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 ...

I had a parent complain about me because their teenager (one of three) was suspended for xenophobia... Apparently the teenager was 'right about Muslims' and I should have let it go rather than challenging it.

UnderthePalms
I take all comments about staff being sacked with a pinch of salt.

An unpopular colleague went on maternity one year & some parents decided they'd been sacked. The reality was that having done maternity, colleague realised their new family was their focus and left teaching to be a SAHP.

Another was on a fixed term contract (and the receiving end of multiple outrageous complaints by a group of parents who formed whatsapp groups and coordinated stories). The school weren't very supportive and were the type of SLT who bent to every loud shouter. The teacher resigned leaving school with no choice but to pass the class to a non specialist cover supervisor (lack of decent qualified staff available). Class were put with me the following year and were bragging about how they got Mrs Browh sacked. I was firm and fair. By Christmas the class openly admitted targeting Mrs Brown and being awful to her. They took a dislike to a member of staff and tried their best to be hellish for them. Awful nasty situation. As it happened, I loved teaching that class. Really nice kids but the pack mentality the previous year was nasty.

Sackings aren't an open thing that's discussed as casual gossip. Some people seem to think ^teacher left and i complained therefore they were sacked' which to me suggests an inflated sense of self.

Agree, Maisy. I was fairly popular with pupils at one school but unpopular with my colleague (partly as I stood up to him and most people didn’t). I am sure when I didn’t go back after maternity leave he would have spun it in some way to at least hint to the children ‘at last we’re well rid of her’. He was someone who was constantly trying to be ‘most liked’ by the pupils (as had nothing else in his life) and would have thrown anyone under the bus to achieve that.

MaisyPops

Some people seem to think ^teacher left and i complained therefore they were sacked' which to me suggests an inflated sense of self.

But at least it shows where the children get it from.

I've never complained. I'm not that keen on my DC's current teacher. To be fair I think part of the problem was that the previous teacher was so unbelievably brilliant (just incredibly skilled and "getting" each kid, so committed to working with the kids and getting their best, went on courses to help support those with specific issues, really invested in each child) that even an above average teacher may seem subpar in comparison.

She just seems to do the bare minimum and is overly reliant on rewards and punishments - even in cases where there's clearly an actual problem that needs addressing (one poor child with SN had to move schools as the support was so lacklustre). She's also failed to do basic checks about the level the DC's were on at the beginning of the year etc. My tactic in this case is just to try to form a good relationship with her and offer input when it comes to my own child and how best to manage issues.

If there was an issue I thought was worth complaining about I'd initially seek clarification from the school to make sure I had the correct information. I'd then try to solve the issue via a collaborative approach with the school. If at that point I didn't feel the issue had been satisfactorily resolved I'd make a complaint.

My cousin trained as a teacher, and I think he’d have been a really good one too. Unfortunately a teenage boy really took against him for some reason, and made some truly horrific accusations against him, fully backed up by his bloody awful parents. Sadly, as a newly qualified teacher he didn’t have the back up he should have had from the school and the ensuing investigation (which exonerated him completely and eviscerated the child and parents for their terrible lies) was enormously stressful.

It led to him being hospitalised after a complete psychological breakdown, and he is only just recovering from that. The impact it had on him, his wife and their children along with (less so) the wider family, was horrific. All through spite.

Intent is hugely important, how you phrase things as a complaining parent is important, and discerning whether an incident was a mistake or neglect is important.

I do think it's shocking the level of disparity with how schools handle ASD. Some are brilliant others seem to only be concerned with punishing the symptoms rather than actually supporting the child with the underlying issues.

If there was an issue I thought was worth complaining about I'd initially seek clarification from the school to make sure I had the correct information. I'd then try to solve the issue via a collaborative approach with the school. If at that point I didn't feel the issue had been satisfactorily resolved I'd make a complaint
That's exactly how it should be done and it's what the vast majority of parents do if they have an issue.

The horror stories people are sharing on here are the minority, just the minority are the ones who stand out.

BottleOfJameson
I do think it's shocking the level of disparity with how schools handle ASD. Some are brilliant others seem to only be concerned with punishing the symptoms rather than actually supporting the child with the underlying issues.

the problem is that (as touched on by maisy and rogue) SEND training is minimal but to be fully trained in all aspects of all SEND would be impossible, not only due to the diversity of SEND as a whole but due to the diversity of individual SEND.

And of course there is the money and time aspect to it as well.

I haven’t but dh has. He’s complained about ds’s HOY at his previous school for calling an autistic sensory overload meltdown (caused by the school not putting into place any of the measures the Ed Psych recommended) a tantrum & treating his autism traits as bad behaviour.

He also complained about dd’s Teacher telling her class confidential information about a 6th form student (dh taught that particular student) & then victimising Dd because she told us what had happened.

Dd is most likely getting what has been termed a ‘banter teacher’ next year. He waffles on to the kids, proudly telling them of all his great achievements and encourages them to watch the stuff he puts on YouTube. Part of me is concerned. The other part thinks that at least it’s yr6 and sats so it doesn’t matter as much.

Absolutely agree, there have been many, many occasions where I’ve had cause to phone school and find out the full story. 99% of the time no complaint is needed, because it can be resolved without it.

ASD is always going to be tricky for teachers. No two ASD children are the same. Both of my brothers are on the spectrum, one quite severely As a teacher, you have to make a compensation for the ASD and also manage behaviour. I have a pupil who, as a younger pupil, regularly had a meltdown every time he was asked to do something he didnt want to do (like writing in English) or was reprimanded for unacceptable behaviour (like punching someone because the other pupil disagreed with him). His initial poor behaviour was never excused - it is my job to help him to understand the world around him, including consequences for his actions. However, the consequences were differentiated. Actions that might lead to an exclusion for an NT pupil resulted in an internal isolation with a member of staff in which this boy recieved some social intervention lessons to help him. His meltdowns were excused without consequence. The meltdowns occured because he couldnt understand the social situation and reacted by lashing out. He could shout, scream, call me every name under the sun and I'd keep him in a safe environment, let him read his book (a calming down strategy), never shout or raise my voice. I'd just be there. He'd sit under the desk and, when he calmed down, I'd make him a cup of tea and we'd discuss his behaviour and how to manage the situation next time. In three years, he went from having daily issues leading to frequent meltdowns to none at all. The key was his parents. They never excused his behaviour and we communicated regularly. They trusted me, I listened to them. Together, we worked out how to help this young man find his place within the school. He is now in Year 10 and doing brilliantly. Sadly, I barely see him because he is literally a model pupil. I went to some training once where there was a woman who had ASD and she said 'Don't teach me to be sociable, teach me to be socially acceptable' and I thoroughly believe that this is the key with ASD pupuls who attend mainstream schools. The world will not bend to fit them. In schools, we can bend to a point, but the ultimate goal is to bridge the divide and help our SEN kids to navigate the world and flourish.

Only read to the end of page 3, but a few people have said after they complained a teacher was sacked. One person said they'd complained about three teachers and all three were sacked. Just wondering how people find out teachers have been sacked? I'm guessing the school doesn't put in the newsletter "Mrs Jones is leaving us at the end of this term as she's been sacked."

Yes...given that the numbers of teachers sacked year on year are actually extremely low - and they usually have to have committed appalling offences to get sacked - I'm somewhat cynical about these claims.

But then, I was only a head of two schools before I retired...

Loki - fantastic post.

We were asked to remove Ds from his school at the end of year 8. He’s now in Year 9 at a new but still mainstream school.

Despite the upheaval he has not had a single meltdown since he’s been there. Hes been called out for swearing twice (both times trying to fit in with others behaviour but he can’t differentuate between different situations/he gets caught they don’t).

The difference is they recognise he finds certain environments & situations difficult & they put provisions in place.

I haven't, but my parents did as a result of something I told them in Y10. I did GCSE music and the teacher, who had always been a bit slimy, was helping us with our compositions 1:1 after school. He was standing behind me while I was playing the piano and playing with my hair. When I asked him what he was doing he said there was a spider caught and he was removing it. I was a bit uncomfortable but let it go. The following week he ran his hand down my back and I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. It was right at the end of the 20 minute session so I just got out of there as quickly and normally as possible, and told my mum when we got home. Mum requested a meeting with school the following day.

During the course of the investigation it turned out another girl had had a similar complaint the previous year. This girl had been in trouble a few times for things like smoking in the playground, and had a 'bad' reputation (she took our GCSE's pregnant and was openly treated differently by some of the staff) so was dismissed as unreliable. I was a straight A student and they took me seriously straight away.

I lost an awful lot of respect for my school the day I found that out. I always wondered how many other girls he'd tried it with in the twenty plus years he'd been teaching that hadn't been listened to

As a parent I try to find out all the facts and work with the school to resolve any issues before making a complaint. Thus far we haven't come across anything that couldn't be addressed with the teacher and sorted, but if we ever have a situation where that can't be done I will have no hesitation in reporting/complaining.

I made a safeguarding complaint about a TA. The head went massively on the defensive and avoided getting to the bottom of it ironically by using the policies to delay investigating. The TA now goes out of her way to keep an eye on my DC so action of a kind was taken. If there's something to say it needs to be said. DC's teacher left but lives locally. When I saw her I told her how much my DC loved her.

I should also say that I've sent two emails to the head in the last year praising the school and its staff. We're very lucky to have a school who have been great with DS1's SN and I try to make sure the school know how grateful we are.

the problem is that (as touched on by maisy and rogue) SEND training is minimal but to be fully trained in all aspects of all SEND would be impossible, not only due to the diversity of SEND as a whole but due to the diversity of individual SEND.

Absolutely. I didn't mean to imply that this was deliberate on the part of individual teachers.

Never. Not sure I've even ever been tempted to. Haven't liked every teacher, far from it, but that's life.
I'm sure there ARE situations where it is warranted but I've not encountered any. My kids are pretty resilient and seem pretty good at sorting things out for themselves, often after we've talked about it over dinner or just in general. I'll always have their back, and they know this, but I also think it's important they learn to deal with any issues themselves.

We had a teacher recently in my department who got a really hard time from the kids. She happened not to be English, but taught English, and the students took that to mean she was a terrible teacher and played up for her. In the end she resigned and left. The students remain convinced she was fired. She wasn't, she just didn't like them!

i did.

DS has dyspraxia and part of his care plan is that he has regular movement breaks.

DS was refusing to do some work and the teachers answer was to keep him in at break, then at lunchtime.. and when I got to school DS was curled up under a table and I was informed he would be kept In every single break and lunch without his movement breaks until he completed the work.. and that he didn't care what his careplan said.

I emailed the HT and it was dealt with the next day.

That teacher left the school at the end of that term.

As for people saying 'you didn't get them sacked' no, most of the complaints didn't get teachers sacked, what they likely did was show the school management that they weren't the right fit and either didn't get their contract renewed or were encouraged to seek employment elsewhere.

We had a teacher recently in my department who got a really hard time from the kids. She happened not to be English, but taught English, and the students took that to mean she was a terrible teacher and played up for her. In the end she resigned and left.

That’s really horrible. Did senior staff support her?

Only read to the end of page 3, but a few people have said after they complained a teacher was sacked. One person said they'd complained about three teachers and all three were sacked. Just wondering how people find out teachers have been sacked? I'm guessing the school doesn't put in the newsletter "Mrs Jones is leaving us at the end of this term as she's been sacked."

Yes I noticed that too.
Considering it's very hard to sack a teacher, even an incompetent one, unless there are safeguarding issues, I suspect most, or even more likely all, of them are Tonypandy.

As for people saying 'you didn't get them sacked' no, most of the complaints didn't get teachers sacked, what they likely did was show the school management that they weren't the right fit and either didn't get their contract renewed or were encouraged to seek employment elsewhere.
You actually can't assume that.

That's what gets on my nerves. It's people seeking confirmation bias as in 'I had an issue with that teacher and they no longer work there so obviously my judgements about their entire professional capability must have been right because they were sacked, not had contracts renewed or they were encouraged to leave'.

Do those things happen in schools? Absolutely.

But what also happens are:

• ood teachers on the receiving end of nasty (and untrue) crap from students and parents and watched SLT back mouth parents time and time and time again until that colleague is signed off work with stress, leaves teaching or is placed on capability and managed bullied out.
• genuinely their fault situation, no malice but not thinking leads teacher to reflect on if they want to be in the profession and they decide actually it's not for me
• teachers who were in the right get fed up of being called into 'informal chats' where they are expected to grovel to a fuming parent and apologise (admit responsibility) regardless of how true the events were. They leave and go to work in better schools
• they weigh up their financial situation and decide to move into another field of education but not in schools
• experienced teachers decide they've had enough and use their track record to launch successful tutoring businesses
• move to entirely different sectors of education e.g. FE / HE
• start TTC, take maternity and then either work the half year to no pay back occupational pay and resign/ decide yo lose the occupational pay, pay it back and become a SAHP
• Go back to previous careers because they retrained to teach not retrained to spend 6 hours a week on the phone to a stroppy parent who thinks it'a unfair their DC had to stay in at break

If someone raises a complaint, they have no grounds whatsoever to male overall judgements on that person's overall competency as a member of staff and certainly no grounds to start speculating about their career.