AIBU to expect confidentiality after raising concerns with a charity?

[HarvestSky]

I was dissatisfied with the teaching methods in a specialist subject at school. I contacted a local charity that specialises in that subject and provides teaching for teachers. I wanted to find out whether what the school was doing was best practice, and how they could improve through training courses. However I must have mentioned the school's name rather than keeping it generic as I wish I had done. Now the charity has fed back to the school through personal contacts that I told them xyz about the school's teaching, and the teachers are annoyed.
Should I have expected a reasonable degree of confidentiality from the charity or am AIBU for dobbing the school in?

Did you speak to the school first? What’s your background knowledge of the subject yourself since it seems your first action is to contact an external group and tell them the schools rubbish at this and the teachers need additional training?

Yes, I contacted the school twice, but I felt fobbed off by their replies. I have a lot of knowledge of the area which is why I contacted an organisation I respected as a third party.

Did you speak to the school first? Do you have experience in teaching yourself? It was obvious they would contact the school though in that regard yabu.

What were you expecting them to do if not speak to the school?

Are you a parent of a child at the school?

There are quite a few scenarios in which information cannot be kept confidential. For example, if they was a risk to the wellbeing of children at that school.

Breeze in, tell the school… “HALT!!! Everyone stand back!!! We the experts have arrived!!”
Interested op if you are ex RADA and its drama, or a Nobel Physics winner and it’s science teachers you know so much better than?

Did the charity feed back that you had said it, or that 'a parent' had? If the former then that's completely inappropriate. If the latter then I don't see how else they could have done anything in the way you wished them to - how could they raise concerns about the teaching without saying why?

So you wanted to raise an issue but disempower anyone from actually dealing with it?

in answer - yes, you were likely unreasonable.

They probably kept your name out of it, but the school can connect the dots.

Also, you cannot unilaterally impose an obligation of confidentiality. They would have to agree.

Edit, I can see you said OP now.
Is that question aimed at me or the OP?

I had asked for their advice in how to help show the school there might be a different best practice.
They took my email and said they would pass it to their teaching department to reply to me.

Your first point of contact should have been the school. You seem to be making a lot of assumptions about their choices and training. Surely better to establish facts, discuss your concerns and listen to their perspective first?

The school won’t have spare budget for training courses, or probably prioritise those, whether training exists or not.

So yes, if the charity shared your name with the school that’s poor and you could complain to the charity.

But why wouldn’t you start with the school?

@ToKittyornottoKitty was wondering the op had expected the charity to do so! (Forgot the “lighthearted” bit..)

This is such an odd scenario. Why wouldn't you go to the school first?

It sounds a little vindictive.

I just missed who the question was for as I’m getting ready for work while scrolling.

Im not sure what else OP really expected, going to a specialist charity moaning about a specialist subject and naming the school… it’s obvious it could get back to the school.

Thanks for your replies. It would be hard to find out whether the charity passed on my name because the school already knows that I have complained about this issue so yes it is obvious that it's me.

I had understood from the phone call that they would send me some advice in how to talk to the school, which is what I am struggling with.

No your struggling because your embarrassed that the school know you’ve gone above them to complain. Be honest.

You are embarrassed you mean.

Do you know if the school staff also help with this charity?

Ok, having read your update, it would have been better if you’d asked for advice on best practice, without naming the school. Was there potential for confusion over whether you were seeking advice for you, or for the school? Or is this purely about personal relationships and indiscretion?

If you had already expressed unhappiness to the school, they probably won’t have been surprised by the contact from the charity. It shows you’re serious. You can carry on discussing the issue as planned.

Anyway, by all means contact the charity, express surprise at their approach and see what they say.

I can't see what you did wrong - you raised the issues with the school and they did nothing. You then sought advice for yourself from a charity. The charity then took that information and told the school, which was not what you wanted or expected. At least now you know that the charity is not there for the students but for the school. I always check myself how my information is going to be used before I give it because you can't really trust the other person, particularly in education where everyone shares everything because of the safeguarding culture. What was the charity? Was it a sport and your concerns related to safety?

The thing is, if the charity is concerned with ensuring good quality teaching on the subject and the school isn’t delivering that, the contact may have been helpful and furthered your aims.

Why not ask the charity what they said?

Unless you asked for your name not to be shared AND the charity agreed they have no duty of confidentiality. A parent being concerned about Grange Hill's approach to teaching geography hardly sounds like a confidential matter. You contacted them and gave them your information (unsolicited) so I can't see how they have been in breach, particularly if they informed you they would contact the school - at that point you could've emailed the charity and asked them to drop the matter.

Is this about disability issues or something like that ?

Yes I am embarrassed that I was stupid enough to mention the school.

But I stand by trying to work out how to improve the situation. I am trying to improve the students' experience of a subject I care about.

Do you mean, am I embarrassed to ask the school exactly how this got back to them?
Would they be obliged to disclose it? Surely not.