Teacher won’t talk with parents on the phone

[JustlookingNotbuying]

My dd is in year 9.
She is really struggling with her maths and I wanted to speak with the teacher regarding her progress, struggles and how to help her etc.
I sent 3 emails to the teacher and received no reply.
Left a voicemail message and have had no reply.
Had a phone call from the year head today to say the teacher has received my messages but couldn’t call me as he has anxiety and can not speak to anyone on the phone so could I relay all my concerns to the head and go from there?
I am far from impressed.
I have many concerns regarding this teacher, he sometimes swears in class (he is also DS’s friends form teacher and he does this in his class too), he eats and drinks in class and just appears to have a very lackadaisical approach to teaching and an almost disdain for his pupils.
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Dd recently did a test in class and got 1 out of 50! Apparently that was the average score for the class and the highest score was 15.
I can not help but feel that this teacher should not be teaching a low set class when the pupils obviously need someone enthusiastic and engaged helping them.
I feel that I am banging my head against the wall, I can not afford after school tuition but feel the school is failing her.
Apparently he has had many complaints over the years but it feels like the school protects him all the time.
What should I do? Where do I go from here?

[Post edited by MNHQ to remove offensive comment]

Why not contact the Head like they've asked you to?

How do you know all this about him? From your child or from other parents?

And the HoY told you, on the phone, that s member of staff has MH problems? If that is the case then the HoY needs to face a disciplinary as that kind of information should be private. Sounds like a shitshow of a SLT.

Anyway, you've got your system in place now. You take your concerns to the head.

You need to put in writing that the maths teacher needs to be signed off work with I'll health and an unfit for work note if he can't take a simple phone call which is part of the job and copy in the governors.

@Kipsa

You need to put in writing that the maths teacher needs to be signed off work with I'll health and an unfit for work note if he can't take a simple phone call which is part of the job and copy in the governors.

I don't think parents get to decide that. If she wants to put anything in writing, it should however, definitely mention what the idiot HoY disclosed to her.

I’d speak to the head about your concerns. Raise only what you know to be true and factual and focus on the educational concerns.

I understand the teacher might have an arrangement to not speak on the phone, but surely they can offer to respond via email or have a face to face. If the teacher can speak to parents in any form that’s an issue.

DD had a teacher like this but only in Y2 so it wasn’t too bad
She would only work in one classroom with 1 year group despite all the other teachers moving regularly. The one time The Head tried she went off sick for 6 months
We were told that we weren’t to speak to her but direct everything through The Head. Once a Teacher either wasn’t aware or didn’t care and went into the classroom to speak to her and she literally ran out. Another parent had to fetch The Head so the class wasn’t unattended
To be honest I didn’t have too much of an issue with it but DD seemed to like her and achieved well with her but if that hadn’t been the case I would have addressed it with The Head
I imagine they are trying to manage this teacher so he doesn’t go off sick as I think teachers get a good sick pay package - which 99% of them thoroughly deserve, but I imagine as with all jobs a small minority play the system

@PAFMO oh I know that but she's totally in her right to put her suggestions in writing!

Sorry, a Parent went into the classroom to speak to her

Well the obvious first step is to speak to the year head. For all you know, they’re desperate to have parents contacting them about this!

So do that.

I would be asking if another maths teacher could go through the 1/50 paper with her, and assess what her standard is. That might sound odd for a 1/50, but there could be some understanding in there, possibly many questions not attempted that could have gained marks.

What set is she in? What marks in Y8?

It would be a mathematically interesting set of marks to come out with 1 as an average. Who told you that?

Have you seen the paper?

Catalinka it’s the year head. I have spoken with her and explained my concerns. She says she will relay all back to the teacher and they will deal with it but I wanted to talk with the teacher, he is the one teachers her and in the class, I wanted to converse with him.
PAFMO from other parents in my dd class. Several have complained about him but have come across the same brick wall. My friends 20 year old dd was taught by him, she is now at college and is still struggling to pass her maths exams because she was so poorly taught by him. I will message the head but past experience with ds tells me it won’t go well, it an inadequate rated oftsed school and really shows.
kipsa with conversations I have had with other parents this has already been mentioned/suggested but he is still there!

You have some options

1. Get a tutor if you can afford it. Wrong, but it's how things are these days.

2. Get her out of that set - either up or down. She is clearly learning absolutely nothing with this teacher. If it can't be achieved for the summer term, make sure it is achieved for Y10.

3. Find out what topics should have been taught and go on youtube and watch Corbett maths videos with her.

@JustlookingNotbuying what maths exam is this 20yo trying to pass and for how many years was she taught by him?

If there are wider concerns that the school aren’t addressing and you don’t get a satisfactory response this time then ask for the schools complaints procedure then follow that.

Do you want to help your child or complain about the teacher?
If you really want to help your child then get on to white rose maths and oak national academy and support her to learn some maths independently. No need for a tutor.
This teacher may or may not be rubbish but there is a huge recruitment and retention problem in teaching so it’s unlikely there’s an alternative fabulous maths teacher waiting to replace him.

[quote Kipsa]@PAFMO oh I know that but she's totally in her right to put her suggestions in writing![/quote]
Her complaints in writing, sure.
I have a feeling though that between the gossip from other parents, the child herself getting low marks and coincidentally having a lot to say about the teacher's behaviour, and the HoY giving out confidential medical information over the phone, the actual facts may be rather hard to find.

How do you know the teacher has ADHD / autism? Is this something the teacher himself has disclosed, & who to? Or did you hear it from a third party?

I would escalate this to his HOY & say that you need to speak with this teacher, it can be a method of his choosing but it must be at a time that suits you both. He cannot simply elect to refuse to communicate with parents due to his MH difficulties. If you send this by email, keep it. If you contact them by phone, keep a note of the time & date & write a note of what is said. If the HOY will not deal with it adequately, escalate it further until you find someone who is willing & able to help.

He should not be swearing in class. My DH swears like a sailor - he has worked in schools but manages to restrain himself.

Ultimately if this teacher's MH difficulties are incompatible with his role, and the school are unable to provide him with adequate support to carry out his role, he needs to find another job. In teaching or otherwise.

I wouldn’t put too much energy into trying to have the head of year facilitate a discussion with this teacher. You don’t trust him, do you really think you’re going to improve your daughter’s results by talking to him?

Focus on using the contact with HoY to understand why your daughter got 1/50 on this test.

Was it a completely unruly class during the test and she joined in messing about? Or tried to work but the distraction was too great?

Was it one paper for all sets and her set aren’t expected to get about 15? (1 is still a huge concern, but 1/15 better than 1/50)

Did he mistakenly given a foundation group the higher paper?

Did he give them a GCSE paper to scare the shit out them thinking (stupidly!) it would make them concentrate?

Was the test on ONE concept that she’d missed or not got? (If it was a general foundation level Y9 paper, you’d expect some marks from her Y7/8 learning)

How was she performing in Y8?

I’d use that paper to really drive with the HoY how big the issues are.

I’d push for a change of class over facilitated discussion with this particular teacher.

Btw teachers absolutely can and do refuse to speak to certain parents who have been unpleasant to them previously.
We’re not punchbags for frustrated parents.

@Debroglie

Btw teachers absolutely can and do refuse to speak to certain parents who have been unpleasant to them previously. We’re not punchbags for frustrated parents.

We are actively told not to speak to parents on the phone if possible as it's much harder to prove what said or not.

OP, you have ADHD. You have been told (completely and disgustingly inappropriately) that the teacher is suffering from anxiety.

You comparing the 2 shows your own ignorance about anxiety and how debilitating it can (presumably) be. It's like me saying you can't possibly have a week off work with your flu because I didn't with my upset stomach. Irrelevant.

I’d also look at supporting your daughter completely separately from this school discussion.

If she’s low set Y9, I’d actually go right back to a Y5 workbook.
This is £4.50, I personally really rate CGP.
www.amazon.co.uk/KS2-Maths-Targeted-Question-Book/dp/1847622135/ref=asc_df_1847622135/?hvlocphy=9046392&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=310855476898&hvpone&hvlocint&th=1&hvpos&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-523968820776&hvrand=11146042386205584667

See what she can do. Tear the pages out if you think she’ll be upset at Y5, though better if you can be gently honest with her. You can tell her, Y7/8 were Covid interrupted - that’s why you’re starting with KS2.
Work your way up through the years to find out “where it went wrong”.

You can get a limited number of tutor sessions just to assess her without ongoing commitment - but I’m suggesting the workbooks due to cost!

When you’ve got an idea of her level, then you’ll get LOADS of suggestions on here for the best free websites.

What did she get on her maths SATS Y6?
How good were the school during lockdowns?
What marks on previous tests?

Just wondered, if you don't trust this teacher, and think he is rubbish, why pursue trying to speak to him directly? What do you gain from it? He obviously doesn't want to talk to you. Isn't it better to pass on the message and concern to the head of the year as suggested?

And if his teaching is so rubbish, then speaking to him won't change anything? But maybe doing something, like finding tutor/subscribe or use maths site/buy some work books etc may be better option, tbh.

A lot of what's in your post is your view of what's professional or not, so bring up the concerns about what your DD's learning and attainment with the Head and keep your opinions to yourself about stuff you don't think is professional, like the teacher eating and drinking in class. That's NONE of your business whatsoever and no teacher wants to take that kind of crap from any parent or carer.

I’ve seen on another thread that you’ve just decided to look into an ADHD diagnosis. Given the heritability element of it, is it worth exploring whether your daughter’s 1/50 was about her ability to concentrate in a test over her actually understanding of the concepts?

I have an niece with an EHCP and ASD/ADHD diagnosis.

Give her one maths question and a 1:1 adult saying to her, “yes, your plastic protractor does cast a beautiful rainbow on the paper at that angle with the sunlight, and yes I do know how miles from the earth the sun is thank you, but right now you need to measure that angle, and yes, it is interesting that angle is an anagram of Angel and that angle is just like a Angel wing shape but I still want you to measure it please…”
Well - then she’ll get it right.

Sit her in a room of 30 pissing about kids? You’ll be lucky if she turns the paper over long enough to get even that 1 mark!

You need to understand what’s going on with your daughter, and you don’t actually need school to get a good idea of that.