Ineffective teacher

I think TikTok is more knowledgeable than Hannah

Where did your online law expertise come from?

Tiktok

Haha ha

What kind of online law adviser thinks that either Ofsted or the DfE have any involvement about the A level teaching in a independent school

Where did your online law expertise come from?

Unfortunately schools are so understaffed that they often do skills audits to identify where gaps in the timetable can be filled by other teachers. This means people end up teaching subjects they themselves might only have a low A-level in themselves.

I was put in a situation where I was forced to teach a subject that was not my own and that I had a D at A-level in. It was such a stressful, awful time where I was trying my best to teach myself before I taught the students. My situation wasn’t unusual, either, and there were a few members of staff in similar situations.

This is one of the issues schools are facing with the lack of teachers.

But judging my the amount of daily teacher bashing threads on here, I can totally see why people are leaving in their droves.

@LegalAdvice4Education please retrain or get a different job as your advice is just wrong.

I don’t think using notes from a former student is that bad necessarily. Teachers get resources from all kinds of places. It would depend upon the subject being taught and how good the notes were!

Hello,

In this case, it is best to raise it with the headteacher or the school board.

A teacher in a private school could need re-training or given some work or classes to build up their teaching ways or to rebuild confidence, If they are using notes from an old student that should be brought up.

Another way to report it is to go to Ofsted or report it to the DfE.

Sincerely

Hannah

Online Law Advisor

OP, I sympathise. I teach maths (including A-level) and would hate to do it if I didn’t feel confident with the content.

Most Alevels are taught with two teachers per subject: does your son have another teacher for the same subject who is stronger?

In terms of escalation though, I don’t think that there is anything you can do about this, other than get a private tutor.

Even if all of this is true, if that's the best they can do for an A level teacher, then that's the best they can do. What the heck do you think will happen? They will find someone else? Re-schedule the whole timetable?

Not gonna happen. There is a crisis in teaching, in state AND in private schools. (Some of it fuelled by PITA parents, actually)

The thing about the grapevine OP is that it's a nasty place to be without any hard evidence. It's just a bunch of unfounded accusations from people who have nothing better to do

What subject is this? I find it quite shocking that her concerns about teaching have been leaked to parents. Someone has been exceptionally unprofessional.
Is the school under financial pressure, that you know of?

I guess it’s common practice to utilise under-hours teachers to teach other subjects. The teacher would have had little choice in this despite their lack of confidence/competence so they’re probably as unhappy about the situation as you are. This wouldn’t happen in an ideal world but the world of education is far from ideal. The underlings usually do their best to make the best out of the situation. Ideally this teacher, having had this subject plonked on them, will have had additional training and studying to best meet the class’s needs but in reality full-time teaching leaves very little time/energy for this, whatever their personal levels of motivation.
This lets the teacher down and of course it lets the students down. Self study to augment classroom learning will do your son very little harm however. If approached with a little diligence and self-motivation and autonomy it could be the making of him, both for this subject and , actually, for life!

Indeed. There's a lot of nastiness at play here.

I'd be interested to know how you got this information "on the grapevine" and who gossiped about her concerns about teaching the course.

What subject is it?

Escalate how? You've raised it with the school.