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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to complain about teacher

53 replies

5plusMeAndHim · 07/03/2018 07:04

DD is I'm y12 she is doing the standard 4 AS levels and has 2 teachers for each.In one subject she is getting solid A grades with one teacher and consistently getting 20 percent scores with the other.I do not think a gap this wide and this consistent can be down to anything except crap teaching.Cousins at school also think she is poor.we are in an affluent area and I think the problem is disguised a lot by tutoring

OP posts:
EdgeOf17 · 07/03/2018 10:38

I studied law. I consistently attained 90% and above for Family Law.

I was shit at Tort and Property. Could not grasp it at all, consistently attained circa 40%

I had the same tutor for both subjects. So can't blame the tutor, not that I would as I knew it was my mental block.

I should have called Molson really Hmm

Dahlietta · 07/03/2018 10:41

I'm going to go against the grain here too and agree that it could be the teacher. As a teacher, I've definitely come across the odd situation where a department's results showed such discrepancies and it was almost certainly the teacher of a certain paper. However, pp are right that you shouldn't just go in there blaming the teacher straight off. I would ask for a meeting, preferably with the head of department (easier if it's not the teacher in question) and see if there are any other factors in play. If it is the teacher, you won't get anywhere bringing that up unless you have a clear picture of what is going on.

Dahlietta · 07/03/2018 10:43

And of course, the "correct" marks are the As.

This is also worth bearing in mind. I have also come across teachers who mark very generously and tell pupils that they doing marvellously, only for them to come a cropper in the exams.

OpalTree · 07/03/2018 11:09

I presume the UK system is similar to the Irish system in that once a teacher has a permanent job, unless they do something really terrible, they can't be fired?
I think it used to be like that here but has changed. Glad it's not just me re Corioyawnfest

Original poster
5plusMeAndHim · 07/03/2018 11:12

And of course, the "correct" marks are the As

.It's maths and they are past paper questions so the marking is prescriptive.
Of course one teacher may have been given the easier topics an other the more difficult ones, but I fing it unlikely that they would given the crap teacher all the hardest stuff..
DD says she goes through one difficult example on the board and then sits down for the rest of the class, whereas the other teacher starts with an easy question and then a more difficult one and then goes round making sure veryone is happy.DD says yesterday she told the teacher she didn't understand how a question and the teacher said 'well don't bother doing it then'
I have heard that she ihas a serious health problem. DD says she looks miserable all the time and closes any questions down. I have sympathy with her if she is ill, but she shouldn't draw a wage if she is not up to teaching.

OP posts:
upsideup · 07/03/2018 11:15

I wouldnt complain but would ask to speak to her about why your daughter is doing so bad in her class. Im suprised she isnt concerned that a student is scoring 20% with her and A's with the other teacher for the same subject.

Synecdoche · 07/03/2018 11:20

IME truly "crap" teachers (delightful expression) give over-inflated marks that are unlikely to draw attention to their own "crapness".

EdgeOf17 · 07/03/2018 11:30

That is a mahoosive drip feed OP Hmm

If that is the case then go in and speak to the head of year. Don't complain or 'kick off'. Just say what you have said in your last drip-feed post.

Usernumbers1234 · 07/03/2018 12:23

Is it maths. I was strong statistics and mechanics modules that form some A levels but poor at Pure maths taught by another teacher. It had nothing to do with the teacher, I was just better with applied stuff and not theoretical stuff.

doublebuddy · 07/03/2018 12:26

Ooh yea I could walk an A grade in decision and statistics modules. But mechanics and Pure 3/4 sent me into spirals.

It's generalising saying that someone is good at 'maths' because the modules are all so different and you can be brilliant in one and not the other.

However if you have concerns speaking to the teacher to get her take on it should be your first port of call

Dontoutmenow · 07/03/2018 12:27

We need more info. A straight A student at GCSE who is also in line for As at A’level in all but one subject, where they’re predicted a very low grade, should raise questions. They’re clearly not daft so something else is going on. It could be the teacher. Worth more investigation, either way.

StripyHorse · 07/03/2018 12:38

It could be the teacher. Don't just assume though and speak to the school for more info.

I did maths A level with one brilliant teacher and one teacher who had a teaching style that didn't work for me (to be diplomatic). I tried hard and didn't miss lessons but still got crap grades...
Until...
One of the pupils who was in the year above told me to ignore the teacher and learn from a particular text book instead. I did.

Presto my grades for those modules increased to match the other modules.

ilovesooty · 07/03/2018 12:56

So where did you hear about her "serious health problem"?

gryffen · 07/03/2018 12:58

If you do believe it is the teacher then you need to have a word with department head plus the two teachers for that subject. Sit down with them, talk about the crazy difference in marks and ask for attendance logs for your child and the teacher in question. (Has she been off for a length of time and substitute teachers?)

You MAY be able to ask for reviews of that teacher by her peers and outside agency (school inspectors etc) and if there is any PDP and improvement required?

Been a student who had a rough high school time and I'm a daughter of a primary teacher who rewrote 5-14 for Fife when it came out nearly 30 off years ago (She was a teacher for 40yrs).

I'm aware of what teachers have to do, plan, arrange, pay for in own Time, train with lack of help and support plus do Student free time and potential chartered teaching to advance.

Not sticking up for them but don't instantly blame teachers when outside influences can screw pupils up more due to heavy outside school activities and more interest in games etc.

Pengggwn · 07/03/2018 18:46

The teacher's performance is (if she is in a state school) assessed through regular appraisal, to which observations and so on will be contributory. Until she fails that appraisal because her results are unacceptable, she is considered to be teaching to an acceptable standard. Like everyone, there will be development points; those will not make her an incompetent teacher. Whether or not she 'draws a wage' won't be decided on the basis of one student's view that she doesn't provide easy enough examples. 😂

loubielou31 · 07/03/2018 19:20

I remember by A level maths results. For the applied maths paper (stats and mechanics) I got 76%, for pure maths I got 29%. It just didn't make sense to me at all. I did have different teachers for the two elements but that is not why I did better in one half than the other. In your daughters case it probably does mean that it would be worth arranging some extra tuition.

LegallyBrunet · 07/03/2018 19:49

It could be the side of the course the other teacher is teaching? When I did Health and Social Care A-Level I consistently got As and A*s with two of the teachers but Es with the other one. It was nothing to do with her teaching-she was a brilliant teacher- it was just a very hard, science based part of the course she was teaching.

Allthewaves · 07/03/2018 19:53

Could be bad teaching or could be your daughter is stronger in one area of maths than the other. I'd be thinking a tutor for her weaker maths subject

Garmadonsmum · 07/03/2018 20:01

of course one teacher may have been given the easier topics an other the more difficult ones, but I fing it unlikely that they would given the crap teacher all the hardest stuff
You do see what you did there, don’t you? Some critical thinking wouldn’t go amiss!

Noodle84 · 07/03/2018 20:03

I’m a sixth form maths teacher the spec is new this year presuming she’s year 12. If that’s the case we don’t know what an A currently looks like also if the A is based on the old spec so c1/2 presuming it’s the pure maths then they will be easier than the new spec questions. So it could be the way it’s being assessed and the split as well. I would ask the teacher what could be done to help her improve and I’d also email the other teacher in which she’s getting As asking a few probing questions about the spec and how she is being given As at present.

Original poster
5plusMeAndHim · 08/03/2018 13:12

she is generally thought of by students throughout the school as a poor teacher.

’m a sixth form maths teacher the spec is new this year presuming she’s year 12. If that’s the case we don’t know what an A currently looks like also if the A is based on the old spec so c1/2 presuming it’s the pure maths then they will be easier than the new spec questions.

I would say if she is getting all the questions right then its an A .The head of maths is on the exam board committee that writes the exam, so i would have thought he would have a better idea than most of what an A is going to look like.

OP posts:
EduCated · 08/03/2018 13:17

Is she getting all the questions right then?

No one has said to not speak to the school to find out what’s going on, but to approach it as an open conversation, which may highlight poor teaching, or may highlight areas of difficulty or where more effort is needed by your daughter.

Going in and saying that the teacher is crap and everyone knows it isn’t going to do anything to help you or your daughter.

lightoflaluna · 08/03/2018 13:24

YANBU to have a conversation with the head of department. YABU to complain without having all the facts. If the teacher is crap as you say, it will not be the first the school has heard of it.

EdgeOf17 · 08/03/2018 16:22

Please don't go in with the tone you are adopting on this thread. You are being incredibly prickly with PPs who are trying to offer constructive advice Hmm

Witchend · 08/03/2018 16:32

If it's split pure/applied then it may well be just she hasn't got her head round one half.

I scored 13% on my further mechanics mock. I scored 100% in half the time needed on my further pure paper both in the summer before and in the mocks.

Truth was I found the pure more interesting and had done over and above what was needed on that. I hadn't even looked at the mechanics properly.

And when I came to do my finals it was the other way round. I scored nearly 100% on the questions I completed on the mechanics papers. A lot of the pure I couldn't get my head around and scored very low marks.

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