New recruit teacher is inadequate

This exercise that he set....was it from a book or one he had devised himself? Are you a native speaker, and the subject in question is that language?

Was there really any need to ask the other parents to join the gang, so to speak, instead of just handling it as an individual? It all smacks of bullying to be honest.

No, it doesn't, it smacks of common sense. If a parent has concerns about a teacher, it makes all sorts of sense to talk to other parents to see if they have similar concerns, in case the parent is wrong or has misinterpreted something, or in case it is something peculiar to their child. It also makes absolute sense if a number of parents have concerns to present them together. If a parent does so individually, the school's response is highly likely to be along the lines of "No-one else is complaining, your child must be lying to you" or that the parent is being over-fussy. If a number of parents demonstrate the same concerns, with evidence (of which there seems to be plenty here), the school has to pay attention and can't marginalise or pick them off.

Blimey, no wonder teachers feel so undermined/bullied by parents sometimes.

Just make sure 'out of his depth' isn't conveying that you are accepting of his errors because of the overwhelming situation the teacher finds himself in.

It's certainly kinder than the statements I've offered previously so that may be how you want to present your issue.

oreos

If there are no facts [that point to lack of competence] then the school will deal with the spurious complaint and the teacher will continue to teach. No?

Why assume hysteria when a parent just wants their child to be correctly taught? (in this one subject, they are not displaying this concern about all subjects)

There ARE incompetent teachers, but far fewer than you would think, most are weeded out by the rigour of the PGCE and NQT year.

it's also worth pointing out that for most middle-class parents, the situation now is wildly different to when they were at school (this for the UK, I realise the OP is talking about France). When I was at school in the 1970s and 1980s, there were a significant number of teachers who were completely incompetent. They were less qualified (some wouldn't have had a PGCE, some would have a 2 year Cert Ed) and it was at that point both very difficult to fail your PGCE and very difficult to not get appointed after your probationary year: the shadow of RoSLA meant that a teacher who had a pulse was appointable.

But today, the situation is very different. Passing a PGCE and probationary year and getting QTS is difficult, the drop-out rate is high (in some cases for bad, but in many cases for good) reasons and the accountability measures mean that teachers who can't deliver aren't carried by schools frightened of embarking on competency proceedings, as was the case a generation ago. My children's school education is coming to an end, and I've not encountered a single incompetent teacher and I've only encountered a couple where I thought "yeah, OK, but I wouldn't want you teaching my child two years running" (and, notably, they were all older). No teacher under fifty is likely to be incompetent, simply because they would have been weeded out.

With my "child of teaching union activists" hat on I'd say that in some cases schools are trigger happy and embark on competency proceedings at the drop of a hat when support and coaching would be more productive, but in 2015 schools are quite focussed on the interests of the consumers (yeah, as measured by metrics which you can argue with) rather than the producers. That's overall a good thing.

There are far fewer crap GPs, too. And opticians. And any other regulated profession. They've all decided that allowing 5% of the cohort to ruin the credibility of the 95% isn't good business.

This sounds like a complete over reaction. First few weeks of year seven and there is one teacher the kids don't like, hot housing parents freak out and go on a rampage trying to get him sacked without ANY facts. Grow up.

I don't no the situation in France where the OP lives, but here in the UK the teacher shortage means there are increasingly posts left unfilled in schools, or positions filled by teachers teaching outside their subject specialism.

If it is languages, i remember one teacher of german who was literally one step ahead of the students - learning german at evening class then teaching it the next week. I doubt that teacher enjoyed the experience, hardly ideal, but noone else available to teach it. It wasnt like they deliberately chose someone crap at the language.

I also think that teachers on mumsnet are defensive because of the many teacher bashing threads.

There ARE incompetent teachers, but far fewer than you would think, most are weeded out by the rigour of the PGCE and NQT year. A huge number of teachers then leave before reaching 5 years in the profession, due to work load, stress and the difficulty of keeping up the standards.

Smug twerps who refer to the people who provide one of the most valuable services to the economy, who are graduates, and realtively well paid as "low paid alsorans" are always going to get a bad reaction.

herethereandeverywhere

Good post, fully agree.

However, I still think the OP should keep it within the context of the school their DC is at rather than what other parents/DCs have told them in other schools.

Ask for responses to be made in writing, if possible.

[Ok, setting aside the inevitable bunfight when you dare to question the competence of a teacher....]

If English is not your first language and you want to accurately and fairly raise your concerns I can totally understand why you are asking. I'd think about some of these phrases:

"I am concerned about the standard of teaching by Mr X"
"Is it correct that he has no previous experience of teaching subject Y? [If 'yes'] Why did you think it was appropriate to appoint him to the role of Z?"
"Some of the work that has been sent is below the level of difficulty we would be expecting fro year 7. Whilst this in itself would not cause undue concern at this stage of the year, we have experienced several incidences of inaccuracies in the work set and errors in the answers given. [SHOW EXAMPLES]"
"It is not acceptable for a teacher to be 'teaching' facts which are incorrect"
"It is not acceptable for a teacher to set work which is not able to be completed due to inaccuracies and errors within the exercise itself [give examples]"
"This has caused confusion on the part of [child] who had previously grasped and understood the concepts being taught"
"We are questioning the competence of Mr X to be able to teach X subject and we are concerned about the effect on our child's education"
"We would like to know what steps you/school will be putting in place to ensure:

1. Children being taught by X are correctly taught the full syllabus for that subject
2. Information/concepts/facts taught by Mr X are the correct ones
3. Mr X sets work which is factually correct and appropriate for the age group and subject he is teaching." "We are not willing to 'wait and see' based on the number of errors and examples of incompetence that we have already experienced."

It is for the school to justify the situation and carry out measures to adequately deal with it so don't feel you have to suggest the solutions, just empahsise you don't want your child's education in this subject to be adversely affected by Mr X.

I think if you go in using jargon you are more likely to look like you are trying to sound like you know what you are talking about, and make your argument seem less effective.

I agree. You are in danger of looking rather hysterical.

What time today is your meeting with the school?

So, you're able to critique and correct this teacher's work but you don't have the intellect or nouse to come up with the appropriate wording for a complaint?

Are you sure the problem is with the teacher?

I'd agree with the use of jargon too. Orwell's rules of writing every time:

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

I think if you go in using jargon you are more likely to look like you are trying to sound like you know what you are talking about, and make your argument seem less effective.

I'm with Shegot and suspect what you are dealing with is a recruitment problem. This teacher is most likely either the best of a bad lot or the only person that applied for the job. Still, you would expect any well educated adult to be at least one step ahead of a class of 11 year olds. I'd be seriously scrutinising other aspects of the school and asking yourself if you have made the right decision in sending your DD there. Good schools usually don't have vacancies for v. long and as the HOD post is also vacant, that would ring alarm bells for me.

As for the jargon, I agree with other posters who say don't use it. Just express your concerns and ask what steps will be put in place to improve matters.

I think the phase 'out of his depth' (and I imagine there is a super sounding and evocative French version of this phrase) may be a better one than 'he has inadequate subject knowledge'.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

Mumsnet is full of stroppy teachers who think they are God's gift and can do no wrong rather than low paid alsorans. Dare criticise a teacher and they jump out at yo

I am not a teacher either, but I think it is bit very harsh calling a teacher a 'moron' and trying to get them removed, after 2 weeks!

"Low paid also rans"

Mumsnet is full of people who have this opinion of teachers, which in the main is wrong.

JanetBlyton Mumsnet is full of stroppy teachers who think they are God's gift and can do no wrong rather than low paid alsorans. Dare criticise a teacher and they jump out at you.

Thank you for you view on this. Perhaps you would also like to comment on whether you think the OP is doing the right thing in trying to have the teacher removed from their post two weeks into the new job?

To be clear, I'm not a teacher.

Mumsnet is full of stroppy teachers who think they are God's gift and can do no wrong rather than low paid alsorans. Dare criticise a teacher and they jump out at you.

The teachers who you and we all loved and supported for the past 8 years and got you to a very high standard were in fact wrong and this new person, whose ideas are completely different to any you have seen before, is right?

And there we have it. You liked the previous teacher and not this one, therefore you are trying to find stuff to pin on them.

My guess is that this is "English" being taught in a French school. Therefore, the OP and other parents feel that they have better knowledge than the teacher because they are native English speakers.

Bolograph writing off half a term in a particular subject is fine.

No one has said it is fine. However, the OP has pointed out that their DC is currently covering work that they have done before and is already very competent in. I would imagine that much of the first term will be like this as the teacher will be trying to asses ability levels and areas of weakness that need to be addressed before moving on.

Reading between the lines, the OP has spoken to some very disgruntled parents at the teacher's previous school and is trying to use what they have been told as a basis for their complaint. They need to disregard what has happened at another school and demonstrate why the teacher is not doing what they have been recruited to do in the OPs school. Admittedly they can/should draw attention to past performance but without knowing the full facts it would not be the best approach to focus on this too much. I find it highly unlikely that after two weeks into the start of the year they will have anywhere near enough evidence to demonstrate incompetence in the new job.

I would also add that it is also possible that the school is aware of the incompetence but in this instance they are unlikely to announce it to the parents and in any event will still need time to carry out due diligence and followed standard protocols.