TA tearing up children’s work in class

[Swimminguphill]

My DC is 8, in year 4. Their teacher is regularly absent from class as they are a subject specialist and teach other classes too. When they are absent the class is led by a TA. This TA is ‘very shouty’ and has recently torn up a child’s work in front of the class saying that ‘it is a disgrace’ etc. This was in art class.

I knew this TA had form for this and was nervous at the beginning of the year. Other parents have complained about the work being torn up/public humiliation before and nothing has happened.

The parent of the child in question has complained to the class teacher and bern told the TA doesn’t recall the incident. In my mind the teacher is fully aware of the issue but doesn’t want to rock the boat because this would make their life more difficult in teaching their favourite subject.

My question is - what should I do? I consider this to be public humiliation, physical intimidation (angrily/publicly tearing up their work) and emotional abuse. Although my child isn’t directly affected I think this kind of thing creates a climate of fear. In addition my child’s poor presentation was brought up by the teacher in parents evening and so I consider them to be at risk of this happening to them.

Would I be unreasonable to complain on these grounds? Am I overreacting? What would you do?

I had a teacher like this. Honestly the worst person I've ever met, and I still think her behaviour was atrocious. She basically gave me a total dressing down over absolutely nothing, I told my parents, my dad approached her at school to discuss it, and she suddenly had no idea what he was talking about and asked me why I would tell such a lie! Teachers like that are on a power trip.

I agree you can't get involved over the other kid's work, but you can raise the issue that your child is afraid of having it happen to them and it's affecting their ability to work in the class.

Could you approach the parent of the child, and let her know she has your support should she want to take the complaint higher, and maybe suggest helping get other parents on board should she decide to take it further.

I would ask the head teacher why a TA is regularly taking a whole class (not just in an emergency cover capacity etc). If you were going to rally parents I would pick the battle of wanting a teacher to teach the class in the first place rather than a TA and then you get around the problem. The behaviour of the TA shows that they clearly don’t have the skills to take the class and manage it to an acceptable standard so they shouldn’t be doing it.

I should point out, I have a list longer than my arm of things she did, including making a student teacher cry by telling her she was a crap teacher and would never amount to anything - so this was only a drop in the ocean! They do not get any better.

Couldn’t you focus more on the fact that your child is regularly being taught by someone who is unqualified.
If it was for a half day a week then that would not be too bad but it sounds like it’s more regularly than that.
Then if they change things the TA would be less involved with your daughters class anyway.

What kind of message was the T.A. sending ? The children witnessing this would think that its OK to tear up work, tear pages out of books, etc. The behavior was downright wrong, (note, behavior NOT the person)
I would keep an eye on the situation and then complain, if necessary, that something needs to be done. Its too easy to get inflamed by a reported incident which often gets blown out of proportion. Time to tread easilly, I think.

A TA is taking the class? I wouldn’t be happy about that and even less happy about what these children are going through at her hands. Your child may not be having work torn up but witnessing it and their friends humiliation is quite horrible. And who is this person to say art work is a disgrace? I would care if my 8 year old wasn’t good at art, some people are some are not, I’m really terrible but kids enjoy it so why is she taking it so seriously. Also what about kids with dyslexia etc I know I tried so hard in class and for teachers to say I never made an effort and tear up my work would be soul destroying. These are 8 year old children, my sons teacher is wonderful and encouraging but quite strict. But they enjoy school and it sounds like your child will have a horrible year. Speak up and encourage other parents to if they aren’t happy

Sounds horrid but I can’t really imagine a primary school TA being so wretched, not in 2019. Children have wild imaginations.

I would raise this with senior staff if you’re genuinely concerned.

YY Sunni day- didn’t see your post but agree completely

That’s awful!! And to a year 4 child as well. That’s really not on at all. I would say let the parent of the child lead it though, not you.

It's not physical intimidation - don't ramp the stakes up, you'll lose credibility on the spot. Neither is it emotional abuse - if you use this term to people at the school, who will be aware what EA is, you will look at best 'sensitive'.

It didn't happen to you. Or your DC. Or your DC's notebook.

But the woman was rude. A bit too rude.

I assume she is qualified to be a TA - who isn't? She's struggling, that's for sure. Sidestep the teacher and have a word with the dept. head.

Would I be a dick for co-ordinating this kind of thing as it wasn’t my child?
No. It could be your child next (sorry if that sounds threatening; I don't mean to! I mean I think people should always support each other, basically).

I would only say, be sure that this definitely happened as you've heard it, so you know you have the facts. Then I'd go to the head, as the class teacher is unable or unwilling to deal with it.

I would not stop complaining about this until it was resolved, hopefully by the TAs removal. It’s actually quite powerful coming from children not directly affected as they’re impartial yet still affected by witnessing it

It sounds like a teaching assistant,who shouldn't be one.Tearing up a child's work,and calling it a disgrace,is quite cruel and nasty. Complaints about this person should be made, as the person needs to tone down her behaviour.

Unsure who the first port of call is, but go to
Governors if necessary

Complaining about this specific incident probably won't get you very far. It's not your child involved, so the school won't be able to discuss it with you. The only angle you might have is if your child witnessed the incident and was upset by it, but it doesn't sound like this was the case?

You could ask more generally about the amount of time the class is taught by the TA. You could perhaps ask- how many hours/sessions a week is the class led by the TA? Is it only ever specific subjects that she covers? Who sets and marks the work for this time? Who is ensuring that quality teaching is still taking place during this time?

You could also support the other child's parents in taking their complaint further e.g. by finding the school's complaint policy and helping them follow it. The next step would probably be escalating things to the head teacher or the teacher's line manager.

I assume she is qualified to be a TA - who isn't? no formal qualifications needed where I am. HLTA a different case though I suppose

I would organise a petition with parents, get their signatures, and write to either the board of governers or the board of the academy / trust demanding an investigation.

'It's a disgrace' is not constructive feedback though. If my boss took one look at my report or presentation and said 'it's a disgrace' before ripping it up/handing it back/flinging it on the desk it doesn't ACTUALLY tell me what I've done wrong and what I need to work on to put it right.

All feedback needs to give the child pointers for how to improve. And NOT to humiliate them.

Email head and cc govenors, advise if there is no improvement you will not hesitate to got to ofsted.

The real complaint here is that the class should have a qualified teacher to teach them. The TA clearly isn't equipped to teach a class herself and there's a real danger that some of the children could end up being seriously damaged by the way they're being treated.

That's really bad. Speak to the parents of the child and see how they'd like to be supported.

My dc has a TA who is very religious and is allowed to teach RE without the teacher. They've been coming home saying things like "every single word in the bible is true" and "dinosaurs didn't exist", there needs to be more checks on TA's.

You need to follow the school's complaints policy, not go straight to governors

I would be complaining that a TA was regularly left in sole charge of a class! If the teacher is off teaching other classes it's a timetable issue that needs addressing. Find out how regularly this happens and if it's more than covering for a sick colleague every now and again then complain. Why is you dc's class being left without a qualified teacher so that another class isn't. Hunt down dept for ed and the school's policies. Keep a record of TA covering classes. Go fully armed with facts. Whether the TA is tearing up work or not, they are not qualified to be regularly covering for a teacher.