Formal complaint in education

[Threejugsofwine]

If a formal complaint is made about a teacher in school would they be informed who the complaint came from?
A teacher has put children in danger, potentially escaping the site, very poor teaching, storms out of classroom in tears frequently, unable to teach her class due to poor mental health so reorganisation of classes needed which had detrimental effect on whole school, children dislike her and cry coming into school / run away, has been vindictive to other staff members, resulting in some taking time off sick and others leaving the school. SLT incompetent and seemingly don’t care.
There’s lots more but I’m too exhausted to list. Feel helpless but also need to take action, but unsure as to what?
Any advice appreciated. Thank you.

What exactly is your complaint? Most of that sounds like 2nd hand hearsay or gossip?

If you aren't happy with how your child's education is being impacted by a teacher, you need to put in a specific complaint. Was your child the one missing?

The head/governors will investigate and yes, they will tell the teacher who is complaining. I presume it would be obvious it was you anyway though if you've already complained about your child going missing.

As others have said, if you have a complaint then it needs to come from how your child has been impacted and not second hand information.
I also wouldn’t say anything about Mental health as they will not put that against the teacher and you don’t know about their wellbeing.

Yes, my child ran out distressed last week, I can’t say for sure as I’m not in school but know a teaching assistant who has been sharing information for almost a year. We’re aware that’s unprofessional and also know other parents have complained but I think only verbally. Just don’t want our two children to be negatively impacted if we complain and nothing is done. So would rather not be identified? We have no other local school to move them to.

As you know the teaching assistant is being unprofessional but also you don’t know if it’s necessarily the truth so I wouldn’t put that in your complaint.

I would go discuss in your complaint why your child left the class and how they managed to leave with ease. I know you don’t want to be identified but it’s likely the situation is easily identifiable but that’s perhaps for the best as SLT need to do more.

If you're staff, look at the government whistleblowing advice, as this is not something you want to deal with in the usual workday.

Stick to evidenced instances, not hearsay or anything that could be interpreted as bullying on the basis of a protected characteristic or general politicking amongst a department.

If not staff, then follow the complaints policy and potentially, if you've already raised this with the Head and they've done nothing, you could complain about the head's inability/unwillingness to deal with safeguarding breaches or failure to put in place proper support for an unwell staff member with a resultant detrimental effect upon the kids and other staff - this usually goes to the Chair of Governors/Trustees/CEO depending upon the type of school it is.

So would rather not be identified?

If you are making a complaint about concerns over the safeguarding of your child, it will be impossible not to be identified.

Oh. You're a parent who has a gossiping TA. That'll get the TA fired long before the teacher.

Stop gossiping.

my child ran out

How old is your child? Where did they run out of? The classroom? The school building?

My child isn’t the only one that has left the room. She’s only done it once, and hopefully won’t again, but others have been running out for months, or refusing to go in. Only when this teacher is there. That’s why we feel the need to do something. We’ve been led to believe children running out and not being found is normal in schools, looking back I feel foolish for believing that now.

Yes, it is unprofessional, I agree. The TA has a child in school and has tried to raise her concerns but with no success. I don’t want her to be penalised either but I am very concerned, not just for our daughter and feel we should have raised this sooner, somehow. I’ll tell her about the whistleblowing option.

If the TA is there to witness your child running out of a class why isn't she stopping them. She is surely equally to blame for this. Why do you think it is acceptable for your child to be disruptive because this is what their behaviour is.

Our child ran to the playing field and hid behind some trees, quite a distance. This does seem to happen daily (according to our 7 year old) and one child got off site onto the road. How can it be right that no one knows where children are? Am I naive?

So why didn't the TA stop your child. Have you spoken to your child about how their behaviour is unacceptable?

Yes, I can see why you’d call it disruptive, but she said it was because she was scared, this has never happened before, she’s a timid little thing. The TA is only there until just after lunch.

I'm not surprised the teacher is leaving the room crying if the kids are behaving like this. Maybe start by looking at the kids behaviour.

The TA doesn't know the school's own policies?
Whistleblowing policy is mentioned in safeguarding briefing which the TA will have regularly

I wouldn't trust them one iota

I also agree with this. If the TA has reported all of this management and nothing is done then she should follow the whistleblowing policy. She definitely shouldn’t be discussing it with parents as it now risks her own job and brings into question what else she may be sharing.

It seems like there’s a lot of disruption in the class and it’s horrible to hear how unsettled and worried your child is but your complaint should focus on your child and what’s happening. The rest will go down as hearsay sadly.

Details of complaints procedure will be on the school website.

The policy is there to resolve the issue. It must be evidence rather than gossip based and only focusses on your child. Other concerned parents can follow the same policy if they have concerns about the education or safety of their own child.

It will start low level, class teacher meeting, then headteacher, then Chair of Governors.
This is more formal and the policy will tell you the stages of complaint, timescales etc.
The board will have a complaints panel and some governors ( own school, or in an arrangement with another school) who are not involved who can deal with any appeal you make, if you are not satisfied with the outcome.

You need to follow the policy, as do the headteacher and governors. This ensures fair process.

This is a complaints policy from a random school. Your school will have similar.

https://www.hoppinghillprimary.co.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=17&type=pdf

A TA bitching to parents about a class teacher rather than helping her with the behaviour of the class is far from ideal.

If there genuinely is an issue with this teacher, (and the TA is somehow actually being really helpful with the children) then why hasn't she been complaining to the head/governors about the situation?

Thanks everyone, I can see where you’re coming from with the disruptive behaviour, it’s not a job I could ever do. However, the problems have only been since this teacher has been with the class, since Christmas really. Before that she had another class but that didn’t work out so she was moved to teach our daughter’s class part time and teachers were moved around as her old class needed someone experienced to step in. That makes sense to me. The TA (I know, unprofessionally) told me that the head asked her not to make a formal complaint as there was a cost involved to the school and they were already over budget, so she didn’t.
I’m aware this is second hand information but that doesn’t stop me being very concerned.
thanks for the helpful pointers though.

Your child running off and hiding behind a tree is not the fault of the teacher (I understand that it could be a consequence of the hearsay issues you mention). How can the teacher be with your hiding child, and also with the members of the class who are in the expected place? If you are going to complain about this incident, it needs to be a complaint about school policies/practices, not the individual teacher - as there should be someone the teacher can call on for support, especially if this is a regular occurrence.

I can't see that you have any other legitimate complaint.

Then you need to express your concern through formal process ( as above).

Absolutely, there really should be guidelines in place so that the children are safe, I agree, and feel this may be a better way to address the problem, their safety is the most important issue here, knowing they can’t escape from school. The reasons for the children’s distress are secondary and not as urgent.