US tutor left over 'uncontrollable' students

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Foreign teachers lured to UK 'quit within weeks'

An American teacher who left her job at a British school said the students' violent and disruptive behaviour had driven her and two US colleagues to return home in disgust.

Langleywood School in Slough, Berkshire, was forced to cancel maths and French lessons last term as a result.

Nancy Lauletta, 28, who taught French, and her fiancé, Brian Bowen, 26, a maths teacher, worked together in Texas at the 2,000-pupil Colleyville Heritage High School before coming to Britain. They and their colleague, Glenn Duquenoy, 47, a science teacher, found the students were uncontrollable from the start.

"From the very first class, I was just shocked," Miss Lauletta said. "They were an undisciplined rabble. There are no procedures for controlling them, and they know that.

"In a typical class there would be kids running across the tabletops, jumping on chairs. They would be yelling, fighting, and throwing rubbish... They were swearing all the time and the girls were as bad as the boys.I've taught in tough schools, but nothing like this."

Miss Lauletta said that when she complained, her own skills were questioned. "Head teachers have always written good reports about my work," she said. "That was the turning point for me. I was being criticised for my work with these uncontrollable kids in a system that does not work and has no provision for effective discipline.

"The tragedy is, there were some gems among these pupils – kids who were really bright and wanted to learn. But they got dragged down by the rest."