To ring school about male teacher in girls changing rooms?

[IDoAllMyOwnStunts]

My daughter is Yr 8, she has announced today that a male teacher often comes into the girls changing rooms to chivvy them along. Sometimes when another female teacher is there, and other times when no other staff member is in there. She says some girls have been in a state of undress when he's walked in. He doesn't do anything other than pop in and tell them to hurry.
Is this allowed? Opposite sexes in changing rooms? I was going to ring her head of year on Monday to let her know this is going on. Would she think I was bonkers? Don't want to make a tit of myself if its an accepted thing in schools?

Call. He is either a pervert or a fucking idiot who has taken on none of his training about how this is likely to make him look and how it will make the girls feel.

If he just doesn't care about either of those situations he should be out of his job.

Well you've 'grilled' your daughter and are taking it up with the school on Monday, not much else to be said really.

You have to even ask?

What a daft teacher. No adult, male or female, with half a moment of CP training should be going into a changing room of dressing/undressing teenagers without really good reason.

So many people forget the "the rules are to protect you as much as to protect the children in your care" part of CP training.

Definitely call.

Call the Head of Dept though, rather than the HT. It'll only get passed down to the HOD so is likely to be dealt with more quickly if you go straight to the HOD.

I agree it's inappropriate. I teach drama and do not go into dressing rooms when students are changing in/out of costume. I have perfected my "get a move on" shout through doors and always ask those coming out if everyone is ready before going in to check for mess etc at the end of the session.

Perverts aside, I think PE teachers of the same sex should be in the room to prevent bullying, chivvy along slowcoaches and possibly spot signs of abuse and self-harm.

But I expect them to do it discreetly.

I think calling the police is totally over the top personally. Just in case the school covers it up? Really?

Psipsina yes I would.

I acknowledged that some women are predatory, the point I'm making is that it's just bollocks to pretend it's on anything like the same scale men are.

And I disagree that adults have no place in the changing room with kids because most adults aren't predators and most kids need supervision - I wouldn't trust a class of half nekkid 13 year olds to get on with it without misbehaviour/ bullying etc.

I just think it's wrong to pretend there isn't that extra element of discomfort if the adult in question is a different sex to you.

And yes OP you aren't over-reacting. He's either a fool or a knave.

Clearly you should be raising this issue with the school as so many people have already said OP.

This teacher needs to be spoken to, whether he's genuinely doing this for sinister reasons or because through naivety. Either way he's making the girls feel uncomfortable and for that reason alone he needs to stop.

As a member of school staff all his actions must be justifiable. In this instances I doubt he can reasonably justify his actions. Wether it is lack of training or something else it should definately be brought to the schools attention.

At my secondary school changing rooms, there was kind of a shower passage way you walked through with rows of showers on both sides pointing at you below head level as you walked through.
There was nowhere to leave towels so you had to hold them above your head as you walked through.There used to be this female PE teacher who would stand by the showers marking girls off on th register as they entered the showers naked with their towels abover their heads.At the time we didn't like it, but only as an adult realised how seriously pervy this was!
Anyone from my era at school will instantly recognise this!! I know there is at least one other regular MNer at this schoolthen.the school began with an 'R'.
The current head of PE was at school as a pupil at this time and now my DD says she does not even have any adults in teh changing rooms while girls are getting changed!

Don't know if I'm from your 'era' Alice - but at my (all girls') secondary in the seventies, we had individual shower cubicles, and one PE teacher who would yank the curtain across and look you up and down whilst telling you to hurry up. Didn't happen to me until y10, funnily enough, but I'd seen it happen to others who'd developed earlier. Don't think I had many showers after that.

How did you get on when you rang the head of year, OP?

IDo - hope it went well when you rang them today...

However - make sure you follow it up with an email (and get a read receipt) to the teacher you speak to and maybe cc it to somebody else relevant as well if appropriate (head of sport?) so that there's a paper trail being laid down as well. That way if they don't do much about it or there are other problems that arise from it later down the line, they won't be able to say that they knew nothing about the situation.

Alice I could of written your post (and have previously on MN) Our shower set up was the same, long tubes along two walls at shoulder height and you had to walk through withe the towel above you head (supposedly to wet you underarms) then stand naked for a moment too long with the teacher staring at you. This was in the Midlands in the period 1976-81.

Really humiliating experience

Hi folks. Have rang head of year and told them exactly what my daughter said. I could sense the horror in her voice, she said it will be dealt with immediately (my daughter has PE tomorrow). I don't know what action they will take, i didn't ask as i didn't want to put her on the spot. I will follow up tomorrow as suggested.

Thanks folks. To the poster who asked 'did I really need to ask'. Yes I did, I don't know what policies are in school re this stuff and didn't want to ring and be fobbed off. Forewarned is forearmed and all. But thank you everyone else for reassuring it was the right thing to do.

Good to hear the HOY is taking it seriously. Hope it was just an (enormous) error in judgement by the male teacher & that it ends there.

Glad they're taking it seriously.

It doesn't matter if someone is male/female/gay/straight - if they are making pupils feel uncomfortable when they are vulnerable then they are not doing their job properly or, in more extreme cases, just really shouldn't be working with children at all.

Glad they are taking it seriously. They don't have to tell you exactly what course of action they are taking, just to warn you. Might be a verbal or written warning.

I don't once remember my PE coming into our changing room except maybe poke her head around the door telling us to hurry up. She always ran the lesson right up until the last minute too so there was no time for a shower. It was shower in a can only - minging! So I never had this dread of the PE shower that a lot of people seem to have from experiences of this kind. I always wondered why the school bothered putting showers in at all...

Good to hear the HOY is going to deal with it.
Our PE teachers would check to see if we were wearing a bra on our way to the showers and would often come in to check we were showering. Not sure if it makes a difference but they were female and both were lesbians.

I'd challenge them.

This never happened at my school 30 years ago so I'd be amazed if it's acceptable these days