A Dublin student was suspended for telling a pregnant teacher he would "kick the baby out" of her.
The secondary school student then followed the teacher out of the room until she was forced to lock herself in a side room.
Audrey Cepeda, chair of the Dublin City branch of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland, told a teachers' union conference today that the student was suspended three weeks after the incident occurred.
The Independent reports Cepeda said that the teacher felt she had no choice but to leave the room.
She said:
“If nothing happens for three weeks you are setting a precedent, this is what you can do without suffering any consequence.
“Three weeks later was not good enough and it is much better if there are going to be consequences that it happens very quickly.”
The conference also heard that this kind of intimidation was a "daily occurrence" for many teachers.
Cepeda said that often when teachers are verbally assaulted they don't know whether the confrontation is going to escalate into something physical.
She said:
“Some of them are quite bad; teachers would have objects thrown at them - nuts and bolts, cans of coke, coins,some might be pushed. Some may be physically assaulted before someone gets a chance to intervene.”
“Sometimes it is verbal assault where students could be inches from the teacher’s face, threatening them in front of class, and they don’t know if it is going to escalate further."
The branch is planning to conduct a survey among its members regarding the issue.
