when the teacher is a bully and retaliates

[elephantsarewonderful]

Hello- difficult post here. My daughter (year9) has a drama teacher who has behaved badly over the last few years. This subject is compulsory until end of year 9. The teacher has favourites who adore her and is cruel to those she doesn't favour. Behaviours include:
Shouting and screaming at individuals in class
Pretending not to understand a child with a marked foreign accent
Making the children act out "abuse" (I find this appalling- what if a child has experienced abuse?!)
Making the new year 7 kids talk (alone, on stage, in front of the class) about their worst experience (my youngest (new in year8) had just lost her rabbits to a fox attack and was reduced to tears. I know some kids have lost a parent and I feel it is deeply inappropriate to dig for a child's worst experience)
Allowing no dispensation for a child with a disability (my older child had to wear a large awkward plastic body brace and requested not to stand on stage in front of everyone in the very first lesson- she was shouted down)
Sending older, favoured kids to send nasty messages like "teacher says you've been dropped from..." or "teacher's really cross with you and wants to see you" (this is classic "queen bee" behaviour)
Finding out a mother had complained then forming the class into a circle and demanding the child whose mother complained stand in the middle and explain themselves
Making children "explain" their surname to the class (we have a foreign surname, associated with a country that we do not know or belong to in terms of nationality or culture)
Making an example of a child in front of the class- usually on stage, alone, with a bright light in their face
Posting videos of the class- without asking permission and telling the kids that they'd better not tell their parents because that would spoil it for the rest and she'd know who the ones spoiling it would be

The list goes on, and on. She is a known problem in the community, however as I said- if she favours you then you'd be elevated to heights unimaginable. The parents of favoured kids would probably argue that she's a brilliant teacher.

My goal is to get my daughters through unscathed. I am scared to complain to the school after the incident in which she made the class stand in a circle and demand the child whose mother complained stand forward and explain themselves. My daughter (year9) would be happy for lockdown to continue in order to avoid this creep. I have a younger daughter (year8) who is better at avoiding the attacks (she has learned to be a sycophant in class and it gets her through) and I don't want to put her in the firing line. I'm tempted to arrange a "doctor's appointment" each time the drama class is on for my older daughter!
As I said I am afraid to talk to the school for fear of repercussions. My year 9 child has half a year left of this and my younger daughter has another year on top to get through, although she's coping better than her older sister. I'm losing sleep over this. I am upset that my kids have to deal with a bully for a teacher. Maybe i need to vent. Maybe I can't do anything more than hug my girls and console them when class is over.
What would you do?

Posting videos onto what?

If onto social media a sackable offence absolutely.

If onto school system then fine as long as they have parental permission for each kid in the video.

You need to collect the videos as evidence. That would solve everything.

Parental complaints should work. I’ve worked with teachers who’ve made kids cry. You need to complain and she will be pulled in. But the videos are your best evidence.

@diamondpony80

As someone who was extremely shy in school and struggled to even put up my hand in class this kind of teacher would have destroyed me. I would’ve literally died on the spot if someone had asked me to stand up in class and recall my worst experience (that would definitely have been it). I would’ve been feeling sick all day knowing I had to go into a class like that where I didn’t feel safe. Luckily I found my feet in university but I’ll never be an extrovert. For your kids sake and for the sake of those kids who are being bullied and can’t cope with situations like that you MUST do something. This is bullying, narcissistic behaviour and this person shouldn’t be allowed in a classroom with vulnerable children. One bad teacher can destroy a child’s entire school experience and leave them with lifelong bad memories.

I am sorry for your experience and I agree that some experiences at school can have a hugely negative effect. I am looking up the school policy to know what I can do. I have contacted the safeguarding officer this morning. I am very close with my kids and we discuss a lot. We go through stuff at home and they are secure and supported and validated here. My kids excel in other areas and have confidence in other areas outside this class. I am doing what I can as a mother .

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

Posting videos onto what?

If onto social media a sackable offence absolutely.

If onto school system then fine as long as they have parental permission for each kid in the video.

She told the kids that she'd put the videos on youtube. I wonder now if it was a test of loyalty- to see who would tell and object. It was put to the kids in a "we don't want anyone to complain and ruin it for everyone else" way.

This sounds awful OP. For me it would be a formal complaint with safeguarding concerns, especially if the videos are on social media without permission.

It the school doesn't respond in a satisfactory way then the safeguarding concerns can go straight to the LADO. Get whatever evidence you can before you put the complaint in though, just in case any evidence goes 'missing'

You need the videos. It’s absolutely against all safeguarding rules to post videos of kids in public places.

I can’t stress this enough. If you can’t get her on anything else, you can get her on this. It would be instant dismissal.

And I’d go to the head, the governors and Ofsted with the videos.

You need to go above the head to the governors, have they ever even informed or have you only gone to the Head?

Write what you have said in your post and send to head, copy in governors and local authority education department if mainstream if private copy in board...
Escalate it
Don't give in

Her behaviour sounds absolutely appalling!

And find the videos!!!!! These are a must.

Same as pp, find the evidence and escalate it. Add your evidence that the head hasnt acted despite having the info too.

God. This is public humiliation, encouraging group bias and bullying. I am so sorry your DDs have even experienced such unacceptable behaviour from a teacher. I’d be beside myself too and unbelievably triggered by this situation. I do second pp (you are NOT spineless, however....unhelpful and untrue comment) id get my assertive pants on and demand my daughters are not to be in her class. ASAP. End of. Don’t even make an excuse I.e an appointment. The poster who advised you treat this as a formal complaint (with timelines dates expected response etc)is the way I’d go too. But stipulate that, whilst their investigation into your concerns is ongoing, your daughters are not to be in lessons with this narc under any circumstances.
How old is this teacher?

A music teacher at my school was similar . Favouritism and cruelty. Young ( for a teacher lol ), redhead and had relocated from somewhere down south. She did have clear favourites, scream at and humiliate quiet students - weirdly it was mostly girls, quiet ones. Just nasty. She used to invite favourites into her classroom for lunch, hang around with them (so weird) and paid a particular interest in certain male pupils. As students we knew it wasn’t right, but, she continued to work there for years. Staff must’ve been aware too.
Then BAM
KARMA HIT

National news : Teacher sacked for sex with year 11 and 12 pupils at school over YEARS.

Pictures of her, the music block, the school, everything. There were REPEATED COMPLAINTS from parents, students and staff for years. My school said they were fully investigated and dealt with at the time lol. Don’t think anyone knew it was that bad.
Some boys who she did it to suffered with MH for years and bravely came out, there are definitely others too which won’t have done. She groomed them as her favourites I witnessed it from when she joined when I was in year 8 to leaving in year 12. It was some years later when the story came out. I would say there were a group of favourites in every year.
IMO she should have faced charges for how prolific and predatory she was in her MO. I don’t know the full details tho. She has a teaching ban as far as I’m aware that’s it.

What I’m trying to say is your gut feeling is right. Kick off. Get your girls outta there. This woman will be found out, you said that it’s known by a lot of parents! FORGET that some students and parents love her, you know the truth, you just hear from your DDs how vile she is....sincerely hope the school or a higher body conducts a thorough investigation and the full extent of her behaviour is exposed. Good luck and be brave.

But schools aren’t like that now. The standards to which teacher behaviour must conform to are really high and stringent. And this has got much tighter in recent years.

No videos
No swearing
No humiliation
No favouritism
No being in a room on your own with a child.

So many others. Teachers do and can break it. But repeated violation of every rule is very rare.

As someone who suffered similar abuse from a teacher for absolutely no reason, I can totally believe you. This teacher use to haul me into her office every lunch time so I went without. I told my mum and she did everything possible. The teacher then threatened me to not tell my mum anymore, and I didn't. Finally my mum moved me back to my old school and I told her what was said, she was ready to go down there and wring her neck!
Please follow this up as an adult in my thirties it really has stuck with me. I even had a college placement there many years later and the school still had a horrid feeling to it. I'm starting teacher training and I intend to be everything that women wasn't.
Governors, ofsted, press. Anything to gather attention to squash this behavior.

Report through the next stage of the reporting procedure.

Do so in writing so its trackable and put sensible dates in by which you expect a response.

With regards to the video, it depends on what permissions have been signed by the parents.
You need to find out if those that you signed include a release to social media.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow
Videos are allowed as long as they are created in line with school policy. If they've been shared in line with policy and reflect the permissions given by parents then that's also ok.

Staff can be alone in a room with a child as long as someone else is around, it's appropriate for the situation and in line with policy.

The situation in the OP is awful, but it doesn't help the OP to make those sorts of claims.

1 carry on reporting, go to the governors if the school won’t do anything and report to Ofsted if that doesn’t work
2 tell the school you are not prepared for either child to be subjected to this teachers abuse and you are pulling them from her class. If the school get funny about it, report again to the Governors and Ofsted
3 have you contacted any other parents, would they be prepared to stand up with you

By not doing anything you are saying the teachers behaviour is ok. You kids need to see you fighting for them and saying it’s not ok

The school l work at don’t allow any videos on social media.

We are advised not to be alone in a room with a kid unless the door is open wide or someone else is around.

Ofsted outstanding secondary particularly on safeguarding.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow
So what you actually mean is 'my school policy is...'

An Oftsed Outstanding secondary I worked at had a high social media presence, including students, and as long as policy was followed then if a child was revising in your room or you needed to have a pastoral chat then that was fine.
Many ways to skin a cat. 🤷‍♀️

Are you sure the videos on YouTube are visible by the general public, or only by those who have the link because they are part of the production? My kids' drama teacher puts things on YouTube for them but only they have the link and a random stranger would never know they were there.

In primary my daughter had a bully for a teacher. I raised my concerns at parents evening with the teacher and he reported me to the head who hauled me into his office saying I should not be talking about these issues at PE. This teacher was fired from a nearby school for similar behaviour. The head said it was already difficult to find staff without parents complaining .

Loads of parents complained that their kids were more anxious and didn't want to go to school.

Eventually a large group of kids from the class (year 5) went to see the assistant Head and said they didn't feel safe. Only then was the teacher put on "gardening leave" and a new temporary teacher was installed.

But why would a school employ a teacher who had been fired for misconduct?

That doesn’t happen.

Bullet point - take the emotion out. Formal letter of complaint to HT quote their bullying policy, parental complaint policy and relevant teaching standards.
Detail dates if possible, what you have done to discuss it with the teacher, other parents and children involved by name if you know them. Any witnesses to the behaviour. Etc say what you want-your child to enjoy drama in a safe and supported environment. Etc reserve the right to level up your complaint and you can refer to LA Ofsted etc

Have you seen this behaviour on online lessons? I'm very surprised that a teacher would behave this way in front of adults. In fact, it makes no sense because her threats wouldn't work eg she can't threaten repercussions if DCs tell their parents when online lessons are supposed to take place in public rooms.