To think these teachers are unprofessional

[RescueRemedy21]

My friend is a teacher at my son's primary school. She teaches a different class to my son and has never taught my son. They have little to no contact at school.

I told my son's current teacher some information about extra support in place outside of school to help my son academically. It was useful for her to know so that they could share information/support etc.

Today my friend questioned my son about this at lunchtime at school. Therefore my son's teacher has told my friend. My friend has nothing to do with my son at school, there is no reason for this information to have been shared other than idle gossip. I think they have both been unprofessional. I don't know how to handle it though without upsetting the friendship.

My son is mortified as he didn't want anyone knowing about the additional support and my friend questioned him about it in front of his friends.

AIBU to think they are both out of order? Would you raise it? If so how?

...and collaborative working is not the same as gossiping.

Soontobe60
You're a teacher and you can't work out why a child wouldn't want his friends knowing he needs extra support? Have you thought about a career change ?

We are in the same job and have the same issues. Teachers talking to other teachers about a child happens all the time! Oh dear!

If I were still working and met a teacher who did that I would be having a quiet word with them! It should only happen between 2 teachers with an explicit need to know. Otherwise it should remain anonymised!

Christ, there's so much info on how to do that for lessonplans etc I find it hard to imagine teachers not knowing what is and is not allowable under safeguarding principles.

It's not 'private information', it's academic tuition! They aren't sharing about his home life or medical details or whatever. It's information that is relevant to his education.

nugget are you a home edder?
That was a spectacularly unhelpful comment and I say that as a home schooler.
It's no wonder people look at HE people as odd.

bridgetreilly
It's relevant to his education yes but the person it was shared with isn't involved with his education she teachers much younger children

The issue is that your friend discussed it with your son rather than the teachers discussing it as this may have happened for a multitude of legitimate reasons. There was no need for your friend to mention it to your son.

@bridgetreilly
But what I don't understand is what purpose or reason there would be to share this information. My friend does not, has not, will never teach him. Aside to passing in school they have no contact... So why is his class teacher sharing this information with her?

I'd absolutely be asking the class teacher in the first instance who the information has been shared with and why? Its really tricky as it involves a friend but I think you need to consider whether you should just approach it as you would if he came home upset by anything / anyone.

Ideally you would want to have a word with your friend but first you need to decide whether you might take this further i.e what outcome do you want? An apology, a reassurance, potentially disciplinary action....not saying you will get any of these but your ideal outcome influences what you should do.

I cant imagine a scenario when it would have been appropriate for your friend to quiz your son in front of her mates. They need to explain why she did.

My school has a board in the staff room with photographs of every child who needs specific academic support with a brief profile including what intervention that are having- tutoring at home would be listed.

This is because we view the learning of every child as a collective responsibility. It is a 'no child left behind' strategy taken from one of the top performing Primaries in the country. Suggesting that teachers sharing information about pupils' learning within school is against GDPR is ridiculous.

However, the teacher talking to the DS in front of others is misjudged. I'd have a word as a friend.

@bridgetreilly - so if you were struggling with your job and had to go on additional training that your colleagues didn't need to go on, you would be absolutely fine with that information being shared with them. It is information that NO ONE in the school needs to know and thus private information. Information doesn't need to be particularly exciting for it to private. His additional tuition is irrelevant to ANYONE at the school - even his actual class teacher doesn't have a right to know or even a need to know, but their input is useful.

I am worried too about the lack of understanding that some of the teachers on this thread have about privacy - it shows a deep lack of respect for the children in their care.

That's just it, what's the point of complaining? It won't make my son feel better and will cause bad feelings all round!

If that is your school policy then that is fine, procedures being followed etc. DSis is in Primary and she too does something similar. In an FE dept we did much the same, but would have had no access to the same info about another dept's students.

But the private tutoring wasn't formally known to the school and the teacher told another person who had no need to know... that is different, I think!

I think YANBU about the fact that it was mentioned in front of your son's friends.

However, WRT your friend knowing, it might be that your friend has another role in the school that you do not know about (an SEN champion for example). Or your son's teacher may have legitimately shared the information with another teacher (SEN coordinator/ head of year) who then passed it on to your friend (which they shouldn't have done without reason). You don't know all the details. In your position I would go to your son's teacher and say you were upset that a member of staff mentioned this in front of his friends (up to you whether you name her or not) and take it from there.

@4point2fleet Can you give me an example when this board has allowed you to cademically support a pupil that you do not/have not and will never teach?

@mytieisascarf can you confirm that what @4point2fleet describes happening in their school is wrong and breaking GDPR rules?

Try unschooling. So much better
Oh yes, let’s think we can do better than people who have trained to do this and raise another generation of snowflakes who think that they can do what the fuck they like.

That's just it, what's the point of complaining? It won't make my son feel better and will cause bad feelings all round! If you talk to the safeguarding person they wprobably won't let the individuals know tha tthey have been 'reported'. They are far more clever than that (I like to think I was anyway). They'll just include a vaguely similar scenario in the next INSET training day.

It won't casue any bad feelings. And you do need to tell the school, it is such an unecessary and stupid thing to have done!

As mentioned above, in my school we have collective responsibility for all of the children. I teach upper primary but I attend pupil progress meetings for other year groups. In staff meetings we might discuss interventions for target children and ongoing support or we might look at books and outside support might be discussed to get a bigger picture on the child or as part of a discussion about interventions we take forward in school.

Some people clearly have no idea how primary schools work. Teachers in primary schools tend to discuss pupils ALL the time. You should hear what they say about children and families in the staffroom. Of course, what they discuss should remain confidential between them and other staff members, and they wouldn't share information about pupils with parents or other pupils or people outside the school. I really don't think information about pupils is considered confidential from one teacher to another. The fact that most primary school children will be taught by or in the care of most of the teachers in that school at some point actually means that it's useful for them to have a good idea of children's family backgrounds, any issues, etc.
The real issue is that she mentioned it in front of other pupils.

No I've never used it, but the theory is that any member of staff who saw one of those children at a loose end- on their own on the playground or whatever- could read with them for 5 minutes, ask them some x tables questions, ask them what spelling words they had that week etc.

Recommended by Ofsted inspector.

Same in my school Scuba. Children with any issues are discussed in meetings so that ideas and help can be shared. I don't think there are many secrets between staff, information like that wouldn't be considered confidential.

It sounds like idle gossip, and was not necessary. I would go to the teacher and ask why the information was shared, and that as a result, your son was put in an awkward situation. In fact I'd probably email the teacher, and copy in the head. Your friend overstepped the boundaries.

Have a look on the school website find the named person for safeguarding and contact them

OP, please don't contact the Designated Safeguarding Lead with this. This is not a safeguarding issue (I realise many MNers think that anything that might potentially upset a child is a safeguarding issue but they're wrong) and they have more than enough to do trying to deal with situations where students are actually at risk of significant harm.

Speak to your son's teacher in the first instance. Explain that you don't understand why this information was shared and that your DS was upset about it being mentioned in front of his friends. If you're not happy with the Teachers explanation/response then it would be reasonable to flag it up with someone more senior but I would give them a chance to address your concerns first.

I would be surprised if they were "gossiping" about your DS to be honest. Many, many children have private tuition outside of school so it's not really something that warrants gossip. YANBU to question why it was shared and the manner in which it was brought up though.

Anything you tell one teacher is likely to be known by all. I've been a volunteer (for teacher training) and when going through a book I mentioned that a child was struggling and was told they are getting extra support through tutoring. Mentioning it to your son isn't on at all. Could have been a harmless "so how's your tutoring going" to engage in conversation but it has caused him some harm so personally I'd have to mention it to her. If she's your friend I'd be reluctant to go through the school, but that'd just me and you're within your rights to do so