advice on a male teacher at DDs school please

Never had female PE teachers .. always male... I had great instructors.. and I hope he makes his social media private fast.. 🌺

Where is he meant to look when they’re doing PE? At the floor, the walls? Where?

It may well be inappropriate, he may be a creep, but I don’t think Instagram will prove it. Unless he does something or says something inappropriate, I’m not sure what you can do. Would these girls feel the same way if it was a woman watching them? Women can abuse too. Tricky one!

www.careerteachers.co.uk/-/media/careerteachers/images/social-media-guide-for-teachers.pdf

Teachers, GPs and many, many other professionals have additional standards they should meet at all times. For their own protection!

And whilst I would find it abhorrent to tar a young teacher for SM stupidity I also wouldn't be telling any female student that she can't act on her feelings because she may be labelled a shirker or other stereotypical accusation!

Or maybe the girls know that this is their free ticket out of PE class. As important as it is to hear them out, let's not jump on the bandwagon immediately.
Re: his social media. That is his own business, not yours. I agree that it would be better to set it to private, but you don't go checking your doctor's sm

Hopefully the HT will tell this young man that he is leaving himself open to all sorts of accusations if he doesn't lock down all of his SM.

I have worked with a simialr young man, also in PE. He was outraged that his human rights were being impinged upon... was absolutely detemined that he would not change how he used his SM in order to kow tow to anyone, HT, students, professional bodies, the law etc.

One young male student lodged a complaint about something relatively mild and the repercussions were far, far greater than I could ever have imagined. We, all staff lecturing and otherwise, wer reminded about our SM, given Conduct Guidelines to sign on pain of formal grievance etc. It isn't 'something of nothing' at all!

And that's before you get to what it is about him that makes the girls feel the 'ick'!

Stay with the HT on the social media thing. And support your DD in talking through why she feels uncomfortable and having someone else on staff to talk to, counsellors are good for such stuff, they are hard wored into ALL safeguarding lines.

Don't worry about the young man. If he is sensible, willing to learn how to be a good teacher apart form being an indpendent private individual, he will take the information well and lock his SM down and grow up a bit!

Surprised they foud his FB, I thought teachers had to have it hidden from searches. Friends who are teachers are all non searchable anyway..assumed it was becase of the job, maybe not a requirement but..a good idea?

I would bring it up with the head if it made me uncomfortable. Honestly, the girls having 'the vibe' would gold more weight with me than the SM thing, but of course gut feelings do not matter in official matters, but that part would concern me as I always listen to my gut..

If they are uncomfortable then that's important. He may be sleazy, he may not but hes doing something wrong to make them feel uncomfortable so he needs dealing with, not for them to be shushed and told its fine. And his SM should definitely be private

That face book page woukd surely have meant he didn't get an interview.

Must be violating the SM policy

Eewww. I think the fact that the girls are picking up "creep" vibes from this guy, plus his social media, is a big red flag.

However, whether there's enough in the way of "proof" to go to the head is another matter.

It seems fairly clear - if the girls are feeling uncomfortable (picking up some dodgy vibes maybe?) then there is an issue that needs to be addressed. I think girls should be listened to if they express discomfort and certainly be encouraged to trust their instincts. A number of threads on here have described situations that have been averted by this safety mechanism (even avoiding a man who went on to murder as I remember).

I don’t know what the school can offer in terms of a solution but I do think it is important to have a conversation - obviously it is not unknown for a teacher to abuse their position to access vulnerable children.

At the very least I think he should have made his social media private as this may have fuelled the girls concerns.

Teacher friends I know tend to try and live in a different town to their schools, such is the effort they make to keep private and professional life separate.