Terrible class teacher causing concern amongst parents

[DodgyMcDodgerson]

My son is in Year 2. To briefly summarise, his class teacher shouts at the class frequently, there’s alot of punishments both individual and whole class, alot of putting kids down and responding to them very abruptly.
most of the girls in the class are terrified of her (as in to the point some girls are crying coming into school, another little girl wet herself rather than interrupt the teacher to ask to go to the toilet. When the girls mother suggested her daughter had been nervous to put her hand up in case she got shouted at, the teacher completely dismissed this as unthinkable). There are a few boys in particular who she seems to really
single out to tell off, and these are lovely kids - not unruly or being disruptive. She’s telling one boy off for not understanding the work as an example. The kids are unanimous in their dislike of her. The parents in the class are unanimous in their dislike of her.Literally not heard one positive word about her.
one child has already transferred to a different school and there is talk of more
following.
bearing in mind that this is not even 6 months into a new job and in a class of 28 children there have already been at least 5 complaints (that I’m aware of) - is this teacher likely to remain at the school????

The problem is that the procedure means the children in her cars now are being failed. Being terrified of school in Y2 is going to have longer term significant issues for some of these children.

Procedure needs to be quick to properly safeguard the children. But also fair. Surely there must be a way to remove her from the situation and replace with a sub until the issue can be dealt with to protect the children?

Just going back to the wetting thing. My son did that last year. He is a very strict rule follower and his teacher created a new rule that you can’t leave the classroom when she was explaining a task. This was to put a stop to the kids (and there were a lot) who drifted off to the loo and she would waste half the lesson explaining the task 10 times.

He misunderstood the instruction and thought he wasn’t allowed to go at all and wet himself.

same with water, the teacher put in a rule they could have water at the start/end of learning and the uproar from parents thinking the kids couldn’t drink…it had to be spelt out to us that lessons are 20mins long

My son's school had a teacher a bit like that. She was also disorganised and a terrible teacher. We kept trying to give her the benefit of the doubt initially as she was an NQT but the school moved her on within a couple of years. Wish we'd complained more strongly to be honest

.

Totally agree with this. More than ever before, parents are too quick to assume their children are perfect and it must be an issue with the adult or other children. I see it over and over now.

Oh my gosh… really????! This is the worst.

Why have none of the parents spoken to the deputy or Principal or govenors and raised their concerns instead of all this conjecture and whispering

This is exactly the kind of miscommunication that iv seen happen and parents go in all guns blazing (after a what's app bitch fest and wind each other up) rather than just politely asking

This is a decade ago but my kid had a teacher like this and for over a year despite complaints from parents. There was a newish head in who had a very tricky task to do and had brought in this teacher. I used to help sometimes and saw first hand how she was with the kids as did other parents. The school did nothing till that head left - teacher was I think then given mentoring and left fairly swiftly. Sometimes kids are right when they are unhappy about their teachers. My kid is now at uni and remembers all of this quite clearly - he didn't want to go into school and it was not a good time.

Oh dear OP, MN as you have by now realised, is overrun with teachers who, with the exception of a minute minority, will leap to the conclusion that the children are badly behaved and the teacher is amazing.

If you dare suggest that the teacher isn't amazing, you will get the stock reply that they themselves are thinking of leaving the profession because of parents like you. Of course they won't leave for where else would they get a job that allows them to be prolific daily contributers on a website forum.

Personally I would raise with the head overhearing from said nasty teacher about the poor child who wet herself, as she shouldn’t have been discussing it loudly in the playground. Surely it’s a breach of confidentiality / information governance to be talking loudly about a fairly sensitive meeting with a parent in front of other parents? Children that age will be finding that embarrassing and they need privacy / dignity.
So IMHO that’s something I’d seen and heard and an example of her behaviour.

I think you know your son best and if her rarely gets into trouble but tells you how she bullies other children - I’d be believing him too. Other than the whole class punishments it’s hard to cite examples for yourself when it’s the general terrible atmosphere that’s affecting him, not specifics. I really hope that things do get better.

Hi OP, my son is p5 (Scotland) and he has a terrible teacher - they absolutely exist.

she’s shouty, favours the girls in the class, is fucking woeful at actually teaching which is quite worrying. It’s such a stark contrast to his p4 teacher who was wonderful, really engaged and a total credit to the profession.

Mumsnet- you can't possibly know what's going on in the classroom you're not there

Also mumsnet - it must be because the children are badly behaved

Oh they exist all right.

Oh dear OP, MN as you have by now realised, is overrun with teachers who, with the exception of a minute minority, will leap to the conclusion that the children are badly behaved and the teacher is amazing.

That is unfair. Several teachers here have said that they know that teachers like that exist and the OP should complain.

I would ask to see the head and raise this, perhaps without making a formal complaint initially. If they don’t get the feedback there is nothing they can do, but it’s also possible they know or have their suspicions. Do you think it’s someone in their first year teaching?

The first is a fact, though it is not anything Mumsnet has said.

mumsnet (sic) has not said said the second.

One "said" is quite enough, and my just punishment for picking up on your punctuation error when I should have contented myself with your inane statements.

If my little one wet themselves through fear of snaking for the toilet I would have a serious word and raise this complaint without question. That is not ok.

@ColdWaterDipper

There are bad teachers and there are teachers who don’t give two hoots about their job as well (and also teachers are brilliant and put in extra hours and care about the children). We have a year 5 teacher at the moment for one of our children who is utterly hopeless as a teacher and also doesn’t care - she openly admits she is a 9-3 teacher who turns up at the last possible moment and leaves on the dot of 3pm to go and get her own children from their school.

I’m missing the point of the whole thread but are you seriously calling someone a hopeless teacher because she doesn’t put in extra hours and leaves to spend time with her own children rather than spend hours (unpaid) planning lessons for yours?!

The entitlement of some parents is off the charts.

I believe it because I've met a couple.
I also think though that it has to be properly investigated and not become a bandwagon witch hunt.

@DodgyMcDodgerson
First of all, I would believe your DS and the fact you have heard unprofessional chat from this teacher means you should ask to see the head.

My questions would be formed around all
the things you believe to be wrong and how that is impacting your DS. I would mention that you believe parents are looking for other schools. Most school heads really will not want this to happen. It is never acceptable to talk about dc in front of other parents. The head needs to know this happened. It’s unacceptable.

I have to say that I don’t think this teacher should be teaching y2. How old is the teacher? I would also ask the head if she monitors teaching quality and ethos in a clsssroom. Does the head know what the children feel? I have seen one such shouty teacher and no one wanted to be in the sgt major’s class. The head was useless at the time but a new head did tackle her class management shortcomings. We were a leafy lane school with very decent parents. Most dc were well behaved. A good head will be monitoring classrooms and really should be made aware that dc are scared. SLT should offer guidance and support to the teacher. Often this can be met with sick leave but the school must try. They will need to act to start the removal procedure if there’s no improvement though.

Plus: do read and be familiar with, the school’s behaviour policy. Class punishment and humiliation won’t be part of it. Express your concern to the head that the policy is not being followed. Teachers do have to follow school policies and dc should expect that they do, as indeed should parents.

Our shouty teacher was the daughter of the chairman of governors. That made matters worse!

This sounds to me like the teacher is the issue as it seems the entire class is telling the same story pretty consistently. I don't think they could plot to do this together that well at that age. Children also, as a pp said, have a sense of fair play. If your child is coming home and telling you about how the teacher treats others and recapping these stories, they may be trying to express and make sense of things that instinct and intuition have told them are fundamentally not ok.

I think all you can do is complain to the head about her attitude regarding your own child and encourage others to do likewise if it starts to become more a topic of conversation. Shut it down on whatsapp etc and channel it where it needs to go.

Dreadful teachers do exist. I had one on year 1 and I am still getting over her. She shaped my personality - underconfident and with an anxiety disorder. If I am feeling charitable I say that she was not suited to teaching tinies and she didn't cope that well. If I am feeling more realistic I say that she was a vile, monstrous, unhinged bitch. I had a very different experience with her to all of my other years in the school.

I do think lockdown and gentle parenting are causing issues for teachers these days but I also think earlier generations of the profession has somewhat made a rod for their backs. I have seen plenty of people on here discuss their own childhood experiences with bullying teachers. Older people often follow it up with nothing was done because our parents would have sided with Mrs A and said she'd only have yelled at me etc if I deserved it, so what had I done? This attitude is problematic if the teacher is one of the unpleasant minority. Once you've had an experience like this, it stays with you. You know this can and does happen and people who've gone through it and remembered it will rightly want to ensure it doesn't happen to their own child. Their trust in and respect for the profession has been diminished - by teachers themselves.

As society has become more individualistic and people engage more with and accord more weight to the feelings of their children, these people believe their children and defend them - rightly, over zealously or wrongly - based on their own experiences.

@DodgyMcDodgerson if you are concerned about YOUR child, discuss with a member of senior management at the school. As a teacher, I strongly advise you not to mention anyone else’s child or opinion though…there’s a certain type of parent does this and the “but EVERYONE thinks” guarantees no reasonable adult will listen to a word you say.

She might well be a terrible teacher. She might have a difficult class who need a firm hand. You say these boys are well behaved with no way of knowing that unless you’ve been in class - many kids are great in school and awful at home and vice versa! The small things she sends children out for might be the persistent low level disruption that destroys educational opportunities for others!

If you are concerned for your own child, address those specific concerns. The rest is gossip from people who frankly don’t have enough to do with their time.

What has the other child wetting herself got to do with you? If the other parents got a problem with how they were told or what happened then it’s on them to speak to the HT. My son wet himself this year (Yr 3) and the TA came out and told me, other parents were there probably overhearing…in his case he’s a lazy little sod who didn’t want to miss forest school. The wet things had to be explained and it was no problem (other than me telling him off because he knows better) No other parent said a word, and I won’t say a word if and when it happens to them. It’s not my business.

None of this is your business unless it’s affecting your child. You’ve given examples of other kids being affected but not yours.

”Overhearing” and saying there’s no what’s app group and we are not discussing it is pointless you are obvs chatting with other parents about it somehow to know how they feel. You’re talking to another poster on
here to see
if it’s someone they know..what if
it is. The teacher was probably hired and referenced. You’ll go back to your group with more fuel. You want her out. it’s her
or you. Carry on with your campaign which will end when your child
moves up or leaves or the teacher goes.

If not, work with your HT not against them. Stay in your own lane and save the chats with the HT for when your kid is affected.