To Think That DD School Are Covering Up Teacher’s Unprofessional Behavior

[MrsJLL]

DD is age 10. She bright and sporty. Very sociable, happy at school and doing really well.

I was recently at the school gates waiting to collect her. The mums tend to stand around chatting in little groups.

I was stood close by to many other mums but was just checking something on my phone so was alone but only about 1 to 2 meters away from everyone else.

A teacher approached me and unbelievably announced within earshot of the many of other mums that she has diagnosed my daughter with ADHD because apparently she acts like the “other ADHD” kids that this teacher knows

I was really shocked and upset as we have never had any SEND contact and this teacher is just a class teacher. Other mums definitely heard what the teacher said and also saw me being upset. The teacher then walked off after I got upset and refused to elaborate.

I subsequently made a complaint to the Headmistress about the teachers conduct and the fact she had discussed sensitive medical information in a public place, thereby breaching data protection /GDPR.

The response came back from the head that the teacher was not acting on behalf of the school when she said those things to but was speaking in her own capacity and on her own behalf.

Therefore, whilst it was regrettable, she hasn’t done anything wrong and neither has she breached any data protection laws because the information she gave me about her opinion of my daughter’s mental health was not the “official view of the school” so it doesn’t matter that it was overheard by various people.

The Head then reiterated how confident they are in this teacher’s professionalism.

That is apparently the end of the matter as far as the Head is concerned.

it has really upset me and I feel like the school are covering up for this teacher.

AIBU?

what should I do next?

It sounds like the headteacher is trying to distance the school from this as much as possible. She can’t say it but she recognises that the teacher shouldn’t have done this and she has probably had strong words with her in private.

I am surprised teachers are allowed to be absolved of responsibility because they were speaking in a personal capacity. I'm a nurse and there is no way I would get away with speaking in a personal capacity while at work, even outside of work is a bit of a grey area in some instances!

I could diagnose a lot of the kids I see at work but I'm obviously not allowed to. If I walked up to a patients mum and told them I'd diagnosed with them ADHD, they complained to the matron and I then said "oh but I was on my break so it doesn't count" there is no way that would slide!

Sounds like the teacher was out of line and should be spoken to firmly by the head. It was definitely not acceptable and a teacher is a teacher on school grounds. I must admit I’m confused though about why the conversation would upset you…. If I put myself in your shoes I’d probably with nod and smile, or ask some probing questions about what they had noticed and their qualifications for making formal diagnoses. I would think it was unprofessional and inappropriate, and I’d report the conversation to the school…. But getting visibly upset seems a very dramatic reaction. Between that and your daughter supposedly clashing that badly with a teacher she has for 1hr a week, I would be wondering if there is a possibility of neurodiversity.

If I overheard that conversation as one of the other parents, I’d also complain as I wouldn’t appreciate that stereotype of ADHD kids. My 11yr old sounds identical to yours - she has competed nationally in a sport, is sociable, and has a leadership role at her school. She also has ADHD. However, I can’t ever imagine her having such issues with a teacher. Even if she thought a teacher didn’t like her, she would be savvy enough to just keep a low profile in that class….

Keep following the complaints procedure. She's shown a lack of professionalism.

I'm amazed the Head is suggesting a teacher who teaches a child and is employed by the school whose grounds you were on when the conversation took place is claiming the teacher was acting in a personal rather than professional capacity. Would any reasonable person under the circumstances have believed the teacher was acting in a professional rather than personal capacity? If so then I cannot imagine how the Head thinks this kind of public conversation about a protected characteristic isn't covered! Definitely escalate this to the governors but having been a governor and seeing the governors close ranks when the Head puts their point of view across you must be absolutely crystal clear in your email so there's no wiggle room for the Head to justify it.

@MrsJLL I am a Chair of Governors and would not be happy with that response. Your next steps are as follows, ask for a copy of the school complaints policy and ask how the complaint can be sent to the Chair ie an email address or via a sealed envelope, usually you can do this with the school receptionist... (although it should be on their school website), it will be the same for every school.

So you have raised the issue with the HT, it now goes to the Chair of Governors for further investigation, if you are not happy with their response. The response by the HT of the member of staff not speaking on behalf of the school is moot, as she spoke to you as a member of staff on school grounds and expressed an opinion about your child in front of others. You need to think about what would resolve this for you, an apology from both parties and perhaps an assessment to see if your child has any Educational Needs, you might also want the member of staff to be dealt with, within the disiplinary processes of the school - you would not be privy to what the outcome might be, but you would know that such a meeting had happened.

I hope that this is helpful, the clock on this will not start running until school re-opens, so you have a week probably to draft your complaint... and use the words, I wish to raise a complaint about... because that kicks everything off, whether it is written or spoken.

They're not. They absolutely can be pulled up on their behaviour, not just in the school playground, but outside school and school hours.

For a short time I taught in my local school, and many parents were my friends it acquaintances. I had to be extremely careful about anything I said, and I made it clear to my friends that I wasn't prepared to discuss anything school related. They appreciated that, as they knew that that meant I wouldn't be discussing their children with other parents

No, absolutely not.
None of this makes any sense.

Firstly, no teacher should be broaching this issue in the playground. If there are concerns about your daughter then a meeting should be arranged to discuss them.

And secondly the idea that she expressed an opinion in a "personal capacity" not a professional one, is absolutely bizarre.

Again, speaking as a senior teacher, none of this behaviour makes any sense.
Are we missing some information?

YY to what has already been said - a teacher, employed by the school, on school grounds, teaching a pupil of the school, within directed time - how is this personal capacity?

The only possible thing I could think of is that you say the teacher only teaches for music - are they possibly a peripatetic music teacher? The school may suggest that this is why they were speaking independently - if so, I would ask which staff code of conduct applies to visiting staff members (it will almost certainly be the same one).

The other thing to consider are the DfE Teachers’ Standards, particularly part 2 which apply to conduct “within and outside school”.

Please do escalate this further.

Do you think your daughter has ADHD and is disruptive? There's a process for diagnosing this that involves the SENDCO, observations and an educational psychologist. A regular teacher can have a view on these things, but they can't officially diagnose.

Are you being vindictive by going to the governor's? Yes, the teacher didn't handle it well, but what are you hoping to get out of this?

Maybe direct your energy into managing your child's behaviour and needs.

She's not a doctor or specialist nurse, she isn't qualified to diagnose. I'd raise it with the governers, it is completely unnaceptable.

It’s not a GDPR issue because it’s an opinion in a conversation, not data release.

That’s not a helpful angle for you to pursue. The data rules are tight, but that means that there’s no grey for pulling complaints under that umbrella when they’re not about data. The penalties for the institution are also quite severe so they’ll be very careful to be clear what is and isn’t gdpr related.

Unprofessional behaviour discussing details about a child’s behaviour in the playground - more straight forward complaint.

Thank you

You are right to be confused. It makes no sense does it.

Imagine being a very experienced (20+ year) teacher and approaching a parent and saying that out of the blue in that situation!

and then imagine being the head and saying that the teacher was speaking in a personal capacity.

I think it’s crazy, which is why I wanted to share and garner opinion to see if I was missing something!

Perhaps you should bellow across the school yard to the teacher that you diagnose an unprofessional teacher with a chip on her shoulder and a tendency to bullying behaviours?

It was really awful of the teacher. I don't think it could be a gdpr breech though, because your daughter doesn't have an ADHD diagnosis. The teacher is expressing her opinion and says she behaves like she has ADHD. The word 'diagnosed' does not mean literally diagnosed. She sounds really odd and unprofessional.

your focus should be on the unprofessional conduct of the teacher. The teacher is an employee and the school is responsible for her behaviour on site (and indeed would take an interest in her behavior out of school if it might bring the profession into disrepute).

It’s irrelevant that it was her personal opinion - the poor behaviour took place on school property and she was acting in her capacity as a school teacher

I would reframe your complaint focussing on :

• inappropriateness of an opinion being offered, unprompted, from an unqualified individual (only a psychiatrist can make a formal diagnosis. Even a chartered psychologist can only screen for adhd)
• unprofessional behaviour : issue being raised without warning in a playground, not a meeting setting
• unprofessional behaviour: raising deeply personal observations about a child in ear shot of other parents

(I’m a data protection lawyer - on the face of it there’s no GDPR or duty of confidence issue here. If your daughter had a diagnosis and she was broadcasting it that would be a different matter. Or if the teacher was talking about personal information that there would be an expectation would be kept confidential. But the data protection policy doesn’t cover the teacher blurting out her thoughts and opinions. That’s a professional conduct issue).

You need to mention the phrase 'professional standards'.

The head's response makes no sense.

Following his or her logic it would be OK for a teacher to breach professional conduct standards when they were acting in a "personal capacity".

eg gossiping about children's SEN problems while doing her supermarket shopping.

It;s obviously wrong.

complain to the governors

IMO teacher completely in the wrong and very unprofessional. I would speak to Head again and if not happy with the response speak to the Governors. Teacher should have contacted you (email) to arrange a time to discuss in private. Completely unacceptable.

Definitely follow school complaints policy and be very clear about the resolution you want. Governors have very little power, they can uphold your complaint but can not force any action against the teacher.

What a lot of absolute bollocks. She was on school property, giving her opinion as the child’s teacher and thereby representing the school as an employee of said school, in the context of her professional role. She was therefore utterly unprofessional and, if the school says her view does not reflect their view, then that’s all the evidence anyone needs that her behaviour was unprofessional and should bring disciplinary consequences. Besides which, if she was acting in a personal capacity, she was still breaching data protection laws, because the information she was publicising about your child was obtained in the context of her professional role, so was from data collected by the school, because she is the school’s employee. If she was chatting about your child in the pub in a personal capacity, the same would apply even more obviously - teachers are not allowed to talk about their pupils “in a personal capacity” outside of school either to, or in the hearing of, strangers.

In summary, school cannot have it both ways, she was either behaving inappropriately and breaching confidentiality in her professional capacity, or was doing so in her personal capacity and, regardless, has shared confidential information illegitimately, has brought the school into disrepute and has undoubtedly either breached school policies, or the school is inadequate and does not have proper policies in place. At the very least, she should be required to give you a formal apology and the school should set out what they will do to ensure such a breach does not occur again - staff training is clearly required.

Thank you

in my complaint to the Head I said it was unprofessional behaviour and referenced the school policy breaches and the national teaching standards part 2

All That, along with the GDPR has been dismissed

the response says the teacher isn’t unprofessional and then head has every faith in her to do a good job but they do regret the distress caused

OP, whilst I agreed that the teacher delivered this news in an extremely unprofessional manner, I think I would be directing all of my energy now towards my child and what, if any, support she might need. I know from bitter experience that undiagnosed ADHD/ASD can lead to devastating consequences in the teen/young adult years.

I would request a meeting with the school to elaborate on exactly what the teacher observed and why she spoke to you in the playground. Personally, I wish a teacher had alerted me to my child’s masking when they were younger but unfortunately they got all the way through primary and secondary school without any diagnosis, which did them no favours in the long-term.

A teacher friend of mine told me that most teachers would be too afraid to tell a parent that their child had suspected neurodivergence as most parents do not react well to this news. I can understand this but it does a terrible disservice to the children who remain undiagnosed and therefore unsupported. Teachers are trained to recognise these traits whereas parents are not.

The teacher should not have spoken to you the way she did and then turned on her heel and left. But, let me assure you, that if your child has undiagnosed neurodivergence, then the teacher has done you a very big favour in the long run. Good luck OP

The head teachers response makes no sense at all. Teacher misconduct hearings are often based on things which didn’t happen in their ‘official capacity’ as a teacher (not that I’m suggesting the threshold has been reached for it to go to the TRA!) If she was on school premises and was a teacher then she’s acting on behalf of the school. Follow the next step in the complaints procedure which will be for it to go to governors. I’ve sat on governor panels before where we haven’t backed up the head teacher.

The response actually mentions TRA and says this is no where near the threshold