To complain about a teacher

[Upsettyspaghetti]

Advice please. I'm thinking of complaining about a teacher, DD 14. All fairly low level. Very disorganised, forgets to set homework and then cross when it isn't done. Also forgot to tell the class that they were having a test so they all got a lower mark than the rest of the year. Books are unmarked. My worry is that this is a subject that DD loves so don't want her to be put off but also don't want the teacher to take against her. Should I complain and if so to whom? Teacher came across as fairly arrogant and a bit defensive at parents evening. DD and class have complained to form tutor but nothing was done. This is an independent school if that's relevant. Thanks all

I have never got anything complaining about teachers to be honest. my son has a shocking English teacher. He misses loads classes & just comes across as having no real interest in the subject. When I mentioned this was told no one else ever says this we don't know what you on about etc etc etc I know other parents complain too but he always given the lower streams / weaker kids so no one surprised when they don't do well. It's awful but what else can I do? I have similar with a subject my daughter does teacher was not even at the parent teacher meeting am told she has 'personal problems' misses loads of classes. Am in Ireland it's extremely frustrating because I see the difference a good teacher makes to my own kids learning.

Me too. I'm hugely glad I don't work at your child's school. Marking is hugely outdated and ineffective in most cases.

No marking doesn't equal no feedback.

@vintagechristmas

Well it's still done at my child's school, and my other child who attends a different school.

If that's outdated I don't really care.

@Soontobe60

I didn't say I thought it was a great teaching method, where did I say that please? Please do quote me when you find it.

It's the forgetting something you should be doing, then doing it later than you should... just comes across as sloppy and not very professional.

Why? The Head's PA will just pass this straight to the HOD to deal with it.

I'm disorganised. My desk is a mess. I get homework muddled up.

I often get stopped in the street years after teaching children by them/their parents/even other family members and told that:
I inspired them to become a /study at university/learn more about_ due to my inspirational lesson/teaching etc
I made them feel ok about wanting to change gender/come out/feel less anxious about _
I was that teacher who understood them/was kind/made them enjoy school.
Year _ was the best year at school, and they still remember it many years later.

I would love to better organised, I really would. It would make my life a lot easier. But I'd take being motivational and inspiring over organised any day.

As for the original post, don't go straight to the Head. Other posters have given good advice about phrasing the complaint as a concern, going to the HoD etc. The points about marking are spot on, all the research backs this up. That said, I would be mortified if I hadn't looked at a child's book all year by late January!

We had an a level teacher that was sacked half way through our a levels - never marking and losing essays, not teaching syllabus properly. I'm glad someone realised or I probably would have failed!

how do you know we are not 😂

But seriously, the decision to mark or not is not made at teacher level, and really, marking books is not an effective use of teacher time, or much use to students - hence why more and more schools are cutting back on it.

YOu may want to see your children's books marked, but you are probably just conditioned to think this is what should happen, without actually understanding why, or thinking it through.

95% of the world's children dont get their books marked, and that includes many countries who achieve far higher educational standards than we do.

ANd the culture of book marking is one reason teachers from other countries are often reluctant to be recruited to work here - the UK is quite notorious for it world wide

its often the stronger teacher's given the lower streams

Parents often have odd impressions of teachers that don't match up with reality. I had a parent last year ask for her child to be placed with a particular teacher this year 'because he is strict' - but he is renowned for being the least strict teacher in the school!

Just because you have a patricular impression of a teacher, or have complained, it doesn't mean that there is actually an issue or that it will be upheld.

All three of my children have their books marked regularly, I'm really glad their teachers have the time and can be bothered. It seems pointless them writing anything in their books if it's not going to be looked at by anyone but themselves, and there may be errors / valuable feedback

You can bet that their teachers don’t have the time and are marking books when they should be paying attention tto their own children.

Just remember time spent marking is time not spent planning quality lessons, spending time with small groups of children who need a bit of extra help with a topic, or any other valuable activity. Most children don't spend that much time looking at feedback. It's much better for children to mark their own work at the end of the lesson, with the teacher going through the answers. That way you get instant feedback, and the teacher can pick up on any misunderstandings and correct them in the lesson. Then the teacher can review the work; it's so much more valuable than getting marked work returned a week or so later.
Teachers only have a certain amount of time that can be spent working- and that time should be used most efficiently.

Don't bother the head with it. They don't need to be involved in every thing. Contact the head of department. If you get no response from
them, then you can escalate it.

I cannot imagine anything more soul destroying for a child than to work hard at something and not have his work checked and feedback given. How can a child be blamed for not bothering try when the teacher doesn't value his efforts?

Feedback is given in a whole host of different ways! Teachers also look at books without having to physically write something and then give whole class feedback based on common themes which pupils are finding more challenging. Pupils get verbal praise throughout the lesson and teachers can check on their individual progress via the use of mini whiteboards in lessons etc. I would rather spend my limited time allocated for each class planning a quality lesson and building specific whole class feedback in than writing "Good!" and a smiley face in 30 plus books... Just because things were done differently when you were at school does not mean it's the right way to do it and large bodies of research have since evaluated the effectiveness of book marking. It's very low value compared to other methods we use in every lesson.