.

She didn't expect that.

Only after another email to the headmaster does the mother manage to get the headmaster and the class teacher to take part in the clarifying discussion with the teacher.

Scandal at the school in Gießen: processing among intimate friends

During this conversation, these three colleagues are on first-name terms, which gives the mother the impression that this trio does not have the professional distance to each other that would be required due to the teacher's use of force.

Neither a school inspector nor any other official of the state school board nor external professionals such as a mediator or a psychologist participate in this discussion.

The teacher, who has previously thrown pens at children in class, is also, ironically, the training officer for prospective teachers at the study seminar in Giessen.

He therefore has a special role model function.

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The teacher shows remorse in the course of the conversation and apologizes many times for his actions.

The legal consequences for him remain unclear.

The teacher – whose attack got around to students and parents in other classes in no time at all – continues to teach.

Incident in Gießen: "Attacks by teachers on students are often covered up"

This would be unthinkable, for example, in any properly run amateur and mass sports club.

Violent trainers are immediately and permanently relieved of their duties.

There is zero tolerance for physical abuse of children or young people.

Most clubs even have their own child welfare officers – which is necessary in order to receive financial grants, for example.

This "zero-tolerance policy" does not seem to apply to teachers who receive a substantial income from taxpayers' money.

"Physical assaults by teachers on students are often attempted to be covered up or trivialized," says a high school teacher who has been teaching in Giessen for 30 years, is well networked with many schools and who has experienced the inadequate mechanisms for sanctioning these prohibited incidents on several occasions .

Teacher tackles students physically in Gießen: cover up and trivialize?

Because there are no standardized procedures prescribed by the Ministry of Education or the state school authority for dealing with and sanctioning violent attacks by teachers.

This is left to the personal discretion of the school management.

If she is well-disposed towards the teacher, for example because he has an important function, such as conducting a choir, the legal consequences may be less severe or may not occur at all.

It is also up to the school management to decide whether or not to report physical violence to the state school board as the supervisory authority.

Norbert Kissel, head of the state school authority in Giessen, concedes this when asked.

School administrations are obliged to take up incidents of this type "immediately, to hear all those involved and, depending on the type and severity of the offence, to inform the school supervisory board." But that is at the personal discretion of the school administration.

"The legal consequences depend on the facts determined and the respective individual case," says Kissel - which also leaves room for interpretation.

And: The involvement of mediators or people who take on a control function in discussions following physical violence by the teacher "is not planned."

Gießen: Waiver of external control after incident at school in Gießen

That surprises.

After all, physical attacks by teachers on students are no longer trivial offenses - unlike 50 years ago, when teachers at schools were still considered "normal".

With the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Germany has long since committed itself to taking all appropriate legal, social and educational measures to protect children from any form of violence.

A request to the Hessian Ministry of Education, to which we described the incident from Gießen and asked for an answer as to how physical attacks by teachers on students are processed and sanctioned by default, has remained unanswered since the end of March.

This is another indication that there are no clearly defined guidelines.

Violent teachers are apparently not provided for in the school regulations - according to the gullible motto »that what must not be cannot be«.

On the other hand, there is an explicit obligation to report head lice, for example, to the state school board;

and there are very precise and meticulous regulations for data protection.

The same school in Gießen: the teacher hits the back of the head with a book

Incidentally, at the same Giessen school, about two years ago, another teacher had hit two eleven-year-old students in the back of the head with a heavy, hard-covered book with such a loud bang that the whole class was startled.

The teacher had ignored the fact that these blows could possibly cause blood clots in the head.

Overall, it is doubtful that school authorities properly deal with physical aggression by teachers towards children and that the perpetrators must reckon with serious consequences after their forbidden actions.

The specifications of the Ministry of Education and the State Education Authority are far too imprecise in this regard.

Professional new standards urgently need to be defined here, which clearly regulate what measures are to be taken by teachers in the event of physical violence in order to better protect defenseless school children from such attacks in the future.

In the current situation, a criminal complaint is the only way for parents to have violence by teachers towards their children assessed and sanctioned by an independent legal authority.

But most parents shy away from going to court for fear that their child could suffer disadvantages at school as a result.

Physical assault by a teacher at a school in Gießen: the consequences remain unclear

After all, the mother of the eleven-year-old student, who was grabbed by the neck from behind and slightly injured by the physics teacher, is ultimately reconciled.

She feels that the teacher has seriously reconsidered his behavior and has shown genuine remorse.

And – what is most important: The child has reportedly coped well with the attack on his neck and has overcome it without any consequences.

Clamp or stranglehold by teachers in Gießen: "Incident is closed"

The legal consequences for the teacher, who is said to be about to be promoted, remain unclear.

Neither the encroaching teacher nor the headmaster want to comment specifically on questions in this regard.

The official school authority is also keeping a low profile: “The incident is over.

The necessary measures have been taken.

To protect everyone involved, I cannot and will not provide any further information," says Norbert Kissel, head of the school authority.

(jri)