To ask if you’ve ever complained about a teacher

[Justwondering14]

It seems the view is that this shouldn’t ever be done.

I have complained a few times. Once about a male member of staff telling my fifteen year old she looked like she was enjoying that in a suggestive way when she had a lollipop.

Is it always ‘wrong’, then? I’m not a teacher ...

Oliversmumsarmy

I doubt they would have taken my friend on if they thought she was unprofessional.

If the teachers are as unprofessional as you say, then why not the rest of the staff?

''If they don't behave they can't be trusted to do experiments.''

Exactly, all the jazzy and all singing dancing lessons only work if the kids behave, even the OFSTED perfect lesson plan will go up in flames if the kids choose to misbehave.

''Sometimes -as a teacher- no matter what you do you can't win.''

Yep that is the sad fact of the matter and summed up perfectly.

''What would I suggest as a different strategy? Asking for help to start with, trying to engage the pupils with the curriculum instead of expecting them to sit and read from a textbook in silence - a science lesson is a great opportunity to demonstrate cause and effect with experiments, which may inspire the kids and encourage better behaviour. ''

I have a problem with this statement too- I don't know any teacher who sits and makes the class read all lesson from the textbook in silence but many lessons are just that. Sitting at their tables and doing work-exercises and writing etc. If they cannot do that in silennce when asked then they sure as hell do not deserve doing any interesting activities because agreed they certainly cannot be trusted. Education is not interesting always, infact much of the curriculum is downright boring,uninteresting and difficult but that is life-using that as any excuse for misbehavior is a cop out.

*But that does not excuse sharing confidential information about staff and children with other parents

Where did this occur?

The TA who was in ds's class was the only staff member who said anything about this teachers behaviour. It was an apology for the teachers behaviour. When I had tried to talk to the teacher on that morning as to why ds was being removed from the class for the whole day because he had coughed. She turned her back on me. Up to that that point I had been polite and was expecting some sort of explanation.

Oliversmumsarmy
If you are questioning professionalism, when doing an inquest after she had left into who else had problems we did come up with a theory that the children who were targeted by her all had a same feature.

Are you using the word "inquest" for gossiping with other parents?

".. I have read all these replies As a parent , I understand that you want the best for your child.......

I am also a teacher and face an almost daily battle with disgruntled ill informed parents....who have no idea about the daily demands faced by teachers , the excessive workload .. having to get pupils through exams that they have no chance of passing ..

The expectation that the teacher and school will in the short time they have them .. teach them everything that they need to be a fully functioning adult !!

Quite frankly I am sick and tired of parent ringing up complaining about this that and the other !"

@candyoss funnily enough, most of us with disabled children just want them to be given the education they have a legal right to without being bullied, belittled or mistreated.

Reading through this thread it seems there are quite a few incidences of children who have dyslexia receiving unsatisfactory treatment.
I am a TA and an usually the first to defend teachers who put up with a lot of trivial complaints which of course are very distressing for teachers.
However my own dyslexic children have been on the end of really shoddy treatment by teachers. I didn't complain for various reasons.
I wonder what it is about dyslexia and teachers? I have often come across the attitude that dyslexia is not real or doesn't need any help, or I have felt teachers are reluctant to engage. I wonder if it's lack of training or knowledge about dyslexia amongst teachers. It's a shame as one in ten (some say one in five) children in school are dyslexic. I really think many teachers know very little about it.

@daffodildelight lack of training,support and understanding. All these are needed to be had by SLT ,SENCO etc not just the teacher.
I'm a TA, I can flag things up, but if no one listens not a lot can be done.
A class teacher might have the training and understanding but people higher up don't and demand results and significant progress.
Or things are put in place but parents resist or for whatever reason hinder the process.
Or things are put in place that are pointless..like extra phonics sessions when the kid can't tell one letter from another.
And so on..
Kids can only be properly supported when all the people involved work together and are on the same page.

funnily enough, most of us with disabled children just want them to be given the education they have a legal right to without being bullied, belittled or mistreated.
Except that's not what the poster you were replying was on about (unless I have missed something).
I took their reply to be exasperation at parents who call up complaining over every little thing they happen not to like, take no responsibility for their child at a poibt where schools are increasingly expected to parent children in addition to educating them.

When I was a kid, my parents taught me not to be a bully, not to be racist, how to save my pocket money. Now we are having to teach credit and borrowing to 15 year olds because apparently our role includes the basics of subject teaching and pastoral plus any number of (ever increasing) PHSE topics people have decided putting into schools will solve. Sadly, the reality is that me teaching 1 hour of PSHE a week is not really going to improve hypothetical Timmy's life chances when timmy is rude, disruptive, cruel to peers, verbally abusive to staff, is engaged in anti social behaviour in and out of school. Sadly, his mother kicks off every time we sanction him because we are 'trying to turn him into a robot we can control'. The sad fact is that Timmy's chaotic upbringing, parent who excuses awful behaviour means that Timmy will be in the local paper by 20 named as part of a gang who've been jailed (like some students i have actually taught).
Sadly, time spent dealing with Timmy's mother for the 7th time this half term is time taken away from students who actually want to learn and parents who want their child to learn.

Are you using the word "inquest" for gossiping with other parents

So teachers and staff shouldn't speak to you and you can't talk to others who have been through the same?

OK to come on here and take advice about similar things people have been through but not to in rl

Yes, for bullying children in her care, my daughter included. I was not the only parent to complain, and after enough evidence was gathered education got involved and she's now not allowed to work with children anymore. I can't really put much info on here though because it would be really identifying..the whole thing was crazy, I'm glad the children are out of all now.

My Mum did about an abusive teacher I had. Nothing was done as she was the Headmasters cousin.

Staxers, I agree it shouldn't.. unfortunately a lot of those bullied had special needs and found it hard to communicate to anyone what was happening.

@Flowerfae

Which explains why the teacher was bullying them in the first place. She didn't expect the children to speak up.

She didn't .. also it was really odd situation at the school.. a heck of a power struggle going on, don't want to say too much but it appeared other members of staff were worried that they would lose their jobs if they reported what was going on.

I've got a couple of corkers - teacher no. 1 (year 7 history) asked everyone in class to declare whether or not they were Christians by raising their hand and those who didn't put their hands up were told "I can see a man with horns standing behind you!"

Teacher no. 1 then disappeared. When the kids said where's Mr 1, the substitute teacher said to the year 7s "don't worry, it wasn't child porn he was watching" ...!! (teacher no. 1 suddenly decided to live in Australia)

Another school - teacher no. 2 gets into a conversation about crime (maths teacher) (sic) - "Prison's not that bad" says teacher no. 2 "What were you in for sir?!!" asked several boys now sitting up and listening - "oh you know, domestic violence" replies teacher no. 2 (I commenced a statutory complaint about him but my DD asked me to withdraw it and he didn't teach her after that.)

Oliversmumsarmy

So teachers and staff shouldn't speak to you and you can't talk to others who have been through the same?

OK to come on here and take advice about similar things people have been through but not to in rl

You can talk to whomever you like in rl or otherwise. No-one has suggested otherwise, But lets not dress it up as anything that it has some sort of official standing that an "inquest" would have.

The thing about sending groups of kids out of your lesson, is that it's a bit like playing chicken.

If the sanction system is that you get a warning, then a short detention, then you are asked to leave the room, the kids are very well aware that a new teacher will be frowned upon by senior management for sending more out multiple children. So, they test you. Child 1 and 2 play up, are duly sent out. Child 3 thinks, 'She's not going to send out three, so copies the behaviour.

What they are trying to do is to get you to lower your expectations and stop applying the policy. This would be a mistake.

I have told classes that I don't care if I have to send every single one of them out. They are responsible for their own behaviour. Being the eighth person to break the rules is sillier than being the first one, because, in my classroom, the eighth person is very well aware that they are not going to get away with it!

I am a Head of year and I have often been unsupported by SKT when needed.
I have been dressed down by SLT for not doing my job when I have and he SLT member who I passed it on to say here and didn't support me in front of the whole middle managers in my school.
I follow the discipline policy and when it comes to SLT doing their bit it
Falls apart. It gets sent back down. I do not have he agency to discipline pupils other than giving them After school detention, the same as every other teacher in the school. So when further interventions are required and SLT don't follow up because usually they can't be bothered beachside they don't want to waste their time dealing with it, it all falls apart. I find I am left picking up the pieces. That means my exam classes suffer and my lessons go out of the window.
Only a few years until I take early retirement because I can't do this in my 60s.

I didn't need to make a complaint (I would have done so), a member of staff inadvertently dropped the school in it during a meeting with the LA SEND department. What the school had done was indefensible really and meant that the SEND Department didn't have a true and complete record of difficulties that both my child and the school were experiencing (to the detriment of both). It didn't solve the problems though and the school still failed to act in accordance with the law. The actions of some members of staff including the HT have had a profound and lasting effect on my child.

Yes - when I asked them to intervene with a plan because ds was being bullied and their attempts so far had been futile to stop it.
They told me to move schools if I didn't trust them
2 weeks later to the day that same child pulled a knife on ds in class - school rang to tell me.
Ds tried to attempt to end his own life.
School then denied it happened (knife!) and refused to mark his absence as authorised.

They had also failed to take witness statements as per their policy.

I made a complaint that included some very specific complaints about individual staff members role in the debarcle.

I don't think anyone thinks I shouldn't have complained about the teachers!

Over the years ds has had difficulties with some teachers and I've worked through the solution process. Usually a chat with teacher "can you work with me to improve things for ds" works.
One time it failed and the teacher punished ds more and more elaborately every lesson. His HOY actually rang me to discuss it as ds is NEVER in trouble and not the child she described. I relayed conversations I'd had with her and he said "we need to move him classes".
Ds is now predicted 3 grades higher in GCSE than she predicted 8 months ago when she told him "people like you never achieve and learn"

youarenotkiddingme

'Can you work with me to improve things for DS?' can obviously mean a range of things, can't it? What did it mean?

@youarenotkiddingme you had a thread about that at the time iirc? How is your DS now?