To be fuming with this teacher.

[Thedarksideofthemoon30]

Yesterday it was my ds 11th birthday. He went to school so happy.

When he came out he looked so sad. He said the teacher had told him to shut up.

I asked him why she said that and apparently he asked her a maths question during the maths lesson.

We talked and he was still uspet but wouldn’t tel
Me why.

I had 4 mums message me last night asking if he was ok, it turns out another mum had put a post on the class Facebook group saying the teacher screamed at the class that they are all stupid, told ds to shut up and called him dumb.

I asked ds today and he cried saying he felt embarrassed. Apparently this teacher is a support teacher and when the main teacher is in the class she’s normal but as soon as he leaves she’s nasty and mean.

I’m going to ring the school this morning and so are the other mums.

I’m so upset for ds.

What is a support teacher? A TA?

Let us know what they say!

Oh dear.

That sounds awful for DS and his classmates.

Definately speak to the school. I’m wondering if the teacher is having a nervous breakdown

YANBU, the school clearly need to look into this urgently.

Sorry, yes a TA. Couldn’t think of the name 🙈

Ringing school to ask for clarification is a good idea. Tell school that the class Facebook page also references the teacher.

Report, report, report. Despicable behaviour. Sounds like the power has gone to her head. I wonder if the children play up more in the teachers absence? Still no excuse..,
Hope your son is ok.

It does sound awful, but I'd leave out the fact it was his birthday when you discuss it with the school - that gives an instant tone of "he should have been treated as a prince", whereas the situation sounds unacceptable for any child on any day.

Don't fume, do ask school to look into it as it sounds wrong and worrying.

No, I’m not saying he should be treated differently lol. I’m saying he went school in a very good mood.

Agree with pps about asking the school for clarification and for them to investigate here.
I’ve never known any teacher or TA during my time working in education behave like this. I’ve seen them snap and shout and perhaps go a bit too far, but never to the extent of name calling and telling children to shut up. It sounds like something else is going on here. That doesn’t make it okay that she did it. It needs to be dealt with but how it’s dealt with could be really important.

I wouldn't phone, I would put it in writing to the headteacher and ask for a response.

If that is confirmed by a number of pupils that needs addressing properly.

Ive twice had to raise inappropriate behaviour, once was overtly sexist remarks made openly in class, once was humiliating pupils who were weakest in the subject. Both times the head took it seriously.

Good luck and tell your child you are raising it with the headteacher and you hope if anything else happens he will tell you.

She might feel unable to cope with the class when the teacher leaves. She might also be incredibly stressed. The class might play up for her...

But it's unacceptable to treat the children like that. Totally unacceptable. I hope it doesn't affect DS's confidence in maths.

Speak to the school and find out more facts before being furious.

Your child's birthday is irrelevant in this situation though. What matters is whether the member of staff has been unprofessional.

For example there is a huge difference between:
A) Screaming and telling at a class and telling them they're all stupid and dumb
And
B) A member of staff raising their voice to an appropriate level as a classroom management technique and telling a class to stop asking stupid questions because the students have decided that as it's not their usual teacher they can play up.

I know from talking to my own students how easily B can get turned into A, especially when it's a cover lesson and students (who are nice and know exactly how to behave) start trying it on with the cover staff.

That's not saying A never happens, sometimes it does, but as a teacher and parent my gut instinct would be to have a conversation with the school before getting annoyed.

If I was in a class and saw that happen I'd be extremely concerned and would be having a chat.

I expect your son asked her a maths question she couldn’t answer.
Totally unacceptable, please report her. She is out of her depth. I hope your sons is ok.

That's terrible, OP. I'd also want to know why leaving the TA in charge seems to be a regular thing, and if she's trained or qualified for whole class teaching. She plainly isn't suited for it. Not excusing her behaviour at all, but this might have been dumped on her.

I'd stay calm and try and get both sides of the story first.

I expect your son asked her a maths question she couldn’t answer.
Totally unacceptable, please report her. She is out of her depth.
There's absolutely no evidence for this at all. Shit like this doesn't actually help posters get resolutions with school.

As a teacher I can think of several possible situations, and none of them involve deciding that a whole class must have been yelled at because a member of staff must not know the answer to a maths question asked by one student.

Yes, report her. Do her a favour. The amount of inexperienced TAs who are made to teach/cover with no TA to support them in the classroom (like the teacher will have) is getting ridiculous. This would have been the last straw.

The thing is, this won’t be a new thing with this TA. The class wouldn’t play up if they respected and liked her, they play up because of the opposite. She is in the wrong job and these children shouldn’t be paying the price for bad recruitment.

Im also pretty sure the teaching staff are fully aware of her shortcomings.

You need to nip this in the bud, my son suffered at the hands of a bad teacher. It begars believe why so people think teaching is a good idea when they clearly hate small children.

I've had this with a TA who had form for being over the top with his control methods.
I emailed the Head who shot back an email telling me how great this man was and all the things he had done for the school.
I said my son won't be coming back until this is sorted, had a meeting that morning and it hasn't happened again.
Sometimes the TA's revel in the power they think they have whilst babysitting a class.
Definitely don't let this drop.

Honestly, this is more common than you'd think. When I was a teacher, I was stood in a corridor outside a my classroom fixing a display and a TA was inside the classroom. A year 7 (who was in form) went into the classroom (they're allowed into their form rooms to get lunches or PE kits etc but not to stay during lunch/break - unless it's bad weather). Next thing I knew, the TA who I'd never seen be anything other than lovely closed the door and started yelling at her. At one point, even said the boys in the class think she's ugly. She obviously had no idea I was there and could hear her.
Report report report report report. Some people are just nasty.

Use the official complaints procedure. The Governors will be informed and it cannot be swept under the carpet. Doing it informally means it will drift potentially not into bring dealt with properly.

I’d go down the official complaint line too, having tried the informal line with schools. It doesn’t work.