Colleague emailed teacher about me

[Sugarcainx]

I started in a new school last Monday on long-term cover. As i'm new and the students don't know me, some of them are of course trying it on, but i'm following the behaviour policy and the vast majority of students are completing the work every lesson. There is low-level disruption but i'm working on it as best as I can.
Today I had year 8 and a TA was in my room supporting (seems to be at random, some lessons I have one, some I have nobody)

They were chatty and could have been quieter, I had to tell them to stop a few times, but bar 2 students they all completed the work, and those 2 came back at lunch.
20 minutes after the lesson ended, I had an email from the teacher I am covering. She said that the TA had emailed her saying this class were not very well behaved today and not in their seating plan. She was nice about it, but I don't really understand the TA.

She must have rushed after the lesson to email this teacher given the speed of it. This TA didn't say a word to me about anything, and I really don't think it was her place to do that.
She knows I am new, and the students pretty much all did the work. I just found it a bit odd,unless she was saying it more against the class as opposed to me.
What would you think of this ? I really can't be doing with bitchy colleagues, I left a school at Christmas because of a manager like that !

Apologies for errors

To be honest, if you wanted a different seating plan whilst you are teaching the class that is your business entirely, unless there is a whole school policy about it.
She probably sees the usual teacher's method as correct and any others as wrong.
That said, try and make her feel like you value her opinion (even if you don't ) and have considered it.

Urgh, I had exactly this with a TA when I was an NQT. Didn’t say anything in the lesson but went and ‘told on me’ to the phase leader afterwards. Still pisses me off tbh. A current TA is also in the classic school of eye rolling at me and standing there silently watching me, not achieving anything in the classroom apart from making me feel judged and anxious. That Sutton Trust report spoke a lot of truth I think. Then I remember they are paid a pittance and I feel bad briefly - but only briefly. As you said, I think a lot of the power play can be linked to age, and that’s why this kind of nastiness is often directed towards younger teachers. But I am totally out of patience with it and would so much rather not have a TA in my lessons.

This kind of bitchiness and undermining is rife everywhere, sadly. The TA has been very unprofessional and at her age, she must know it. It might be worth a quiet chat to let her know you appreciate her work but make it clear that any class issues must be discussed between yourselves.

A current TA is also in the classic school of eye rolling at me and standing there silently watching me, not achieving anything in the classroom apart from making me feel judged and anxious
Assign her tasks to do and together evaluate her effectiveness!

Some excellent advice, particularly from poster Zogtastic.

My mother is a retired head teacher she often speaks to a neighbour who is a TA. She is amazed to hear how the role of the TA has been elevated in the last ten years. Apparently the part time TA attends case conferences, plans lessons, conducts lessons, advises junior teaching staff and sits on the board of governors. She recently was part of the panel responsible for interviewing and appointing a new head teacher.

My mother lives in hope that she is a fantasist but after reading this thread I am not so sure!

It could be bitchy and someone going behind your back, but it's equally plausible that there's another explanation.

When I'm absent I always leave space for feedback on my classes and ask any internal staff how the classes were. It has nothing to do with judging the supply teacher and everything to do with following up with the class. This is quite standard, along with colleagues keeping an eye on classes with cover. It's part of an ethos of supporting each other. We do the same with our tricky classes as well.

The TA should have had a quiet word about the seating plan in the lesson though.

TA was underhand and bitchy. I would speak to her. Tell her, if she has a problem, speak to you - not anyone else. Otherwise, you will have to speak to SLT.

Lemons as the lead professional in the classroom you must address this issue. Take Stoneofdestiny's advice and give the TA clear tasks that are accountable. I would also address the body language, it must be noticed by the pupils. She's bullying you.

I am not sure how many people realise how awful it is to be undermined in this situation. Our phonics teacher/dinner lady used to blow a whistle at us as she felt the teachers were taking too long to collect their classes after lunch. That is a real power trip. She had so many complaints from parents regarding her rough, bullying manner and thuggish attitude. Head thought she was great. She also made up the children’s phonics scores (did she think we didn’t know our own classes?) and marked down very able children (always the quiet, subservient ones).

Some of the stuff I saw as a supply is incredulous. Everyone knows it, nobody will acknowledge it.

NewYearsRevolution2020
I think most of us have experience of being undermined. I know I have.

It doesn't mean the TA in this situation is being a bully who wishes they were a teacher and undermining to assert authority.

For example:

• TA could have had issues with supply staff ignoring their contributions and advice for the class or being dismissive of seating plans (letting students sit where they like in exchange for some half arsed work because that's "their method'). As a result they keep quiet unless asked because there's a substantial minority of teachers who think TAs shouldn't get too many big ideas.
• The class teacher may have asked how their class was getting on because they care about their groups. The TA has told them. At the end of the day they're discussing the teacher's class, which isn't a crime.

I always ask out cover supervision team how my classes have been and would ask a TA if I had one. At the end of the day they are my students and I hold them responsible for their attitude, conduct and work so if they've been chatty and completed sub-standard work then I would want to know so I can follow up with those concerned.

I've seen both and there's nothing wrong with that.

I've also seen and had first hand experience of bullying and being undermined.

We can't say if this TA is being unpleasant or not from this thread. Some can be quite bitchy, but equally some teachers get a but precious and think any discussion of their class anything less than glowing is bullying.

@Lolasmiles I have also seen a colleague (teacher) treat her Ta appallingly. The TA was a lovely, older woman and the teacher absolutely pinned her into a very tight space.

Another teacher I worked with behaved similarly and berated her Ta behind her back.

Neither of these examples are acceptable, professional behaviour in my opinion.

Doesn’t mean that all TAs are one thing as opposed to another but there does seem to be a problem acknowledging that feedback from TA to teacher, which is completely normal, appropriate and acceptable behaviour, is different to contacting a teacher on her day off and this business of a seating plan which seems a set up to me.

It is the manner in which it is done that makes some behaviour ok or not.

I think also we need to get away from undermining teachers when they acknowledge what is going on. Adults can distinguish between helpful if not useful support and deliberate, intentional undermining. Everyone is so quick to defend TAs and it is not lost on me that the situation has become so much worse as more working class/non traditional graduates enter the market. It is street politics in some areas.

FMD I’m so glad I didn’t go into teaching (as I had intended to). There’s no way I coukd put up with the crap that goes on.

I’m late 40’s and I’ve never been one to take any crap, but I have most definitely reached the point in my life where I will
‘Say something’ rather than just stew on it.

Surely if you are in charge of the class, the seating is up to you? As is what work
Is completed etc? The ‘Teacher’ is OFF - hence needing you and the ‘TA’ needs to understand what TA stands for & it’s not ‘Undermining & Snitching’

I’d make it clear she was hindering, not helping & that I’d rather not have a TA than have Miss Chatty Friend or Miss Snitch

Tutor - more satisfaction, less hassle -by far!

@Amelie yes. We have obfuscated the situation so much that it all gets explained away with a ‘oh there must be a misunderstanding’ faux smile that we have lost sight of the damage being done. This deliberate undermining in any other situation would be pulled up on straight away.

Can you imagine a legal assistant undermining a lawyer in front of clients? Contradicting something they said that was correct. Contradicting full stop. It absolutely would be addressed and there would be support where as my experience is that most teachers are trying to push the problematic staff away from onto nqts/cover teachers as they have had enough themselves.

Sorry, hope that makes sense. Washing machine looks as though it is about to explode and I am doing too many things at once.

The thing is that I am employed by the school and i'm permanent full-time staff so I don't get why the teacher couldn't have just emailed me directly to ask how it was going.
The allocation of TAs to my lessons is very random, I never know if I will have one or not so I don't see how she could have known the TA was going to be in that specific lesson (I haven't had this TA in any other lesson).

@Sugarcainx. Could you speak to other staff and get a feel for what they think and experience? Then perhaps approach management and suggest that some things are formalised a bit more in order to help TAs transition from class to class?

That way you can consolidate, in writing, some rules about what is and isn’t ok?

One school I supplied in gave me a handbook when I was there that laid out who to speak to, etc regarding different things. It was very helpful and it highlighted to me, that much of the problem, particularly for TAs, is that there is little consistency for them in schools as they move from teacher to teacher. They have to anticipate a lot and I think clearer policies help everyone. It is an area no one wants pinned down into specifics.

Also, when asked by my agency, I have worked as a TA in some schools.

@Sugarcainx I would say then that the responsibility is with the teacher here. Is she a bit insecure and nervous of another teacher in her classroom? I have encountered that, too. A kind of defensiveness from the start that you are going to judge how they have run their classroom.

OP you're a full time member of staff? I thought from your post you were covering. Are you internal cover then for the school? What's your role/how does that link to the class teacher if you've got TAs in your lessons?

NewYearsRevolution2020
I don't think it is the same as the legal example in front of clients at all.

In this situation there is a chance the TA couldn't win.

• say nothing in the lesson and leave it be after (risk being told they should have said something to the cover teacher and they were wrong for not notifying them about the seating plan / they should have done more on behaviour etc)
• say something in the lesson to the cover teacher (risk being told they're over stepping, they're just a TA, decisions aren't theirs and they shouldn't be trying to take the place of a teacher, clearly they were trying to assert their authority and undermine the teacher)
• say nothing and wait to be directed because some cover staff think TAs using initiative is being uppity and having ideas above their station, say nothing after until asked how the class were and then answer honestly (runs the risk of being accused of lacking initiative and being a bitch for answering the question)

And of course there is the option of deliberate undermining. It's not faux naïve to consider that the other possibilities are entirely possible.

There can be a lot of undermining in schools, but what I've also found in schools is entirely innocuous actions are interpreted by some teachers as automatically bullying/underhand. Having career changed to teaching, sometimes I think the dynamics between some members of staff is like they haven't left the playground themselves (and I'm talking generally, not the OP situation here)

@Lolasmiles As someone who has also worked in other places I completely agree with your view on school playground behaviour. There is an awful lot of that going on but your examples perfectly sum up the point I am trying to make. People who are working in teams don’t behave this way because all of these issues are thrashed our beforehand so there is no space for second guessing/misinterpreting things.

The situations you outlined above exactly typify what happens when thee is no clarity. In that situation, had I been the TA I would have said at the beginning ‘just to let you know, the teacher normally keeps to a seating plan. If you want to keep to it in this lesson, I know whether they should be seated and can make sure they are in the right place’.

That way the TA has done what she may feel is her duty and given the teacher the space to choose whether to utilise that information or not. Then it is on the cover teacher if things go wrong not the TA.

If the TA has been belittled before and feels unsure whether to speak up that is another issue, don’t you think? It is entirely possible and they may have been told to ‘know their place’ but actually schools rely on them passing on this implicit knowledge and in my experience , are very supportive verbally (if not financially).

I guess I am trying to distinguish between how things are done not by who does them.

Should read ‘where they are seated’

Lastly, and I am sorry to go on , but I have also worked in schools where all of this is laid out on the table from the start. The TAs are really valued and seen as invaluable by staff so it is important that all of their concerns are addressed. All staff in each dept when through possible scenarios and discussed best practice to employ. Everything was kept transparent and consistent. It is only once that is in place can you deviate with good reason but everyone had the sense of working on a team, equally.

Situations where it doesn’t happen are, in my experience, where deep down TAs aren’t respected by mgmt and on some level g to they feel this and nqts/cover get it in the neck. A good school wouldn’t treat any of its staff this way or crucially, allow the little things to fester and grow.

Probably not the best advice but I would be tempted to forward the email chain to the head of dept saying "Can you advise how I should respond? The first email arrived 20 minutes after the end of the lesson."

I see what you mean newyears. I think that's why the OP's role matters. For example, an in house cover supervisor Vs external supply teacher vs a primary PPA cover who has regular lessons. Equally, the role and relation to the class teacher makes a difference on how much feedback is submitted is reasonable.

Seating plans for all lessons are standard in every school I've worked in, and it seems rare that they're not expected. If the OP is a permanent full time member of staff in her school then I'd imagine she knows the school expectations on seating plans do would ask for them if she's covering day to day / have her own for her lessons if she teaches PPA cover and has a regular slot. I can't imagine why a full time member of staff would allow students to sit anywhere on the grounds they may be chatty but the work would probably get done. It seems the sort of decision that would fly in the face of most school policies. I could easily see how if asked how the class were a response may be, for example, "chatty and lacked focus because they were sat with their friends". That would be something I'd follow up with students because they should behave properly on cover lessons, but if an internal member of staff allowed them to sit where they wanted and accepted chattyness as long as some work was done then I'd be less than impressed because I'm yet to have had a lesson covered by someone with this approach where all work was completed to an appropriate standard. I'd feel like a colleague was undermining me as class teacher and future cover staff because I take poor behaviour in cover lessons seriously with students and can do without students being given the message that cover is a bit of a doss lesson where you rush the work and chat with your mates.